Allison Muhlendorf BA'05

Allison Muhlendorf’s advocacy has helped more than 88,000 four-year-olds gain the opportunity to enroll in Alabama’s nationally-recognized, high-quality pre-kindergarten program. After joining the Alabama School Readiness Alliance as executive director in 2012, Allison worked with business and community leaders to develop a visionary set of recommendations for expanding high-quality, voluntary pre-k to all Alabama families. As a result, state lawmakers have increased investments in Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program have grown from $19 million to $151 million over the past decade, and the percentage of children enrolled has grown from six percent of four-year-olds statewide to 42 percent. Before joining ASRA, Muhlendorf worked with Pre-K Now, a national campaign of The Pew Charitable Trusts. She has also worked in the Oregon State Senate, and at Oregon’s Children’s Institute. Allison holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Willamette University and a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Maryland.