Rachel Peterson

She grew up in Salem, Oregon and then moved to Providence, Rhode Island where she lived for 16 years before coming to HKS. Rachel’s career so far has focused on education data and policy. Most recently, she ran Rhode Island’s system for rating K-12 public schools and districts at the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Involvement with her local public employee union, including two years as local president, showed Rachel the power of unionism to impact people’s daily lives and inspired her to pivot to focus on labor advocacy. Rachel is especially interested in democratic governance within unions and how policy can support increased union engagement and power.

Rachel recently completed an MFA in Information Design and Data Visualization at Northeastern University. Her BA in Public Policy, Applied Mathematics, and Education Studies is from Brown University.