Denise Forsthuber is a senior at The University of Texas at Austin completing her International Relations and Global Studies degree. She is passionate about global security issues and hopes to pursue a career in foreign policy. In 2011 Denise participated in the Governor's Fellowship Program where she was an assistant in the scheduling office of Governor Rick Perry. As a junior Denise completed an internship with the U.S. Department of State at the Consulate General in Hamburg, Germany, where she was a political-economic aide for Consul General Inmi Patterson. Upon her return to Austin Denise participated in the Next Generation Scholars Program where she conducted research on the backsliding of democracy in Ukraine and acted as legislative and scheduling assistant to Representative Pat Fallon during the 2013 Texas Session. Denise will intern with The Foreign Policy Initiative this semester.