News: Joint Degree

2003 alum Becky Webster helps her community navigate government relations, handle real estate issues, and preserve its heritage.

Farha Tahir has no doubt her classmates will take extraordinary measures to put their passion for public service to work. "When we walk across this stage, it signifies a change, a transfer of power," she told her classmates gathered in the Assembly Chamber of the Wisconsin Capitol for the La Follette School's May 15 graduation celebration.

1992 alum Jill J. Karofsky helps prosecutors with cases involving domestic violence and sexual assault as the state's first violence against women resource prosecutor.

For 1983 alum Leo Kazeri, the question of why he became a Catholic priest is answered through his actions.

For Xiaojia "Lydia" Bi, public service is about breaking down barriers, whether in helping people in developing countries or supporting sustainable wetland restoration in New Orleans.

What started as a trip to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary by visiting an old friend in Tanzania has developed into a new partnership for two alumni.

At the macro level, good health policy is a matter of choice for Lilly Shields. At the micro level, choices may not be so clear. The four years Shields has spent as a public affairs and law student thinking about the effects of health-care legislation and policy have only solidified her belief that the policy a society enacts is a matter of choice.

Good health and a clean environment are inseparable for Jami Crespo, and she looks forward to applying her policy analysis and legal skills to ensure people have both.