Torri Hart
Ph.D. in Educational Policy & Planning, University of Texas at Austin, expected 2026
M.A. in English, George Mason University, 2019
B.A. in English, Secondary Education, Radford University, 2016
Email: torri.hart@austin.utexas.edu
M.A. in English, George Mason University, 2019
B.A. in English, Secondary Education, Radford University, 2016
Email: torri.hart@austin.utexas.edu
Torri Danny Hart is a doctoral student in the Educational Policy and Planning program at The University of Texas at Austin. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary Education from Radford University and a Master of Arts in English from George Mason University.
Hart began her career as an eighth-grade English teacher in Southern Virginia where she became passionate about providing equitable educational resources and opportunities to rural students. After completing her first year of teaching, she moved to Northern Virginia where she completed her M.A. while working as a technical writer and secondary English teacher. She taught at the middle and high school levels, including collegiate composition courses, for six years before pursuing doctoral studies. Prior to beginning her work with UT, Hart served as a government-contracted Strategic Communications Analyst for the United States Coast Guard. Each position has contributed to her skillset as a Research Assistant in Educational Policy and as an Assistant Instructor and Program Coordinator in Rhetoric & Writing with UT.
Her research, centered in rural contexts, aims to understand how rural school leaders can use their leadership practices to support the recruitment and retention of teachers to create inclusive, equitable schools. Hart is interested in the intersections between educational policy, school leadership, and rurality to investigate how policy design can best support rural community needs.
Hart is pursuing her doctorate in Educational Policy and Planning with the intention to support the development of rural-focused educational policy and leadership preparation that equips future education leaders for the diverse needs of rural schooling contexts.
Hart began her career as an eighth-grade English teacher in Southern Virginia where she became passionate about providing equitable educational resources and opportunities to rural students. After completing her first year of teaching, she moved to Northern Virginia where she completed her M.A. while working as a technical writer and secondary English teacher. She taught at the middle and high school levels, including collegiate composition courses, for six years before pursuing doctoral studies. Prior to beginning her work with UT, Hart served as a government-contracted Strategic Communications Analyst for the United States Coast Guard. Each position has contributed to her skillset as a Research Assistant in Educational Policy and as an Assistant Instructor and Program Coordinator in Rhetoric & Writing with UT.
Her research, centered in rural contexts, aims to understand how rural school leaders can use their leadership practices to support the recruitment and retention of teachers to create inclusive, equitable schools. Hart is interested in the intersections between educational policy, school leadership, and rurality to investigate how policy design can best support rural community needs.
Hart is pursuing her doctorate in Educational Policy and Planning with the intention to support the development of rural-focused educational policy and leadership preparation that equips future education leaders for the diverse needs of rural schooling contexts.
