As the former program manager for the New America Fellows Program, Rebecca Shafer managed the day-to-day operations of the program and collaborated on planning events. In addition, Shafer conducted research for the book projects of several fellows.
Previously, Shafer taught reading comprehension at a public charter school in the Washington D.C. She also participated in Teach For America as a member of the 2009 Corps, through which she taught eighth grade for two years in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Shafer holds a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Her senior thesis was a collection of stories for a creative writing sub-concentration, and she received a Hopwood Underclassmen Award and the Virginia Voss Award for her writing. In her time at Michigan, Shafer helped direct a student organization that coordinated service-learning programs in Detroit.