CHANGEMAKERS Many in the Mills community were thrown off by the 2016 election. These students and graduates of the Lokey School are channeling that energy into public service. By Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04
ALYSA CISNEROS ’16, MPP ’17, still remembers the moment. November 8, 2016: Donald Trump had just been elected to the US presidency and the world seemed as if it had instantly changed. She knew she needed to do something—anything—but felt lost. Cisneros was enrolled in her fifth year at Mills College, pursuing her master’s degree in public policy, but she didn’t want to just look to a textbook for answers. She wanted to get to work. “I was just sitting there, [wondering] ‘What have I done to myself? ’ ” Cisneros thought. Her sense of urgency wasn’t singular—it’s a shared drive among students and graduates of Mills’ Lorry I. Lokey School of Business and Public Policy. The graduate program, which offers a master of public policy and a joint MPP/MBA (among other degrees of study), Alysa Cisneros 12
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emphasizes a critical outcome: Change the system from within.
