Dr. Rachel Piontak is the Program Officer at the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, where she oversees curriculum development, Community of Purpose offerings, and assessment for the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness Faculty Institute.
Before joining Citizens & Scholars, Rachel served as the Assistant Director of TRIO Student Support Services at the University of Arkansas. She also worked as a Senior Academic Coach in the College of Engineering and has taught in the First-Year Experience and Communication departments. Earlier in her career, she developed college access programming at Central Carolina Community College in North Carolina. Rachel earned her PhD in Public Policy from the University of Arkansas and an MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cape Town. She has authored five publications in her field.
Rachel is an avid trail enthusiast who enjoys outdoor adventure travel with her partner. She volunteers regularly at trail races and is active in her community, serving on the board of her local educators’ union and as a member of her regional NAACP chapter.
“The fact that so many faculty and staff across college and university campuses are actively modeling this work in their programming and classrooms while creating spaces for our next generation of leaders to learn and wrestle through complex topics of democracy — that’s what makes me optimistic about our democracy.”
What makes you optimistic about our democracy?
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