Kimberly Austin is a Senior Director of Research Strategy at the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University and a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. Kimberly helps CPRL clients, students, and staff strengthen and grow their understanding and application of continuous improvement methodologies. Her work spans topics ranging from collective impact, college and career pathways, high-dosage tutoring, and school integration and diversity, among others. Her work at CPRL and with RootsConnectED reflect Kimberly’s own positive experiences attending an intentionally integrated elementary school in Columbus, Ohio and her hope that more students will also learn and grow in more diverse settings.

Kimberly has also worked as a research partner at Transcend, an Assistant Professor at Relay Graduate School of Education, and a researcher at the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago. She started her career in education as a pre-K and first grade teacher. Kimberly earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology from the University of Chicago and has a B.A. in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.