A Penchant for Policy Solutions: Recent USD Graduate Allison Gross Aims to Serve South Dakota
“I’m from South Dakota,” said Gross, who hails from Timber Lake, where she is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “And I want to continue working on issues and policy solutions that benefit South Dakotans.”
Gross majored in both political science and sustainability while minoring in economics through the USD College of Arts & Sciences.
The Honors Program student said her studies complemented each other well.
“I’m interested in public policy and environmental issues, but also community issues,” Gross said, “Sustainability addresses so many different areas, especially a lot of areas that the public sector deals with like public health and public economics.”
Gross’s coursework, research, internships and study abroad experience all illuminated how policies enacted by governments and regulatory agencies influence our lives, she said.
“One of my favorite classes was National Security Policy, which is just one topic,” she said. “But it was amazing how many other areas of public policy you touch on when you're talking about what seemingly is a single topic. And that was true of environmental policy as well.”
Her semester abroad in Ireland focused on economic policy and introduced Gross to marine economics, which then influenced her decision to research the economic impacts of zebra mussels in South Dakota as her Honor’s thesis. She found this invasive species affected agriculture, tourism and hydroelectric energy production, revealing another area where policy making in one area could influence many others.
As an intern in the South Dakota Legislature during her senior year, Gross said she got to see the legislative process up close. This experience pleasantly surprised her.
“I may have gone in a little jaded but being there made me realize that you can really make your voice heard,” she said. “If you care about your issues and you show up and are willing to put some work in, you can help make great policies that make life good for your fellow South Dakotans.”
Another issue important to residents of the state formed most of Gross’s work this summer during her internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Working in the USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations, which resides within the Office of the Secretary, she helped to clarify the application process for Native American tribes to graze buffalo on public lands. The project included wading through administrative rulings on procedures that may have been enacted decades ago.
“I really liked learning how the policies were formed,” she said. “Seeing what the policy looks like on paper or on my computer and then what it actually looks like in the field when implemented is so interesting.”
Gross received a graduate fellowship to study public affairs at the Indiana University’s Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, one of the top public affairs and public administration schools in the country.
“I’m really excited to broaden my overall understanding of public policy,” she said.
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