Alumni Spotlight

 Dr. Briana Huett

Briana Huett received her Ph.D. in Public Policy with a specialization in Public Management in Spring 2022 while working on a master’s in Statistics and Analytics. Her previous research, including her dissertation, focused largely on understanding the factors that determine and affect individuals’ perceptions of social welfare and social justice policy issues, with the goal of understanding how communication barriers surrounding these topics can be overcome to generate forward-thinking policy action.

After graduating, Dr. Huett began a data manager position at the Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab located in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department of Drexel University. For more than 20 years, this interdisciplinary lab has worked to promote best practices in the juvenile justice system by developing, implementing, and evaluating juvenile justice programming and policies using research findings on adolescent developmental capacities.

Huett works primarily on a research project that analyzes the effectiveness of a city-wide record expungement program. Long after their justice involvement ends, individuals with a history of arrest and/or criminal conviction face restrictions that limit important opportunities, including those related to employment, education, military service, voting, and housing. To help prevent these negative impacts for individuals with a limited criminal history, the Pennsylvania legislature created a process and procedure for expungement, or the erasure of a formal arrest or conviction record. Funded by the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (UWGPSNJ), in partnership with The Promise and The Knowledge Center, over 30 expungement clinics are being operated by lawyers from multiple legal organizations at events hosted by community-based organizations in neighborhoods across Philadelphia.

When asked about her experience in the U of A’s PUBP program, Huett stressed that it prepared her exceptionally well for her current work. The real-life, practical policy analysis and evaluation experience the program offered through its service-learning-based courses and its capstone requirement allowed her to gain valuable experience that she now draws upon in her policy-based career. In addition, she said that the extremely engaged faculty members who provided support through research and career mentorship gave her the confidence she needed to pursue research-based work in this field.

Aside from her policy research role, Huett also continues to teach an undergraduate course in Public Policy for the U of A’s Global Campus and consults as a grant writer for Arkansas PBS.