Emily Wilcox Walls

PhD Student

Emily is a third-year doctoral student at the Martin School of Public Policy at the University of Kentucky. Prior to Kentucky, Emily managed a $3.5 million dollar Institute for Education Sciences college access research grant for the Tennessee Department of Education and served as the Assistant Director of Research for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Emily’s research agenda is largely influenced by her time as a Teach for America corps member working with historically underserved students. Her research centers on building strong pathways from high school to postsecondary and how political conditions and institutions shape education policy. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and a Bachelors of Science in Public Policy and Political Science from James Madison University.