Grace Pettey
University of Maryland, School of Public Policy
CLASS YEAR: 2024
DISCIPLINE: Master's of Public Policy
Grace Pettey is earning her Master’s of Public Policy degree at the University of Maryland’s (UMD) School of Public Policy. She recently interned with the National Defense University, conducting research on behalf of their Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Her internship and graduate degree build on her Bachelor’s in Political Science and her minor in Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame. Upon graduation from Notre Dame, she performed two years of national service as an AmeriCorps volunteer at College Possible in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she became deeply involved in and passionate about access to education. Pursuing her interests in education and cross-cultural exchange, she moved to Kigali, Rwanda as an English Teaching Assistant through the Fulbright Program. When the nine-month grant ended, she chose to stay in Kigali and continued working in the areas of copyediting, curriculum development, and communications for an additional three years. She worked at the African Leadership University (ALU), named the most innovative company in Africa by Fast Company in 2019, first as a learning facilitator and later in communications within the CEO’s office. Working with youth from across the continent sparked Grace’s interest in Africa’s increasingly critical role on the global stage as its population is young, growing rapidly, and developing leapfrog technological innovations. She is interested in promoting the United States’ foreign policy agenda in Africa and serving as an ambassador between American and African interests.