Erin Davis Valdez

Erin Davis Valdez is the Executive Director of the Center for Education at Public Service Incubator at the University of Austin. She has been passionate about the transformational power of education all her life, having been given the gift of being homeschooled. She taught for over a decade in Austin-area schools and served as an assistant principal at a charter school in the DFW area. These experiences have given her the opportunity to see first-hand how students can thrive when they have excellent options. Valdez’s subsequent work in educational philanthropy and policy focused on expanding choices in higher education and K12, with a special emphasis on postsecondary and workforce programs in Texas.   Valdez earned an M.A. in classics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.A. in classical studies from Hillsdale College. She studied in Athens, Greece her junior year and worked as an excavator at the Agora archaeological site for three seasons.  Valdez has lived in the Austin area (on and off) since 1990, which counts as “native” these days.  She enjoys cooking, reading, volunteering, and spending time with her husband Jeremy, her family, friends, and cocker spaniel, Scoops.