Experience
I have professional experience as an intern with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the North Central Texas Council of Governments, where she supported policy research and intergovernmental initiatives. At The University of Texas at Dallas, I served as a Student Tour Guide and Admissions Representative (STAR) and as a First Year Leader, teaching freshman seminar courses and mentoring first-year students.
Interning at National Conference for State Legislatures
I served as an intern with the National Conference of State Legislatures for six months, from early 2024 through the summer, during which I contributed to a range of research, analytical, and policy support functions, including:
Publishing an Article
While working at the National Conference of State Legislatures, I had the opportunity to contribute to a wide range of projects and tasks. One of these included publishing a summary article based on a policy brief by Andrew Smalley, whom I interned under. This work focused on recent state efforts to improve the efficiency and coordination of workforce development systems.
Tracking Postsecondary Legislation
My primary responsibility at NCSL was tracking and categorizing state legislation related to higher education and workforce development. I monitored and analyzed approximately 2,000 bills across a range of policy areas, including dual enrollment and financial aid, and organized this information into a publicly accessible database to support transparency, public understanding, and policy research.
Student Loan Database
In addition to this work, I also tracked legislation for NCSL’s Student Loan Bill Tracking Database. This involved organizing enacted legislation within a Power BI database and categorizing bills by topic areas such as loan forgiveness, licensure, oversight, and tax policy to make the data more accessible and easier to analyze.
Editing for the Undergraduate Law Review
During my final year at UT Dallas, I took a legal research course that culminated in a certificate in Legal Research and Writing. Through this program, I met members of the team behind the UT Dallas Undergraduate Law Review and decided to join the journal as a staff editor. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with such thoughtful and dedicated writers, whose scholarship is both rigorous and inspiring. Two of the writers I worked with, Kiran Malik and Taher Mogri, contributed outstanding articles to the inaugural volume of the law review, which can be found by clicking the journal to the right.
You can also download the specific articles as PDFs:
Working as a Student Tour and Admission Representative
I also worked as a tour guide and admissions representative for the University of Texas at Dallas. There, I performed administrative tasks like calls, mailing of promotional items, and answering visitor questions. I also helped coordinate and work our Scholars’ Day events, which have around over 1000 guests in total! The two years of working there taught me never to expect a boring day and to be quick on my feet to adapt to whatever may occur.
Teaching as a First-Year Leader
Every fall, freshman in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences take a freshman seminar course. For the past fall semesters, I was honored with the opportunity to teach freshmen through this program. Through this experience, I strengthened my mentoring and leadership skills and further developed my public speaking abilities. I am especially grateful to Dr. Thomas, who directs the program, for his guidance and support in everything from curriculum development and book recommendations to strategies for engaging and supporting students. You can view a course presentations below:
Galatas_Week_1_EPPS1110.303_Presentation by Nyssa Galatas
Conferences
As an undergraduate, I had the privilege of learning from and collaborating with many talented peers, whose work I was able to hear firsthand at academic conferences. I was honored to participate in the 17th Annual Economics Scholars Program Conference for Undergraduate Research, where I was session chair and enjoyed exploring the Dallas Federal Reserve. I was also selected to be a part of the Public Policy and International Affairs Program (PPIA) hosted by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT Austin, where I got to present a policy case with a team before local officials. Through these events, I was able to learn about new perspectives from my fellow students and meet some the brightest emerging scholars in my field.