The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has a Shocker alumna ready to assist. Katie Deutsch, a May 2017 Wichita State University graduate, is lending her skills to the Office of the General Council as a research and analytics intern.

Deutsch assists economists in conducting legislative and judicial research, in addition to providing analytic services.

She originally wasn't qualified for this internship based on its prerequisites, but she didn't let that hold her back. Although the position was limited to law school students in either their second or third year, Deutsch, a WSU senior majoring in economics and political science at the time, decided to go for it.

“I was adamant on applying anyway, largely because of my senior thesis I was writing at the time that related to the EEOC's historical impact,” says Deutsch.

While researching for her thesis paper, Deutsch gained a greater appreciation for the EEOC and its impact within modern society.

The internship coordinator for the law students thought Deutsch would be a good fit within the EEOC, regardless of her non-law student status, and forwarded Deutsch's application onto the Office of the General Counsel's unit of nonlawyers, a group of people who provide the economic and social science analysis to support the EEOC's discrimination claims.

After speaking with members of the unit, Deutsch was offered an internship under one of the economists.

Deutsch, a Wichita native, is one of four interns working in the EEOC's Office of the General Counsel this summer. In addition to gaining experience from her work, she is also learning from her fellow interns, all three of whom are third-year law school students.

“They are all incredibly knowledgeable, and I feel lucky to be able to learn from them every day,” says Deutsch.

In the past fiscal year, the EEOC resolved 97,443 charges and secured more than $482 million for discrimination in private, federal and state and local government workplaces. Deutsch has conducted research for multiple cases in the EEOC.

Deutsch believes that her internship has helped sharpen her research skills, something she thinks will be valuable in pursuing law school. Deutsch plans on earning a Juris Doctorate, focusing on labor laws and civil rights. She then aspires to help members of the public as she sees those serving within the EEOC do through their everyday work.

“I hope to pursue public service after law school,” says Deutsch, “to further equity among marginalized groups within the labor market. Watching public servants in action has truly been a humbling experience.”

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