Women have long faced adversity in higher education, and Texas A&M is no exception. In 1895, Ethel Hudson, a professor’s daughter, became the first woman to attend classes at A&M, with other well-connected women following suit. Their enrollment as “special students” was limited, though, and they were barred from being awarded an official degree. 

It took three decades before Mary Evelyn Crawford became the first woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 1925, but the win was short-lived. Just four days later, the A&M College Board of Directors banned women’s enrollment once more, a decision that wouldn’t be overturned until 1963.

Despite the tumultuous history, the enrollment of women at A&M continues to close the gender gap, and many go on to lead esteemed careers, particularly in public policy. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins ‘94 is currently one of the most prominent political figures to have graduated from A&M, but she’s not the only Aggie making waves in public policy.

Of the female former students paving their way in D.C., many went through A&M’s Public Policy Internship Program, or PPIP. The program offers a range of hands-on internship opportunities for students looking to influence policy across all industries and has served about 1,300 Aggies since its creation in 1999. 

One alumnus served was Izzah Yousuf ‘23, who grew up with a mother involved in local politics. She was immersed in the political world from a young age, so she knew she would pursue a degree in political science when she came to A&M. Through the PPIP, she worked as an intern for the office of Congressman Al Green (D-09), was hired as a legislative correspondent after graduation and was recently promoted to legislative assistant in March.

“I am very lucky that my boss is a proponent of moving people within the office,” Yousuf said. “Our old [legislative director] had too much on his plate and decided I could handle the promotion. … I’m very grateful for his and the congressman’s trust in me.” 

Yousuf said that while she loves her job and her female-dominant office, she is not ignorant to the ways she — and other women around her — have been treated differently in the predominantly white, male space that is Capitol Hill. 

“I have been in rooms as the only woman and [person of color],” Yousuf said. “It doesn’t bother me much, but I know many women around me who have experienced sexual harassment and exclusion. Being both young and female, there is a tendency for people to assume I’m an intern or for some to overexplain basic policies to me.”

Yousuf credits PPIP for giving her the opportunity to break into the industry, despite the challenges. She said that not only did the program get her the job she has now, but it gave her the time and experience to decide if public policy was something she truly wanted to pursue.

“I have no idea where I’d be if I didn’t have the PPIP program,” Yousuf said. “ … I probably wouldn’t have started my internship here in D.C., and I probably wouldn’t have been able to get hired on as a [legislative correspondent] and now be a [legislative assistant].”

A&M offers other policy internship programs as well, such as one geared towards agricultural policy, which guided the career path of Morgan Orem ‘23. She came to Aggieland as a graduate student studying agricultural communication and said that her two years at A&M, with the help of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Internship Program, or ANRP, and its access to the D.C. network, laid the foundation for her professional focus on agriculture policy. 

Orem said that, having grown up on a farm, her sights have always been set on agriculture. She had no particular interest in policy until she started her internship with the Russell Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm focused on agriculture and food policy. 

She said very few people understand the agriculture industry, and she realized working in policy would allow her to advocate for ranchers and farmers and how policies will impact rural communities.

“[The Russell Group] was probably the best career choice I could have made,” Orem said. “I had intended to start on the Hill … but the Russell Group job came open and … about two and a half, three weeks into my internship, I was like, “Oh, this is what I want to do, this is where I want to be.””

Orem recently moved up to Capitol Hill after two short years in D.C., accepting a position in Senator Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) office. 

“I was kind of just ready to be in the middle of it all, I would say, the middle of the chaos,” Orem said. “I was fortunate enough to be steered toward Senator McConnell’s office, and it was an ideal fit I felt like, and a good move at the time.”

Orem praised the ANRP program and said she owes her success to the network her internship allowed her to build. There is a large Aggie presence in D.C., and she encourages students interested in policy or A&M’s internship programs to focus on making connections for their future.  

“Build your network, but focus on quality over quantity,” Orem said. “If they’re not quality people who also know the right people … or are [not] in it for the good of you rather than what they can get out of it, I think it’s completely useless to have a massive network.”