Mericel Mirabal

Mericel Mirabal is a Master of Public Policy student and Kohn Scholar at the University of Michigan. She is the proud daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic and a first-generation college graduate. Raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, a historically impoverished and majority-Latino community, Mericel saw firsthand how the systems and policies surrounding marginalized communities can either create pathways to opportunity or reinforce existing inequities. These experiences shaped her commitment to public service and her belief in the importance of building policies and institutions that expand opportunity for communities too often left behind.

Prior to graduate school, Mericel worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Department of Education, where she supported senior leadership and gained experience in federal policy, research, and stakeholder engagement. Her work in the federal government deepened her interest in how policies are designed, communicated, and translated into practice, as well as how they can be strengthened to better serve historically marginalized communities.

At the University of Michigan, she is developing expertise in quantitative and qualitative analysis and evidence-based policymaking within the social policy field. Her academic and professional interests center on improving the systems and policies that shape opportunity for historically marginalized communities, particularly first-generation students, multilingual learners, immigrant families, and low-income populations.

Mericel earned her bachelor's degree from Lehigh University, graduating magna cum laude in Sociology and Latin American & Latino Studies.