UISG President Valde heads to NYU Brennan Center for Justice
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Written by: Ben Hill and Ian Servin

A double major in political science and history helped Iowa City native and University of Iowa Student Government President Katherine Valde find a rewarding position with a respected public policy and law institute.

The Motley Fool recently named the UI one of three universities in the country with “super-high” post-graduation placement rates. While data for the Class of 2014 won’t be available for a while, many students have already landed good jobs—including some of “Iowa’s Hot 50 Jobs”—or are pursuing advance degrees. This is part of a series of videos and features showing where UI students are heading after graduation.View related stories here.

In June, Valde will head to New York City to join NYU Law School's Brennan Center for Justice as a Research and Program Associate, where she'll be working for their Democracy Program and focusing specifically on issues of money and politics.

"What's unique about the mission of the Brennan Center is that they are part think-tank, part public-interest law firm, and part advocacy which brings in a lot of my research interests and student government experience at the University of Iowa, " Valde says. "I think it will also serve as a great place to explore paths to a J.D. or M.P.P. and figure out which one is best for me."

In this video feature, Valde discusses her experiences at UI including participating in student government and the research opportunities she's had studying with Assistant Professor Rene Rocha in Political Science.