Sarah Souders Assistant Professor Public Administration and Policy

Bio: Sarah Souders is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs. She earned her PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2025. She also holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from The Ohio State University.

Her research focuses on how public funding systems, accountability policies, and fiscal constraints shape educational resources and student outcomes, with particular attention to early-grade literacy policies.

Her research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Human Resources, AERA Open, Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, and Journal of Urban Affairs. Prior to joining American University, she worked in research and policy roles with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Ohio Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

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Profile Sarah Souders