PROFILE   |   Maria Ishaq Khan

Maria Ishaq Khan Research Associate

Maria Ishaq Khan serves as a Research Associate for the National Association of System Heads (NASH). A Fulbright scholar, Dr. Khan specializes in educational policy with a focus on improvement science, equity in education, student success, higher education leadership, systemness, and international educational development. She brings over fifteen years of experience in research, teaching, and project management in P-16 education.

Dr. Khan previously served as a Postdoctoral Associate at NYKids, a research-practice partnership at the University at Albany, SUNY, where she employed improvement science approaches to enhance educational outcomes. As the former Assistant Director of the Systems Center at the University at Albany, SUNY, she managed a range of projects centered on improvement science, higher education leadership, student success, equity, and community partnerships. Her work included supporting NASH’s Taking Student Success to Scale (TS3) initiative, the Systems Leadership Academy, and the Big Rethink.

Additionally, Dr. Khan has briefly worked at the SUNY SAIL Institute, which supports higher education leaders through various programs and services across SUNY and beyond. She is dedicated to action-oriented research, tackling complex problems in education policy and practice. A strong advocate of systemness and collective impact, Dr. Khan is committed to transformative social change. She engages with grassroots communities to amplify the voices of marginalized populations and to close opportunity gaps for students.

Dr. Khan holds a PhD in Education Policy and Leadership and an MS in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University at Albany, SUNY. She also holds an MS in Accounting and Finance and a B.Sc in Mathematics from Kinnaird College for Women, Pakistan.