Elisha Smith Arrillaga

Elisha Smith Arrillaga is managing director of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. She previously served as executive director of The Education Trust—West. With more than 20 years of experience in research and advocacy, she has worked for and partnered with organizations including the Careers Ladder Project, the Hewlett Foundation, Mathematica Policy Research, and College Bound. She has served on numerous committees and task forces, including Google’s Equitable Artificial Intelligence Research Roundtable, University of California’s Provost Advisory Council on Educational Equity, California State University’s Steering Committee on Academic Preparation and Quantitative Reasoning, University of California’s Test Feasibility Study Steering Committee, and the Launch Years Consensus Panel. She was also appointed co-chair of the California Department of Education’s Closing the Achievement Gap Initiative. Smith Arrillaga earned her MS in survey methodology from the University of Maryland at College Park and a PhD from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

updated 2025