The Peggy Browning Fund has selected Colorado Law's Amanda Klitzke ('20) to serve as a 2019 fellow. She will receive a stipend to pursue a 10-week summer fellowship at the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) in Dayton, Ohio.
The Peggy Browning Fellowship Program provides financial support to law students who dedicate their summer to public interest labor law work, including working for labor unions, worker centers, labor-related nonprofit organizations, union-side law firms, and other nonprofit organizations. The application process is highly competitive, with more than 400 applicants annually and only around 80 fellowships awarded.
Klitzke credits being the daughter of an Air Force veteran as showing her the value of shared purpose. Last summer, she interned with the legal department at a plastics manufacturer with a unionized workforce. While there, she gained a sense of what is at stake for the rank-and-file union members and a belief that labor law should remedy the imbalance of power between employer and employee. Klitzke’s long-term goal is to restructure the system so that it is more supportive and responsive to the needs of working people.
"The University of Colorado Law School is proud of Amanda’s achievement landing this prestigious fellowship," said John McKee, director for government and public interest in the law school's Career Development Office. "Amanda is a terrific representative of our law school’s commitment to serving the public interest, and we are pleased that she will spend this summer gaining hands-on labor law experience as a IUE-CWA fellow, advocating for living wages, health care, and other civil rights on behalf of the union’s members. The Peggy Browning Fellowship is precisely the sort of experience that can help launch motivated Colorado Law students like Amanda into happy and successful public service careers."
"I feel extremely fortunate for the opportunity to work at IUE-CWA this summer. The IUE-CWA is a very active union where I will gain invaluable experience working alongside incredible attorneys," Klitzke said.
Six Colorado Law students including Klitzke have been selected as Peggy Browning fellows since 2015: Kurt Brandner ('16), Rachel Calvert ('19), Dominique Dinallo ('19), Alex Kirven ('18), and Ariel Williams (’16).
About the Peggy Browning Fund
The Peggy Browning Fund is a not for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1994 until 1997. Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice. These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law.