Nicole Kennedy is a native Delawarean and the Postsecondary Success Program Manager. She enjoys her role at Rodel, where she leads initiatives that help Delaware students explore their identities and interests from the middle grades onward. Her work includes advancing state policy on personalized student success planning, supporting Rodel’s Middle Grades program, which offers early career exploration to students in grades 5–8, and strengthening the educator pipeline through the Grow Your Own program, which prepares high school students for teaching careers.

Before stepping into this role, Nicole served as a Research Specialist at Rodel, using data analysis, visualization, and policy research to advance equitable education policy in areas including early childhood education and school funding reform. Her experience also extends to academia, having worked at the University of Delaware’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP), for a number of years. That work included a nationwide study of the long-term impacts and cost-effectiveness of literacy interventions for struggling readers and a research-practice partnership with a national funder of community-centered education innovation.

Nicole’s earlier experience includes interning on Capitol Hill in the office of U.S. Senator Christopher A. Coons and working with Delaware nonprofits serving youth, including Neighborhood House Inc., the Delaware Center for Justice, and the YMCA of Delaware. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and an Honors Bachelor of Arts in public policy and Spanish studies, also from the University of Delaware.