Internship Location: Milwaukee WI
Organization Type: Nonprofit
Policy Areas: Health Policy, Organizational Policy
In La Follette’s classes, one learns how policy and government interact. Class curriculums seem to lack information on organizations such as non-profits and companies. To address this apparent shortcoming, I wanted to find out more about how policy impacts organizations. This internship, working with the Occupational Health Department at Versiti, really helped to show how policy works on an organizational level. I learned a lot from how to motivate people to complete mandatory training to how to write (and rewrite) company policy to comply with multiple states. Each project that I worked on was different. They gave me a wide understanding of policy in pharmaceuticals. I had to pull on a diverse skill set which La Follette helped to develop. One of the most important skills that I drew upon was systems thinking. Tracking how stakeholders interact to develop a final product was vital to my work. I also got to practice root cause analysis in determining policy failures and how to better communicate policy to employees, management, and executives. I would recommend an internship to all students; learning how coursework applies in the workforce is a rewarding experience. Versiti also provided plenty of opportunities to develop professionally. This internship helped me develop professional relationships with people from different backgrounds from biochemical laboratories to marketing and from Human Resources to those at blood drives. The wide variety of people Versiti impacts inspired me to continue working in the policy sphere and continue making an impact in people’s lives.