Erin Heys

Erin Heys (Coghlan) is the policy director and senior researcher for the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans in the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an applied and policy-focused researcher working to address economic and social inequality for young people. She has over a decade of experience conducting education and social policy research in California and nationally. Her research and policy writing have been published in peer-reviewed journals, books, and other outlets. Before graduate school, she worked as a qualitative researcher at MDRC, studying programs to improve student access and success at community colleges. Heys earned a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota, an MA in education from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in education policy from the University of California, Berkeley.

updated 2025