PEER Project Leadership Tapped for White House Posts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 14, 2022

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PEER Project Leadership Tapped for White House Posts
Dr. Rajeev Darolia Will Serve As Interim Co-Director

Two members of the Postsecondary Equity & Economics Research (PEER) Project leadership team have been tapped to fill essential positions within the Biden Administration. Stephanie Cellini, PEER Project Co-Director, will be a Senior Consultant at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). And PEER Advisor Judith Scott-Clayton will take on a role as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors. Cellini and Scott-Clayton will be on leave while serving in these roles.

Rajeev Darolia, current PEER Project Advisor and Wendell H. Ford Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Kentucky, will become PEER Project interim Co-Director in Cellini’s absence. He will lead the PEER Project’s economic research alongside Libby Webster of Student Defense, who directs the initiative’s legal work. Dr. Darolia's research focuses on how public policy affects economic mobility and financial security, especially related to education policy. Professor Darolia is also the Associate Director of the UK Center for Poverty Research and previously served as the Advisor for Economic and Higher Education Policy Analysis and Data for the US Department of Education Negotiated Rulemaking Affordability and Student Loans Committee.

Cellini has years of experience in policy development, analysis, and accountability on issues affecting higher education. She is a professor of public policy and economics in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University, and also serves as the editor of Education Finance and Policy and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Cellini previously served as a fellow with the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor.

Scott-Clayton’s research lies at the intersection of labor economics and higher education policy, with a particular focus on financial aid, community colleges, and the outcomes of students after college, including labor market trajectories and patterns of student loan default. She is a Professor of Economics and Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, in the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis (EPSA), where she teaches courses on the economics of education, labor economics and causal inference.

The PEER Project is a joint initiative on accountability between academics at George Washington University and Columbia University and attorneys at the National Student Legal Defense Network.

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