University of Denver Fall 2023

LILITH DIRINGER Hailing from Waldbronn, Germany, graduate student Lilith Diringer came to the University to pursue a Master of Public Policy from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and began pursuing a certificate in jazz studies along the way. Diringer spent her undergraduate years applying an interdisciplinary approach to studying international relations in Dresden, where she learned how economics, politics and the law function across borders. Drawn to all three, Diringer says, “I picked this up because I was interested in too many things, and I thought that an interdisciplinary approach is great.” When she was considering graduate schools, Diringer says, Korbel’s public policy program offered a way to apply an analytical mindset to her work in international relations. “I love that it’s skills based,” she says. “For me, it’s always important to base everything I do and all my strategy that I come up with on data and on quantitative analysis. It really gives me a great idea, specially, how to write policy briefs, how to structure my thoughts, how to really come up with a strategy that is working.” The level of attention paid to individual passions and interests—and opportunities to explore and dive into them—has been an important part of her experience at DU so far. “I feel like over here, it’s much more individual.

I’m always asked, what are my interests, what topics do I want to take,” Diringer says. “[The faculty] really try to support you in making a career out of it. And not just writing one policy memo about it and that’s it.” And Diringer is no stranger to delving into her passions. Involved in musical arts since she was three years old, she sought out a creative outlet once she began her master’s, auditioning and getting accepted into the Lamont Chorale, then adding a jazz certificate alongside her public policy degree. Off campus, Diringer has appeared in several performances with the Denver Center for Performing Arts, as well as performing rock ‘n’ roll acrobatics and circus routines. Her love for performing arts and her strategic approach to public policy, Diringer says, are intertwined, and she is keen on combining the two in her work. “It’s mainly conferences, talks or books,” she says. “But I really want to pursue more of a cultural diplomacy field and cultural communication to reach people that may not normally read the news about it, and also to touch them on a different level. That’s a passion for me.”

“I picked this up because I was interested in too many things, and I thought that an interdisciplinary approach is great.”

Lilitth Diringer from Waldbronn, Germany

28 | UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE • FALL 2023