Two La Follette School students, Laura Downer and Jacob Pankratz, won election to Associated Students of Madison (ASM), the official student government of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in March. Downer, ASM’s current Student Council chair, and Pankratz will serve as graduate student representatives for the 2020-21 academic year.

Sam Austin (MIPA ’08) joined the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) as a senior policy advisor in December 2019.

The best thing the La Follette School has done for me is strengthened my quantitative skills. When I first started grad school, I was a bit worried about being enrolled in classes such as statistics, but I am very grateful for it now. These skills helped me secure an internship and make me a much more well-rounded student and job candidate.

Katie Sanders (MIPA ’05) has joined the Milwaukee Public Museum as chief planning officer after nearly six years as executive director of Safe & Sound. In her new role, she will coordinate the planning of exhibits and visitor experiences, space planning, partnerships, lobbying, public relations, and building and construction planning.

The most recent episode of the Thank You, 72 podcast features Daniel Speckhard (MA ’82) and Laura Bunn, a student in the La Follette School’s Master of International Public Affairs (MIPA) program.

I highly recommend applying for the La Follette School Summer Policy Learning Experience (internship grant) – it made possible my internship in Portugal!

I was attracted to the La Follette School because of its expertise in social policy, small class size, flexible courses structure, and family-like atmosphere.

The client-based project aspect of many courses has helped me develop better communication, time management, and team-working skills.

I am a project assistant for Professor Menzie Chinn, former senior economist with the White House Council of Economic Advisers. I was drawn to this position because of my strong interest in Professor Chinn’s research in international trade. We are doing research on the topic of elasticity of demand for US imports and exports.

Molly Askin (MIPA ’03) returned to campus December 7 for the American Antitrust Institute’s Food & Agriculture Competition Roundtable at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She participated on the panel discussion Food Supply Chains: Integration, Globalization, and What it Means for Competition and Stability.