Graduate of the Week: Katie Harbath, LI faculty and student

When it comes to online communities, Facebook is the social network. For Katie Harbath, it's the next step in a successful career of online campaigns and communications.

Katie joined Facebook as its Associate Manager of Policy in February 2011. There her goal is to help elected officials and politicians use Facebook to directly reach constituents and voters.

She started her career in Washington, DC at the Republican National Committee, where she managed the party's website, GOP.com. Since then, she's worked for the DCI Group's Online Services division, as Communications Director for a Congressional campaign in Ohio, as Deputy eCampaign Director for Rudy Guiliani's 2008 presidential campaign, and most recently as the Chief Digital Strategist at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

While at the NRSC, Katie returned to the Institute to teach at the same school she took in 2005: the Internet Activist School.

"LI training is like a crash course in anything you may want to know more about in running a campaign or being an activist," she explained. "The Internet Activist School is taught by people who are working in the field and know first-hand the best tools and strategies for accomplishing your goals."

Katie is a notable graduate of the Leadership Institute and has gone on to give back to LI with her teaching and to advance campaign technology and tactics in social media. We welcome Katie as LI’s Graduate of the Week.