Danielle Mulligan

Danielle Mulligan is the Associate Director of the Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC). In this role, she works with the IOC’s Executive Director and Director to help shape and carry out the center’s strategic initiatives such as the center’s new Urban-H agenda. Danielle joins the IOC from the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN), with a background in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.

Danielle brings a wealth of experience bridging the spheres of academic research, policy, and practice. As a student researcher at Tufts and Rappaport Public Policy Fellow, Danielle initiated multiple research projects in collaboration with advocacy organizations, government stakeholders, and youth. These experiences culminated in Danielle’s master’s thesis, an exploration of how young people ages 14 to 20 experience and respond to gentrification in their neighborhood of East Boston. This Youth Participatory Action Research Project was developed in partnership with four high school students living and attending high school in the East Boston neighborhood.

In her roles as the Associate Director of Chapters and Director of Membership at SSN, Danielle supported academics committed to leveraging their research for policy impact. Her projects spanned jurisdictions and policy issue areas including the social safety net and criminal justice reform. Although she enjoyed her work as a policy generalist, Danielle is excited to dive back into understanding what makes cities work — and how they can work better — in her new role at the IOC.

Outside of her work, Danielle enjoys staying active in local policy conversations and advocacy, trying new recipes, practicing yoga, and exploring the Boston area by bike.