Elizabeth Bell

Elizabeth Bell’s primary research and teaching interests center on advancing social equity in access to public services, with a focus on college access and affordability. Her research agenda is driven by three objectives: 1) to analyze the causes and consequences of policy designs that contribute to degenerative politics, including administrative burdens, 2) to examine how public managers operate within politically designed organizational structures to shape inequality in access to public services, and 3) to evaluate and improve government policies aimed at expanding social equity.

 Prior to joining the LBJ School, Elizabeth Bell was an Assistant Professor in Miami University’s Department of Political Science and an Assistant Professor at the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. She also served as an Associate Fellow and Academic Affiliate for the Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES), formerly known as the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team from 2020-2024. In her work with OES, she designed and implemented randomized control trials aimed at reducing administrative burden in federal programs and increasing access to federal programs for vulnerable populations.

Her work has been published in flagship journals including the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Journal of Politics, and American Educational Research Journal. Her teaching interests include policy analysis, policy design, public and nonprofit management, education policy and administration, and research methodology.