Tanya Gardner

PhD Candidate

Tanya is a doctoral candidate at the Martin School. She is also a Research Specialist with Trellis Company, an Austin based nonprofit organization that helps people leverage their post-secondary education to improve their quality of life. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelors of Music Education from the Ohio State University. Before beginning work on her graduate degrees, Tanya worked as a teacher in Philadelphia, was a member of the AmeriCorps VISTA program and was Program Director at a local grassroots nonprofit organization. She is President of the Board of Directors for Repairers Lexington and a member of the Board of Directors for Bluegrass Opera and Musical Theater. Tanya’s research is focused on equity in higher education issues, including the impact of AI on college grades, student financial well being, and parent loans for students.