Careers in Public Administration
Graduates of our MPA in Social Change degree find rewarding careers in social change, disaster relief, and democratic governance organizations around the world.
Alumni Careers

Lizzie Falconer
Current Employment: Organizational Change and Learning Manager, Catholic Relief Services (Baltimore, Maryland)
First Job after Graduation: International Development Fellow, Catholic Relief Services (Lilongwe, Malawi)
Internship: Intern, Catholic Relief Services (Bolivia and Ecuador)
Institute Immersive Learning: Washington, D.C., Career Exploration Spring Break Trip
Institute Advantage: The support of faculty and staff was critical to becoming a Catholic Relief Services Fellow and now full-time staff. Professors and advisors went above and beyond: meeting with me weekly, editing my résumé and cover letters, and having last-minute Skype sessions to prepare me for interviews. I would not have gotten where I am without them. I would also point to the Middlebury Institute network—I was able to connect with many alumni who gave me their time and answered my questions.
Expertise: Business development, facilitation, and capacity building

Temie Giwa-Tubosun
Current Employment: Founder and CEO of LifeBank (Lagos, Nigeria)
Institute Advantage: When I enrolled at MIIS I had a plan of working for the United Nations. As students, we were encouraged to get field experience, and I got an internship working with Partnership for Transforming Health Systems 2 (PATHS2) doing household surveys in northern Nigeria. I was not keen on health care before, but it became my passion. From that experience, I also knew that I wanted to have a career where I was helping people directly.
Expertise: Management and health policy with strong skills in project research, operations, public relations, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), system strengthening, and operational research.
Story: Winner of the Inaugural “Africa’s Business Heroes” Award; Race Against Time

Emmy Ham
Current Employment: Executive Director, Santa Cruz County Business Council (Santa Cruz, California)
First Job after Graduation: Housing Specialist, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (Marina, California)
Institute Advantage: The organizational change and development courses I took at MIIS were critical to securing this position and will continue to shape my plans for the business council. I graduated with a solid understanding of what organizations need, not only to survive but to thrive, particularly those that engage on complex, wicked problems.
Expertise: organizational development, program and project management, stakeholder engagement, systems thinking, strategic planning
Story: How I Got Hired

Zara Nanu
Current Employment: CEO of GapSquare (Bristol, United Kingdom)
First Job after Graduation: Project Officer, Catholic Relief Services (Moldova)
Story: COVID-19 Long-Term Impact on Gender Wage Gap; Mind the Gap

Kirstin van Gend
Current Employment: Program Director at the Read to Me Project (Salinas, California)
Internship: World Vision (Washington, D.C.) and the United Way (Monterey, California)
Institute Advantage: My career advisor, Gael Meraud, was very helpful in assisting me through the job application process. I did several informational interviews with local MIIS alumni in Monterey and was supported by my supervisor at United Way who was a MIIS alum.
Story: How I Got Hired
One Year after Graduation
Many of our alumni are in rewarding careers around the world; scroll down to see where they are and what they are doing within one year of graduation.
Mouse over charts to see details.
Location
Recent alumni from this program are working in Senegal, South Sudan, and the United States.
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Internships
Partnerships
The Middlebury Institute has partnerships with the following employers for unique internship opportunities—click on the link for more information:
Employer Testimonial
“As a small, grassroots nonprofit, it is nearly impossible to quantify the enormous impact we have received from having MIIS interns as part of our team. Qualifying the impact of their value added to process and productivity, as well as quality relationships, can easily be summed up in one word: PRICELESS! Investing in our collective future through this opportunity has extremely high return on investment.”
—Kathi Speller, Executive Director, Community of Caring Monterey Peninsula
Summer 2018 and 2019
Secured Opportunity: 94%
Locations: Argentina, Bahamas, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia
Select Employers and Positions
- AARP Foundation, Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Intern
- Accion Empresas, Intern
- ACDI/VOCA, New Business Coordinator
- American Councils for International Education, Resident Director
- Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development, Intern
- bitFlyer USA, Compliance Intern
- Caminamos Juntos, Intern
- Cape Eleuthera Institute, Outreach Intern
- Catholic Relief Services, Disaster Risk Reduction and Resiliency Intern
- Community Foundation for Monterey County, Program Assistant with Center for Nonprofit Excellence
- DialogueDirect, Fundraiser
- dKomplex, Inc.
- Business Development Intern
- Facilitation and Program Manager
- Dorothy’s Place, Social worker
- Gathering for Women, Graduate Research Assistant
- Hanns Seidel Foundation, Academy for Politics and Current Affairs Intern
- Les Afriques dans Le Monde (Sciences Po Bordeaux), Program Assistant for the African Region Distance Training
- Mercy Corps
- Monitoring and Evaluation Intern
- Program Performance and Quality Intern
- Youth, Gender, and Girls Team Intern
- Partnership on AI, Intern
- Read to Me Project, Program Manager
- Relief International
- Operations Intern
- Performance, Accountability and Learning Officer
- Resources for Residents and Communities, Research and Evaluation Intern
- Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Director of STA Cultural Resources, Education, and Employment Department
- Six Square, Intern
- TechnoServe, Acting Regional Programme Manager, Southern Africa
- The Mintz Group, Intern
- Think Beyond Plastic
- Education and Community Outreach Coordinator
- Education and Outreach Fellow
- U.S. Department of State, Intern
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Analyst Trainee
- UN Women, Research Assistant
- UNICEF, Evaluation Intern
- United Nations Development Programme, Intern
- United Way Monterey County, Volunteer Coordinator Fellow
- World Vision, Gender and Social Inclusion Intern
- Your Future Is Our Business, Executive Director Intern