First-Year Fellow Mentor: Lisa-Joy Zgorski

The First-Year Fellows program is a unique opportunity for first-year students to engage meaningfully in public policy early in their Dartmouth careers. Each year, around 20 students are selected and placed in fellowships with Dartmouth alumni in Washington, D.C., who are willing to take on a significant mentoring role.
 
“'Who works in an organization which might benefit from the contributions of a young, intellectually curious, smart, talented, ambitious Dartmouth student?' I do. As an added personal bonus, my intern last year, Karna Adam '16, probably without even realizing he was doing it, reminded me of why I chose public service and why I must remain committed to and enthusiastic about making an impact.” --Lisa-Joy Zgorski

Lisa-Joy Zgorski has been a Public Affairs Specialist in the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA), National Science Foundation (NSF) for nearly seven years. She focuses on promoting the work of the Office of International and Integrative Activities. This includes high profile NSF centers and cross disciplinary programs such as EPSCoR, or Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which seeks to build science and engineering capacity in U.S. jurisdictions that receive disproportionate amounts of federal research dollars. Zgorski also assists her colleagues on coverage of the Directorate for Math and the Physical Sciences and other areas.

Zgorski has combined public policy, advocacy, and public affairs throughout her academic and professional career with the State of Connecticut, Congress, Department of Commerce, Office of Management and Budget, United States Patent and Trademark Office, and now NSF. Career highlights include serving as a legislative aide for Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly, and appearing on Larry King Live as Chairwoman of the Capitol Hill Women’s Political Caucus in support of women against sexual harassment in Congress. She has also enjoyed working with former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford on a national commission for election reform, serving in Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown’s press office, acting as spokeswoman for Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Dannel Malloy, speaking in the Palestinian territories on effective political campaigning as a delegate with the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and receiving Harvard Kennedy School’s first annual Julius E. Babbitt Alumni Award for Volunteerism.

Zgorski holds a master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a certificate from the Charles University Law School in Prague, a bachelor's degree in International Relations and Women’s Studies from Mount Holyoke College, and a certificate in Policy Studies from Dartmouth College.

Lisa-Joy Zgorski has mentored the following First-Year Fellows:

• Rachel Scholz-Bright '18
• Priya Ramaiah '17
• Karna Adam '16