PhD, Urban Education Policy, University of Southern California

Elizabeth Holcombe is a senior research associate in the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the USC Rossier School of Education. Her current work involves a qualitative study of equity-minded leadership teams in higher education in partnership with the American Council on Education (ACE), as well as the Change Leadership Toolkit. Her research uses an organizational lens to understand various policies and practices that affect student success, including undergraduate teaching and assessment, faculty workforce and development issues, and leadership in higher education.

Holcombe graduated from Vanderbilt University with a double major in political science and Spanish in 2008. After teaching elementary school in Atlanta with Teach for America, she moved to New York City to pursue a master’s degree in politics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Upon completing her master’s degree in 2011, Holcombe worked at Mercy College, managing several programs including a college access partnership, an academic advising and mentoring program, and a new co- and extra-curricular assessment initiative within the Division of Student Affairs. Holcombe earned her PhD in Urban Education Policy at USC Rossier School of Education, where she was a research assistant at the Pullias Center for Higher Education.