I’m an Assistant Professor of Educational Studies and Public Policy and Founding Director of the College Crisis Initiative (C2i) at Davidson College, my undergraduate alma mater. My research examines public policy and postsecondary education with a special focus on how higher education institutions behave as political actors to impact the policymaking process. I am also interested in how state-and-local-level political decisions impact higher education institutions. As director of C2i, my expanded research portfolio includes working on the public health issues surrounding higher education innovation in the COVID-19 crisis. My research has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals like Educational Researcher and Research in Higher Education, and peer-reviewed government and policy publications like the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. My work also has been featured in many national and international media outlets including InsideHigherEd, Times Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. I earned my PhD from Vanderbilt University, and hold a master of public policy degree from Duke University.