Matt Lacombe

“The small size of the College, departments, and courses really help to encourage success. When you know your professors and can engage actively with the material on a personal level, it makes you more motivated to do well.”

— Matt Lacombe

Allegheny College provided Matt Lacombe with the connections necessary to take his political science major to the next level. “I worked as an intern for an agency of the Department of Defense, and the executive I worked under was an Allegheny alum,” Matt says. “I served as an intelligence analyst in industrial security for a branch of FOCI (Foreign Ownership Control of Influence). It was a great experience that would have been extremely difficult to come by on my own.”

Matt has garnered plenty of political experience on Allegheny’s campus as well. As a three-year student fellow and research assistant of Allegheny’s Center for Political Participation (CPP), Matt has helped to brainstorm and coordinate events such as developing programs with local high schools and bringing high profile speakers to campus. Matt also co-authored the Allegheny College Survey of Civility and Compromise in American Politics and contributed an op-ed piece to Inside Higher Ed.

Then, of course, there are Matt’s actual classes. “Each professor I’ve had is engaging in class and dedicated to their teaching,” says Matt. “The small size of the College, departments, and courses really help to encourage success. When you know your professors and can engage actively with the material on a personal level, it makes you more motivated to do well.”

Matt is also an Allegheny varsity athlete. He is a three-year letter winner in track and a four-year letter winner on the cross-country team, which finished third in the NCAA Cross Country Championship. As he departs from Allegheny to begin a new career with Deloitte Consulting, Matt is confident that he chose the right place to prepare for a professional occupation. “I’m an intellectually curious person,” he says, “and Allegheny College is a good place to be that way.”