Published on Show Me Mizzou Dec. 17, 2025
All in the family
Jackson Bailey, Jefferson City, Mo.
Jackson Bailey, BA ’24, became well-schooled in political science as a child. His grandfather, Wendell Bailey, served as both a Missouri state representative and a U.S. representative.
“From a very young age, I was taught the importance of straight talk with constituents and the people who shape policy in the state,” says the younger Bailey. He is already making his mark in politics after managing Vivek Malek’s successful campaign for Missouri treasurer, an election that made Malek the first person of color elected to statewide office in Missouri history. “It’s come full circle because my grandfather is a former Missouri state treasurer, and I’m now the chief of staff to our current state treasurer.”
Bailey credits his Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy experience for his success. “I would not be where I am today without the mentorship I received from world-class scholars like Jay Sexton and Thomas Kane,” he says.
As a student, Bailey received hands-on experience and researched topics he was passionate about. “We weren’t taught what to think, but how to think,” he says. “I was able to explore my questions about these topics, find implications to those answers in our everyday lives and apply those lessons toward ensuring we learn from, rather than repeat, the darker parts of history.”
From doctor to advocate
Jennifer Marx, Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Marx, MD ’25, came to Mizzou intent on studying medicine and working with children, particularly those living with disabilities. But earning a minor in political science led her to the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. What does the focus have to offer an aspiring pediatrician? Quite a lot, Marx says.
First, Kinder gave her a more nuanced idea of how history and academia interact. “The study of history is about looking at primary documents and forming an argument,” she says. “That’s what I do every day. Each patient has their own history. You have to ask the right questions, synthesize their story, take the data, form a coherent narrative and build a diagnosis.”
But more than that, Kinder helped Marx find her voice as an advocate, both for her patients and for her coworkers. Through the Kinder Scholars D.C. summer program, Marx interned with the National Disability Rights Network, the country’s largest lobbyist for people living with disabilities.
After graduating from the MU School of Medicine last May, she returned to the nation’s capital to take up a residency at Children’s National Hospital, where she not only works with children and their families but she also has been active in the union. She even met with Senator Bernie Sanders to discuss working conditions for residents. “While I’ve always known I wanted to be a doctor, I also saw the need for doctors to be active in advocacy,” she says. “Someone needs to provide that perspective to lawmakers.”
History comes alive
Elise Milburn, State College, Pa.
When Elise Milburn, BA ’25, came to Mizzou, she quickly discovered what she didn’t want to do for a living: argue. “I did mock trial to prepare for law school, but I quickly realized that arguing wasn’t my specialty,” she says. “However, I loved legal history and the parsing of legal language and how it shaped our society.”
Milburn decided to major in constitutional democracy and history and joined the Kinder Institute sponsored Public History Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (ASH) team, which focuses on research projects in the arts, social sciences and humanities. Her team developed a podcast about the history of the Santa Fe Trail (original starting point: Franklin, Mo.). “It’s important for people to engage with history, and I learned how to reach people beyond academia,” Milburn says.
Through the Kinder Institute and Department of History, Milburn also studied abroad at the University of Oxford and University College London. A scholar whose work she studied in London is now her advisor at Penn State, where Milburn is pursuing a doctorate in Latin American history. “The Kinder Institute was a wonderful community that showed me what humanities can do and prepared me for becoming a researcher,” Milburn says.
A legal foundation
Paul Odu, Chicago
Someday soon, Paul Odu, BA ’22, will be making his case in a federal courtroom. “I’m definitely interested in public policy and economics from a litigation perspective,” he says. “I want to be arguing.”
Odu is preparing for that eventuality as a law student at the University of Chicago, where he builds on his “absolutely integral” time at Mizzou’s Kinder Institute. I had a really rigorous education in the foundations of American democracy and how we got our legal norms,” he says of his time at Kinder. Odu also earned his master’s degree at the University of Cambridge in England thanks to Mizzou’s prestigious Mark Twain Fellowship.
