Stephanie Casey Pierce, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Public Policy and Administration, Department of Political Science

Baker Expert Faculty Affiliate, Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Invited Researcher, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee and a Faculty Affiliate at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. My core program of research centers on housing instability—evictions, foreclosures, and homelessness—and how it contributes to and stems from social and economic inequality. I also study the impact of administrative burden on program equity and individual outcomes. I received a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University in 2020 and completed postdocs at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. I have nearly a decade of experience working in public policy, first for nonprofits that provided research, legislative, and best practices to elected officials, and later as a senior staff member at two state agencies. I served as the Outreach Director for the Ohio Department of Commerce from 2009-2010 before beginning work as a manager for Ohio's foreclosure prevention program at the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA). I worked in several roles at OHFA, managing two divisions and eventually serving as Director for the Office of Homeownership Preservation.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management

    • Ohio State University Columbus, OH), 2020
  • M.P.P. in Education, Social, & Family Policy

    • Georgetown University (Washington, DC), 2006
  • B.S. in Psychology

    • Centre College (Danville, KY), 2003


Research Interests

  • Affordable Housing Policy

  • Homelessness

  • Criminal Justice Policy

  • Race and Equity

  • Public Administrative/Management

  • Administrative Burden and Implementation

Skills

  • Stata, RStudio, SAS, SPSS

  • ArcMap, ArcGIS Online

  • NVivo

  • LaTex

  • Qualtrics