Rae Rackley

Rae Rackley is a senior at Duke University majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Statistical Science. She is passionate about using human-centered research, stakeholder engagement, and data analysis to advance equity and human dignity in public institutions, particularly in education and the criminal legal system. Over the past summer, she worked as a research assistant at the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, where she helped conceptualize and operationalize wellbeing within a literacy program for refugee students. At Duke, as President of the Duke Justice Project, she works to support the wellbeing of justice-involved individuals and promote meaningful criminal legal reform. A North Carolina native, Rae has seen firsthand the transformative role public schools can play in fostering student resilience and opportunity. As a John M. Belk Impact Fellow, she is excited to work with Carolina Demography to strengthen her quantitative research skills and deepen her ability to analyze large datasets, identify trends in education and socioeconomic outcomes, and translate those findings into useful evidence for policy stakeholders.

Outside of school, Rae enjoys long-distance running and is currently training for her first marathon.