Mara Sanchez, PhD

Mara Sanchez earned her BA at Brown University, her Masters degree in Public Policy at the University of Southern Maine (USM) and her PhD in Public Policy with a concentration in Higher Education Leadership, also at USM. Mara previously conducted criminal justice and youth justice policy research, program development, and evaluation at the Catherine Cutler Institute at USM. In that role, Mara co-created both the Place Matters project and the Opportunity Scholars initiative. Outside of teaching, Mara is Programs Director at the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and continues to serve in a consultant role with Opportunity Scholars and other initiatives that focus on making an impact on the lives of people who have experienced incarceration.