Throughout the school year, our Outreach Team highlights alumni of Eliot-Pearson who are excelling in their professional careers post-Tufts while continuing to maintain and spread the department’s mission.
This month, E-P Outreach Coordinator Libby Hunt connected with Elizabeth Shuey, PhD, to learn more about her time at E-P, the work she is doing now with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and advice for current students.
Name: Elizabeth Shuey
Graduation Year: 2015
Program/Track: PhD Program
Academic Advisor: Professor Tama Leventhal
LH: What was your favorite course at E-P?
ES: Tama’s course on neighborhoods
LH: What are you currently doing?
ES: I am a policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). I work on our early childhood education and care team, helping countries design, improve and implement policies. I do this through managing large-scale data collection efforts (mostly the Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey that collects data from staff working in early childhood settings), designing and administering policy questionnaires for governments to complete, analyzing data, writing reports and organizing meetings where government officials can learn from one another.
LH: How has you time at E-P influenced your personal growth and the trajectory of your career?
ES: In so many ways! The internships I did as a student definitely helped make me competitive for the Society for Research in Child Development policy fellowship, which I had for two years after I graduated. That experience then gave me the right profile to move into my current role at the OECD. And my network of friends from E-P is still an incredible source of support for navigating and balancing my career and personal life.
LH: In what ways have/do you use your degree from Eliot-Pearson?
ES: I use the things I learned at E-P everyday. I am often asked to give quick feedback on things that require in-depth knowledge of child development. In addition, much of my job involves choosing the best research methods to answer questions relevant for policy, and then applying those methods and analyzing data using a variety of approaches: all skills I developed at E-P!
LH: Do you have any advice or words for current E-P students?
ES: Enjoy being surrounded by so many people who care deeply about improving the world for children and families, and then bring that energy wherever you go next.
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