Student Profile: Rosa Dunn, MPP Class of 2027

Problems, said Rosa Dunn, MPP Class of 2027, are what motivates her. 

“Contributing to solving something that's inherently complex—with a multitude of actors, solutions, incentives, and delivery methods—pointed me back to school. You rarely completely eradicate a problem, but if a problem was easy, it already would have been fixed.”

For the past four years, Rosa Dunn has been honing her passion for solving problems as Assistant Vice President and Innovation Specialist at US Bank in Minnesota. “A lot of the research I do for bank offerings and services ties into my interest in pursuing my MPP. For example, with two topics I researched—issues minority depository institutions face in raising capital during financial challenges and the obstacles young adults face on their path to home ownership—I observed the effects of financial inequality.” That research made her want to learn more about both causes and possible policy solutions.

Dunn’s volunteer experience also connects to her interest in solving problems. “My main volunteer spaces have been voting rights and environmental issues. For voting rights, I volunteered with League of Women Voters in Saint Paul, VoteRiders in Wisconsin, and NextGen America. The environmental justice work centered on city cleanup, advocacy for sustainable policy and—since we’re close to the St. Croix River—educating community members on watershed protection efforts.

“The sum of these experiences,” Dunn added, “informs my interest in how public institutions, academic institutions, and private companies can—or should—work together to effect change. I’d like to better understand those partnerships to make a greater impact.”

Dunn said the Harris Master of Public Policy was the best next step to understanding those partnerships. “The emphasis on quantitative skills at Harris was critical. I will need to be able to quickly analyze data in a robust way to have more data-informed conversations when exploring social change.”

While at Harris, Dunn plans to lean into her professional and volunteer experiences to  enhance her extracurricular activities. “The Behavioral Science and Public Policy student group definitely appeals to me: we had a behavioral science group at US Bank, and some original research I did there piqued my interest in motivating consumers to make behavioral change—and the role policy can play in that. I’m also interested in Harris Community Action, because it’s an opportunity to plug into the surrounding community using the skills you're learning in classes.”

As for where she sees herself next, Dunn said, “I’m interested in economic mobility, and I think I want to move closer to the public sector—working in or with government.” Although Dunn said the transferability of skill sets between career opportunities was also a big draw of Harris, she remains geographically connected to the Midwest. “Harris is a great opportunity to build a network in a large midwestern city and state that I would be happy with in the long term.”

Her move towards the public sector, Dunn said, is partially informed by her family. “My mom's a teacher, my dad just retired after 38 years working for the state of Minnesota, and my grandfather was a state legislator in Minnesota. My grandfather also planted something like 20,000 trees in his lifetime with our family, so growing up with this example of enshrining protection for future generations was extremely inspirational.”

Dunn added the draw of the public sector is also connected to a fellowship she had with Ginny Klevorn, a state representative in Minnesota. “In addition to passing legislation that creates economic resilience for a lot of people, the state legislature also passed voting rights legislation to enfranchise individuals who had formerly been incarcerated. It was inspiring to see how Klevorn worked across the aisle and connected with her constituents.”

For prospective students, Dunn recommends personalizing research. “Don’t just consume information that's out there—go deeper than the websites. Look at syllabi, talk to current students, visit the campus. That will get a better understanding of what you're going to be learning, how you're going to be learning it, and what the student culture is like.”