Katrina Bulkley currently serves as the Dean of Ball State University's Teachers College. Prior to her current role, she worked at Montclair State University, serving as a University Innovation Fellow in the office President Jonathan Koppell, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Services, and Professor of Educational Leadership.

Bulkley's research examines the intersection of policy and leadership in efforts to increase market-linked practices in education and enhance accountability and data-driven change. She studies issues around the increasing use of new governance structures and non-public actors to improve public education (with a particular focus on urban education). She is the lead author of, "Challenging the One Best System: The Portfolio Management Model and Urban School Governance" (Harvard Education Press, November, 2020). This project, funded through a Lyle Spencer Research Award by the Spencer Foundation examined the connections between system-level governance change and educational practice in Denver, Los Angeles, and New Orleans.

As a Research Partner with the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (https://www.reachcentered.org/), she is currently involved in research around state policy and choice, including the role of charter school authorizers in addressing the needs of historically marginalized populations and the impact of COVID-19 on school choice.

Bulkley's research has been published in top education journals and has been supported by funders including the Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Educational Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, and the New Jersey Department of Education.