La Salle graduate now working in the U.S. Department of State’s passport agency

Sarah Hanlon, '23, was always interested in using her political science degree to work for the U.S. government.

Sarah Hanlon, '23, always knew she wanted to work for the U.S. Department of State.

Her political science and international relations degree from La Salle helped her get to the role she is in today in the Philadelphia Passport Agency office.

Hanlon, a Malvern, Pa., native, knew about La Salle through her dad who obtained his master's in business administration from the University in 2000. She was looking for a local institution with smaller class sizes and attentive faculty. She also liked La Salle's service-orientated mission and Honors Program.

"I was really drawn to the interdisciplinary approach that they took," she said.

Studying political science and international relations allowed her to continue her love and interest in history and global cultures.

"I really enjoyed social studies classes growing up, and I really liked to make comparisons between past historical trends and what was going on in our current day and age, especially in the globalized society we live in today," she said.

While all her coursework was interesting (especially a course on the rise and fall of dictators) she said the University's faculty is what really made a lasting impression.

"It was definitely the strong mentorship from professors that was the highlight of my experience in that program," she said.

Following graduation, Hanlon entered a recent graduate employment program with the U.S. Department of State. It provides one year of supervised training and allows employees to rotate between different offices within the assigned agency to learn about various roles.

Currently, Hanlon is in the Philadelphia Passport Agency office where she adjudicates passport applications.

"The bread and butter of my job has to do with citizenship, entitlement, and identity," she explained. "So, I literally have people's paper applications, and traditional and digital tools to verify a document's authenticity and acceptability. I make sure that the documents are legit. I look for identity fraud."

Understanding citizenship laws is a big component of Hanlon's role as a passport specialist.

"I have to take laws and regulations from the Foreign Affairs Manual and use those as guidelines to make some discretionary decisions because every identity is unique, every person's circumstance is unique, and so it's just a lot of research and a lot of critical thinking."

Hanlon is excited to continue through the recent graduate program and complete her rotations around the agency, including a month in the fraud office. Excelling within the State Department is a goal for the alumna who wants to continue to move up along the ranks.

"I always wanted to work for the Department of State," she said. "I was always really interested in foreign affairs, and this program was the best way to get a foot in the door. And it's amazing because the management here talks about preparing you to leave your job and move on to bigger and better things within the government. It's very transparent that you can stay here as long as you'd like, but their primary goal is to start building good employees for the State Department so that you can move on to your longer-term career goals."

Moving into an analyst role in the passport agency or a job within the Foreign Affairs Bureau is a goal of Hanlon's.

No matter where her career takes her, Hanlon said one of the biggest lessons she received at La Salle was to seize opportunities that come your way.

"I got so used to saying yes to every single opportunity that dropped in my lap at my job. It's just become natural to say yes to anything, and I think that definitely helps Lasallians in their professional lives because you become a very dependable, open to anything person and that can open up a lot of new paths," she said.

-Meg Ryan, M.A. '24