Richelle Andrae (MPA ’17) announced her candidacy for the Dane County Board of Supervisors, District 11. Andrae is a strategic policy analyst at Deloitte, where she works with Wisconsin Medicaid’s eHealth & Quality Team to support the state’s health IT priorities.

La Follette School student Maureen Purcell is one of 30 women selected for Emerge Wisconsin’s Class of 2020. Emerge Wisconsin is an affiliate of Emerge, which has trained more than 4,000 women across the country to run for public office since 2002.

My career goal is to fight for policies and candidates that help people and strengthen our democracy.

I envision a future in which all groups – public and private – have a vested interest in a sustainable planet and human welfare at large. 

"Skills that I learned and gained in graduate school, I’ve used in the private sector as well as in the public sector. That includes quantitative analysis and strong writing skills, as well as the ability to interpret data and research findings and then translate them from academia into more plain language – this makes research and learning accessible across different audiences."

Since graduating from the La Follette School, Andrew Behm (MPA ’15) has moved between the private and public sectors, but his work has always involved helping municipalities pay the bills. His new position as a capital finance officer at the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) is in the same vein.

Master of Public Affairs (MPA) candidate Mikhaila Calice shared her perspective on addressing climate change during the Fastest Path to Zero Summit in April at the University of Michigan. Summit participants included high-level clean energy and climate leaders, policymakers, news reporters, and faculty from Michigan’s energy policy and engineering programs.

La Follette School students Patrick Landers and Vanessa Studer along with Casey Hutchison (MIPA ’18) and Danny Benson (MPA ’17) advanced as finalists in the highly competitive Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) program. 

On one of my first days in the program, a faculty member told our cohort, “If you’re interested in making money, you’re in the wrong program. We’re in the business of making the world a better place.” From that moment, I knew I made the right choice.