Colleen Pawlicki (she/her) is the Founder and Principal of Troy Street Professional Services, a qualitative research, evaluation, and writing firm. Her research focuses on using qualitative and phenomenological methods to help practitioners and leaders better understand complex human systems. Dr. Pawlicki served as the principal researcher on a phenomenological study of The McConnell Scholars Program with The McConnell Foundation, culminating in the book, Understanding the Phenomenon: A Qualitative Investigation of the McConnell Scholars Program (2024). She has also served as the lead evaluator on work with the Arizona Center for Community College Success, Mentors in Tech, and Jobs for the Future.
Colleen has collaborated with Bragg and Associates, University of Washington, and Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) on numerous projects relating to community college bachelor’s degrees, including: Measures of Quality for Community College Bachelor’s Degree Programs: A Literature Review (2023), Elements of Quality For Community College Bachelor’s Degree Programs: Thought Paper (2023), Considerations for Scaling Up Quality Community College Baccalaureate Degrees (2024), How Much Less? Examining the Tuition and Fees of Bachelor’s Degrees Offered by Community Colleges (2025), and the Community College Baccalaureate Degree Playbook (2026).
Before opening Troy Street, Colleen taught high school English in Chicago Public Schools, led the Urban Program at Indiana University, a teacher preparation program for pre-service teachers aiming to teach in urban schools, and served in the Office of Special Education at the Department of Education. Pawlicki holds a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University in English Education and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in Education Policy.