Emily House serves as Lecturer and Program Director for the Master of Public Policy Program, and Program Director for Higher Education Administration. She joined the faculty of Peabody College in 2022 after a decade of service as a higher education researcher and policy maker, culminating in serving as the executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Her public service career focused on financial aid access and state-level longitudinal data, with a particular focus on deploying quantitative data analysis to inform decision making within the executive and legislative branches of government. Her research work on the Tennessee Promise, the nation’s first free community college program, resulted in delivering briefings across the country, ranging from The White House to advising other states on similar policy models.
As executive director of THEC, she led a team of 120 staff members and worked closely with the governor’s office, the Tennessee General Assembly, and commissioners from other states. She also worked with colleges and universities as well as other state agencies to develop the state of Tennessee’s higher education budget, approve new majors, conduct research and evaluation of all higher education initiatives and programs, and administer all state-funded financial aid.
House has frequently appeared in national media outlets discussing matters of higher education policy, and currently serves as a Fellow with the Upjohn Institute. Prior to joining the faculty full time, House was an adjunct instructor at Peabody who taught Statistics and Research Methods in the online leadership and learning in organizations (LLO) doctoral program.
