Elizabeth Bishop, MS ICT (May 2018)

Elizabeth Bishop graduated from University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment in 2016, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in community leadership and development, as well as a minor in sustainable agriculture. She joined the School of Information Science’s Information Communication Technology program in Fall 2016.

A couple of her favorite courses were ICT 600: ICT in Society and ICT 610: ICT Research Methods.

“The discussion facilitation in classes were always in-depth and well curated. Dr. Brandi Frisby’s research methods course was difficult but extremely rewarding. I took away so much from this class and improved my research writing skills,” Bishop said.

In addition to working towards a graduate degree in information communication technology, Bishop is a graduate research assistant for the Corporate Foundation Relations team in UK’s Office of Philanthropy. She conducts research on corporate and foundation donor prospects and maintains contact information with donor relations using the offices’ database systems for university record keeping.

In her practicum with Commerce Lexington, the city’s chamber of commerce that focuses on economic development, job creation, and business growth, she works in a variety of areas, such as public policy, digital advocacy, and professional development.

“Technology is fundamentally transforming the way nonprofit organizations can engage in the legislative process on a local and state level. Many opportunities like digital advocacy campaigning prove digital strategy is an essential component to support political legislation,” Bishop said. “Commerce Lexington’s mission to engage its members in the legislative process can be difficult due to the number of members they have and the breadth of intense political language throughout the legislative session. Monitoring and researching key policy issues and then educating members on the issues can take time especially for grassroots coalitions promoting advocacy.”

As part of her project, Bishop worked to develop a program that streamlined the information for a large population to understand, while giving them the tools to share their input on presented bills.

“Public policy digital advocacy software broadly encompasses a fraction of what the Commerce Lexington staff could utilize in their efforts of expanding Central Kentucky’s knowledge and further their mission-oriented organization,” Bishop said.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time outside, especially at the lake with friends and family.

Bishop’s advice to current and prospective students is, “Find balance in everything or you will run yourself into the ground. Time management!”