Inaugural Research Scholar, Arizona State University's Latinx Oral History Lab
Mishaela Durán is the Inaugural Research Scholar at Arizona State University’s Latinx Oral History Lab. Prior to joining the Lab, Mishaela served as a national leader and children and family policy advocate in the non-profit and public sectors at the local, state, and federal levels where she leveraged her own lived experience to advocate for economic mobility through systems change in education, child welfare and human services.
Mishaela brings a wealth of organizational development and strategic planning experience, having led national non-profits as the President and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment, the Executive Director of the National Parent Teacher Association, and as the Chief of Staff at the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. She led the public policy departments at the National PTA and the National Network for Youth, working with Congress and Administrations on a wide range of child policy issues, including child welfare, youth homelessness, education, workforce development, welfare, child nutrition, and juvenile justice, engaging young people and families impacted by those systems to call for wholesale reforms to improve outcomes for children and families.
In the public sector, Mishaela served in the senior executive service corps in federal government, overseeing the regional offices at the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF), where she served as the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary on state relations, strategic initiatives, and public-private partnerships. Mishaela has held positions in local and state government agencies, including the District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, and the Arizona Governor’s Community Policy Office, where she assisted in the implementation of major reform initiatives.
Mishaela graduated cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor’s in English Literature and earned a Master’s in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a proud Arizonan, having grown up in Concho, Arizona located in Apache County, where her family has lived since the 1880s after moving from New Mexico where they settled in the 1500s.