Profile Visiting Graduate Student Scholars

Mary Cashen
Doctoral Candidate, School of Education, UC Irvine

Mary has completed her third year in the Educational Policy and Social Context program at Irvine. Her dissertation research focuses on issues of access and equity for marginalized youth in the transition from high school to college or the workforce.

Developing my skills by writing a policy brief during my time at UC Davis will increase my skill set to better communicate pressing policy issues.

This research is largely driven by the years she spent teaching in disadvantaged Los Angeles K-12 schools, and her experience founding a charter school. Mary examines how poverty affects high school course selection, analyzing the effects of sex differences in career and technical education course completion on post-secondary enrollment.