Jen Willis joined the School of Government in 2015 as assistant dean for development. Prior to that, she served as UNC-Chapel Hill’s director of public relations, representing the University before the North Carolina General Assembly and state government. Her advocacy work in public higher education also included service as the director of government relations for the North Carolina Community College System, where she developed policy issues and advocated on behalf of the system’s 58 community colleges. Her career spans into local government, where she led Wake County’s intergovernmental relations efforts and also served as a lead budget analyst for multiple county departments as well as the county’s capital improvement program. During graduate school, she began working with the North Carolina State Legislature's Fiscal Research Division, where she served as the lead legislative staff for the House and the Senate natural and economic resources appropriations committees for nearly seven years. Willis earned a B.A. in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.P.A. from North Carolina State University.
