Mary Wall, '02 AlumnaDr. Mary C. Wall has been pursuing change in public education for the last decade, working to strengthen systems at the federal, state, district, and school levels to deliver access and opportunity through education to every student. As an advisor across early, K-12, and higher education policy, Mary has spent most of her career developing education policy in the Administration of President Barack Obama. In her work at the U.S. Department of Education, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary and Under Secretary of Education and played a leading role in the development of the Administration’s proposed postsecondary institution rating system, a $75 million First in the World higher education innovation fund, and the Administration’s higher education regulatory and rulemaking agenda and administration of Federal Student Aid programs. At the White House Domestic Policy Council, her work entailed policy research, development, and strategy for all parts of President Obama’s education agenda, including the development and rollout of the Administration’s Preschool for All proposal, implementation of the waivers from No Child Left Behind, and legislative proposals and executive actions as part of the President’s college cost and affordability agenda.
Most recently, Mary served as the Director of Instructional Strategy at Boston Public Schools, leading strategy development and implementation around long-term district goals for delivering every child an inclusive, rigorous, and culturally- and linguistically-sustaining instructional program. She now serves as Executive Director of Policy and Research at the New York City Department of Education, leading implementation of the new federal education law across New York City central administrative offices and schools in the largest public school district in the U.S. Mary has been involved in the Massachusetts Youth Leadership Foundation since participating in the MassSTAR conference as a high school sophomore in 2002, and she credits it as being a driving force in her own leadership development, setting her on a path toward service and leadership in public sector and government institutions. Mary earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and Hispanic Studies from Boston College and her Doctorate of Education Leadership from Harvard University. She is from Abington, Massachusetts and is an active runner, an amateur musician, and a diehard New England Patriots fan. |