Shannon M. Varga PHD

Dr. Shannon M. Varga, is a community-engaged researcher, non-profit strategy specialist, and applied developmental scientist with over 10 years of experience of working with students, families, direct service providers, and educators in underserved schools and communities. She has spent the last five years at the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, leading ecological and systems-level approaches with mission-driven nonprofit organizations in Duval County, Florida. Her work centers on integrating mixed-methods data into cross-sector planning, engaging diverse stakeholders in research, and supporting data-driven decision making across areas including workforce development, post-secondary enrollment and completion, education pipeline development, diversifying the field of education, and leadership development. She is most passionate about ensuring students’, educators’, families’, and community members' voices are included in the planning of programs, policies, and practices that will affect them, to ensure research results in palpable, measurable improvements in their lives. 

During her prior role of Research Assistant Professor at Boston University and the Associate Director of Research and Evaluation for the Community Engaged Research and Evaluation Sciences (CERES) Institute for Children and Youth, she conducted research in the education and youth development space, specifically understanding the complex relation between social capital, relationships, and student thriving; which culminated in an ecological framework, Webs of Support (Varga & Zaff, 2018). 

Dr. Varga’s educational credentials and experiences include:

• Ph.D. in Educational Psychology-  University of Virginia (focus Applied Developmental Science)
• BA, in Psychology -Montclair State University (Sociology minor)

Dr. Varga has built deep expertise in partnering with stakeholders across all levels, from youth to policy makers, to design, implement, and evaluate data-driven initiatives that cross sectors, improve collaboration of existing community assets, and make a measurable impact on strategic priorities regarding student educational, health, and economic success. Dr. Varga is well-versed in synthesizing and presenting complex evaluation and outcome data for action plans and reports to local and national audiences.