Alumni Profile: Martha MacLaren, MPP’25

Martha MacLaren, MPP’25, is a Senior Delivery Advisor for the UK’s Department of Education. In this role, she supports teams which are implementing high priority education programs across the UK. “Helping young people achieve and thrive is very rewarding, and the skills I built at Harris—including engaging effectively with stakeholders, problem solving, and building relationships—all play into developing and delivering education policy.”

MacLaren’s interest in education policy began while she was an undergrad at the University of Oxford. “I volunteered for Jacari, which matches university students with high school students for whom English isn’t a first language, and I also taught English in Austria and France. These experiences highlighted the importance of education to social mobility and were great ways to get outside my comfort zone and meet new people.”

After spending a year teaching in France, MacLaren joined the UK Civil Service: first as a recruiter at the National Crime Agency, then as an HR Business Partner at the Ministry of Justice, and then into a private office for a Director General. “Then prior to enrolling at Harris, I worked in the cross-government Policy Profession Unit, which supports policy professionals to build their capabilities. The role confirmed for me that I could make a more direct impact working in policy.”

After deciding to pursue a Master of Public Policy (MPP), MacLaren began researching and determined that studying in the US was her best option. “In the UK, MPPs are normally only one year. The depth and breadth of what you can study in a two-year program appealed to me.”

The University of Chicago Harris Master of Public Policy (MPP), MacLaren said, stood out in three key ways.

“Firstly, I liked the emphasis on the core skills that underpin policymaking. I would have struggled to pick up skills like statistics and coding if I’d stayed in the Civil Service and tried to learn them on the job.

“Secondly, the flexibility to explore multiple policy disciplines was important. I wanted to pursue education policy, but climate policy and social inequality also interested me. At other universities, you tend to choose one.”

The diverse student body, MacLaren said, confirmed Harris was her best option. “To be part of a cohort where people come from a massive range of work, skill, and geographic backgrounds provides an unparalleled breadth of perspective.”

Now, in her role as a Senior Delivery Advisor, MacLaren says the skills and experiences she gained at Harris have been invaluable. “For example, I regularly use logic models, a tool I learned in a Harris class, to help policy teams articulate their program’s intended outcomes. I also regularly draw on my data and evaluation skills from Harris to support program teams to choose appropriate performance metrics, demonstrate progress, and recognize when a project is going off track so we can work out possible solutions.”

In addition, MacLaren said the hands-on problem-solving skills she gained during her summer internship at Harris provided a unique opportunity. “I was interning with the Mayor’s Office, and my final project involved working with the Chicago Department for Public Health to set metrics and targets with different programs across the city. That experience turned out to be great preparation for the work I do now.

“I knew I wanted to work in policy: I enjoy being able to build relationships, work with stakeholders, and problem-solve. Harris gave me the tools to assess programs’ impact and think about problems critically and systematically, rounding out my skillset to prepare me to succeed.”