Darian Burns

Legislative and Public Policy Analyst

Darian Burns joined the Southern Education Foundation in August 2022 as a legislative and public policy analyst on the government affairs and advocacy team. She supports the senior director of public policy in monitoring and advancing equitable education policies across the South that align with the values and mission of SEF. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where she served as a Research Assistant at the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative. She co-authored a brief on making higher education more equitable and accessible for students from low-income families. A Public Policy International Affairs (PPIA) program alumna, Darian was also a literacy tutor working with kindergarteners and first-graders for American Reads. Darian holds a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University, where she was a two-time NCAA Division II National Champion gymnast, a 12-time All-American, and named the 2020 NCAA Division II Gymnast of the Year. In graduate school at the University of Michigan, she was also on the 2022 Intermediate Co-ed National-Championship cheerleading team. She is a coach and mentor for Brown Girls Do Gymnastics, which supported the nation’s first HBCU collegiate gymnastics program at Fisk University.