Beyond his studies, the Kansas City, Mo., native has gleaned invaluable firsthand experience. He spent the past summer in Washington, D.C. as a judicial intern for Amit P. Mehta, the U.S. district judge who recently ruled in a Google antitrust case. As a bonus, he met with high-profile attorneys Paul Clement and Noel Francisco. “It was awesome to hear their insights and pick their brains about legal issues,” he says. For the summer of 2026, Odu will return to the capital to intern at a prestigious firm. “D.C. is probably long-term,” he says. “But we’ll see where the world takes me.”
Firm beliefs
Abby Ramirez, Washington, D.C.
In May 2025, Abby Ramirez, BA ’25, was at a crossroads. She had just graduated from Mizzou with dual bachelor’s degrees in journalism and constitutional democracy, but she wasn’t sure what path to pick. Her experience with the Kinder Institute led her to the latter — and ultimately to a job with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) in Washington, D.C.
“When Kamala Harris became the [presidential] nominee, I knew it was time to step back from journalism and focus on getting women elected,” Ramirez says. “It was time to put down the objective lens and stand firm in my beliefs.”
Those beliefs were forged in Los Angeles, where she says she rarely encountered Republicans. At the nonpartisan Kinder Institute, she engaged with fellow students from all walks of life who opened her mind to varied perspectives. She also learned how to parse primary and historical sources to support her arguments, a skill that serves her well at the DGA, where she does opposition research.
Although her current work is strictly partisan, Ramirez says her time at the institute still influences what she does today:
“It changed my personal beliefs and the way I see the world.”
Pivots with purpose
Anurag Chandran, San Francisco
Anurag Chandran describes himself as an “accidental entrepreneur.”
A few years ago, his grandmother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and struggled to get proper help. He decided to use his hard-earned skills to create KuboCare, a product that uses radar technology to track the movement and vital signs of senior citizens in assisted living facilities and memory care units. “It helps ensure that people live longer and safer,” he says.
Chandran, BA ’16, isn’t exaggerating when he says that he’s made some “big pivots” in his life and career. A native of Dubai, he experienced serious culture shock upon uprooting to Columbia, Mo. for school. Yet he excelled as one of the first Kinder Scholars and even founded the Journal of Constitutional Studies. After graduation, he became the first Mizzou recipient of the Schwarzman Scholarship and attended graduate school in China. That’s where he pivoted again, spurred by a newfound fascination with tech.
The Silicon Valley-based KuboCare launched in 2023. His experience at the institute both gave him the confidence to lead his team and the desire to do something with purpose. “Senior care is a very noble cause,” he says, “and something that I think is going to be my life’s work.”
Public health in practice
Jane Kielhofner, Boston
Growing up, Jane Kielhofner, BS ’19, witnessed issues with access to health care firsthand in her extended family in the rural Midwest. The experience led to her interest in public health.
“So many people in health care don't have great knowledge of the policy and fiscal issues that impact health care,”
Kielhofner says. Through the Kinder Institute at Mizzou, she secured an internship with U.S. Congressman Sam Graves, BS Ag ’86. She attended physician talks about medical research, potential cures for diseases, and public health during her time in Washington, D.C. “When I heard physicians discuss different patient stories, I realized I wanted to switch to premed while also pursuing a public health degree,” she says.
Now a medical resident in urology at Harvard University, Kielhofner credits the Kinder Institute for shaping her career
path — and even remains involved by serving on its alumni board. “My experience at the Kinder Institute and with my internship were paramount to my growth and education,” she says. “Being part of the alumni board allows me to give back to an organization that gave so much to me.”
From spark to service
Maddie McMillian Green, BA ’16, JD ’21, already had an interest in politics, but an internship her freshman year at Mizzou fanned that spark into a flame. “Working for a strong female in politics like then-Missouri State Representative Shelley Keeney Taylor was so inspiring,” she says. Green interned at the Missouri State Capitol nearly every semester afterward.
After graduating from Mizzou, where she took part in multiple Kinder Institute programs, Maddie worked in the Office of the Missouri Governor, attended law school and joined a governmental affairs firm, where she represented Mizzou. She now serves as chief of staff to Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway.
As a member of the Kinder Institute’s alumni council, Green is helping fundraise for an endowment “to ensure that the next generation of students has the same types of opportunities that I did,” she says.
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