Career Series – Advancing Equity

Shantel Meek, a professor of practice and the founding director of the Children’s Equity Project (CEP) at Arizona State University, will join us via Zoom to talk about her career in both research and the federal government. The Children’s Equity Project works to close opportunity gaps and dismantle systemic racism in learning settings to ensure that children reach their full potential.

Meek previously served as a consultant in early childhood policy and strategy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington D.C., where she advised senior staff on a range of federal and state equity and early childhood policy issues. She also served in the Obama Administration as a senior policy advisor for Early Childhood Development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and as a senior policy advisor for education in the Domestic Policy Council at the White House.

During her time in the Obama Administration, Meek advised senior officials at DHHS and The White House on a wide array of policy issues including Head Start, child care, public Pre-K expansion, and promoting equity and reducing disparities across the early care and education system. She also worked on drafting official guidance related to Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant and worked closely with states, communities, and stakeholders on implementation. Meek also played a key role in President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, leading the early childhood policy component of the initiative.

Meek has published pieces in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She serves on the boards of Child Trends and the Pyramid Model Consortium and is a member of the Ideal Learning Roundtable. She holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.S. and Ph.D. in family and human development from Arizona State University.

We will ask Meek how she got started, the twists and turns her career has taken, and her advice for students just starting their careers.

This speaker series is for Duke students who want to learn more about careers in child and family policy. Meetings are designed to help students explore the wide range of job opportunities and careers available in the field of child and family policy while creating a network of students who share their professional interests.