Valerie is a policy analyst interested in state-society-sovereignty dynamics, and relationships between newcomers (immigrants), old-timers (citizens) and indigenous peoples. She is super interested in exploring how communities keep their members and the state accountable to each other. Earned her PhD in Public Policy and American Governing Institutions from the University of Washington. While she can crunch numbers with the best of them, Val likes to engage evidence and art as liberatory praxis. How so? By connecting scholarship and community activism and showing others how it’s done. Loves traveling, dancing, live music, food and really good champagne.