麻豆传媒

Molly Burich 鈥�05 may be many miles from Greeley, but she carries her 麻豆传媒 experience with pride, and is making sure others have access to 麻豆传媒鈥檚 educational opportunities in ways that will help future generations dream big.

            Burich was born in Wisconsin (which made her a Green Bay Packer fan for life). 鈥淢y dad鈥檚 job took us on a little bit of a journey,鈥� she says. The family moved from Wisconsin to Chicago to Indiana, finally settling for her high school years in Colorado Springs.

            When it came time to choose where she wanted to go to college, she visited 麻豆传媒 and Colorado State University. And even though she was a pro at moving, this time relocating to a new school would be something she鈥檇 do without family to ease the transition. CSU was overwhelming, she says. 鈥淚 remember leaving there feeling petrified. Then when I went to 麻豆传媒 a couple of weeks later, I just felt a real sense of connection to the campus. It felt manageable, big enough, but not overwhelming. From the first moment I was like, 鈥極kay, I could do this, I could live away from home.鈥� And that was it,鈥� she remembers.

            She had originally put 麻豆传媒 on her list of schools to explore because she thought she wanted to be a teacher. Then, in the residence hall one night during 麻豆传媒 orientation, she picked up the course catalog and began to look through it. She came across course listings for political science, and in that moment, changed her mind 鈥� and the course of her career. The next day she listed her major as Political Science.

            Her advisor was Brook Blair, Ph.D., professor in Political Science and International Affairs. 鈥淗e, too, is a Green Bay Packer fan. So, we did bond over football,鈥� she says. He was her professor for the introductory Political Science class, and she knew even during her first semester that she had found her academic and professional path. From that first day she says she never looked back.

            Her second semester, she started to meet more people and made friends she remains close to. Her sophomore year she became a campus tour guide. 鈥淚 was always trying to convince people to be a political science major,鈥� she says.

            鈥淚t all just clicked. It was just such a magnificent college experience,鈥� she says.

            After graduating from 麻豆传媒, she earned her master鈥檚 degree in Public Policy at DePaul University in Chicago in 2007 and went on to take a position at a health policy consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There, she discovered she loved health policy. Her clients were pharmaceutical companies and 鈥� as has happened throughout her career 鈥� she found herself working at the center of pivotal changes and current events as they intersected with health care.

鈥淭his was during the Obamacare debate. I was reading every piece of legislation, every version that came out and summarizing it for my clients. So, it was a really exciting time to be new to health policy, to be living in D.C., to be working a million hours a week and making no money,鈥� she says with a laugh. 鈥淏ut that's what you did to build that resume. And so, I did that.鈥�

As time went on, she moved through her career, changing companies and building skills. She began to work in federal policy and took an opportunity with her employer at the time, Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals, to move to California to be a state lobbyist across seven western states. She moved to a different company for a time, and is now back at Otsuka, leading the health policy team located in Princeton NJ.

Once again, her work has intersected with current events. During the COVID-19 pandemic she found herself having conversations around the kitchen table with family and friends. 鈥淚 remember I was sitting at the kitchen table with my family at Christmas in Colorado, talking about the clinical trials for the COVID vaccines. And I was like, 鈥榊ou guys, the clinical trial for these products are really large and are providing some really important data,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淥n the one hand, I think (with COVID-19) there is now more understanding and appreciation for clinical trials and for what it takes to bring products to market, which is great. On the other, I think we still have more work to do explaining that didn't happen overnight and it didn't happen without sacrifice.鈥�

            As she talks about her career and the challenges she鈥檚 seen over the 12 years, it鈥檚 not hard to see that the decision she made one night in a residence hall at 麻豆传媒 has given her a path to work she loves.

            鈥淚 think my career has exceeded what I thought was possible, but my love of policy was sort of born and cultivated at 麻豆传媒 in the Political Science department,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 attribute it to talented professors who had a lot of good debates in class and presented a lot of different sides. I absolutely credit the 麻豆传媒 Political Science department for helping me find that passion and then really cultivating it.鈥�

            It鈥檚 something she hopes others will also experience during their college years.

鈥淗ere I am, I was this girl who went to 麻豆传媒, had a great experience, and now I regularly interface with members of Congress and talk to them about healthcare issues including the needs of those living with mental health challenges,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 have this fabulous career and sometimes -- especially now with everything being virtual (due to COVID) -- when I sit at my house in my home office in slippers and leggings talking with members of Congress on a Zoom call I'm just like, 鈥榃hose life is this?鈥� 

鈥淚 would just say, dream big and get as much out of that college experience as you can, because it's such a foundational piece. I look back on it so fondly, and that was because I was part of a great department at a great university. I don't ever doubt that's why that was so.鈥�

            It鈥檚 because of her experience at 麻豆传媒 and its impact on her career that Burich chose to establish the Molly Burich Political Science Scholarship Endowment, to be awarded to junior or senior Political Science majors, with a preference for female students.

鈥淚 always knew that I wanted to be able to give back to 麻豆传媒 and started relatively early, as soon as I could,鈥� Burich says. 鈥淚'm so thankful that I was able to understand how to do it in a way that we can set up this award now that's going to continue over time. Once I realized it was possible to think about establishing a scholarship, then I was laser focused on wanting to do that. For me, it's a way to give back and give back to a wonderful department that really shaped my life and my career trajectory.鈥�

She says she鈥檚 excited that in a few years, she鈥檒l be able to connect with students benefiting from her scholarship endowment. 鈥淎s an alum who lives across the country and can't be active in local events or go visit campus, this is a way I can have that lifelong connection to the college while helping to reward and hopefully cultivate more strong women in the political science field.鈥