Hometown: Washington, DC

Focus: Education & Policy Analysis

Pronouns: He/him

Bio about yourself: Hi, I’m Damian! I came to Evans with a varied professional background – I’ve been a lobbyist at a progressive advocacy organization in DC, a research assistant on an NSF-funded educational psychology study, and a public school teacher. I grew up on the east coast and I lived in Philadelphia for about nine years before moving to Seattle two years ago. In that time, I discovered that the winter here is not as bad as everyone said, especially because there are so many winter activities, but it is cloudy and wet. In the winter you can find me on the ski slopes near Seattle and in the summer you can find me going on hikes far above my fitness level. 

Why I chose Evans: The Evans MPA core curriculum stood out for its comprehensiveness and depth, and its design reflects the kind of thoughtfulness about the program that the faculty and administrators bring to everything at Evans. Having looked at other schools’ core curricula, it was clear that Evans grads are uniquely prepared for whatever their professional ambitions are. I’m interning this year with the Washington state legislature’s Office of Program Research and am pleased to discover already how well Evans has prepared me for the kind of policy work I’m doing.

Ask me about: education policy, working part-time while being in school full-time, how to sustain yourself through graduate school (this is my second master’s degree), skiing recommendations, coffee shop recommendations, or recommendations for where to get the best breakfast sandwich.