Kristen Rosa Houlahan has an extensive background in the education field and has dedicated her professional career to serving schools. Before attending law school, Ms. Rosa Houlahan was a Teach for America fellow, earning her alternative teaching certification to stay in the classroom beyond TFA’s two-year commitment. She taught high school ELA and Psychology, and sat on the Building Leadership Team as chair of the school’s English Department. Ms. Rosa Houlahan then worked at a prominent NYC education nonprofit, assisting the administrative teams of public schools who served over-age and under-credited students with continuous-improvement coaching support, data analysis, and workforce readiness program development.

She earned her J.D. and M. Ed in Education Leadership and Policy concurrently through the dual degree program at Boston College Law School and Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. During law school, Ms. Rosa Houlahan worked for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Philadelphia Office of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), as a student attorney in BC’s Juvenile Rights Advocacy Program, and served for two years as Teaching Assistant for the 1L legal research and writing class. She also received a year-long research fellowship through the Rappaport Foundation to focus on analysis and development of an improved legal standard to prevent derivative disclosure of protected student information in response to public record requests.

When not practicing law, Ms. Rosa Houlahan enjoys spending time with her family, rockhounding, and keeping her illustration skills sharp.