Skip to content

Walker Harrison

Cohort 1

Jurisdiction: Spindale

University: UNC-Chapel Hill

Hometown: Carrboro, NC

Biography

Walker Harrison served as a fellow for the Town of Spindale, where he conducted a large ordinance overhaul project by conducting extensive research and consolidating information to inform updated Town ordinances. He also helped plan the grand opening of Spindale’s Thermal Belt Rail Trail and was invited to speak to state legislative staff members about his work on walkability and business vitality in Spindale. Additionally, he contributed to a project that spatially referenced all tax-delinquent properties in the Town, providing a visual representation of property tax data.

Before LFNC

Harrison earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from UNC-Chapel Hill, with a concentration on environmental systems and geospatial analysis. As an undergraduate, he received multiple awards for innovative use of geospatial (GIS) analysis in his research. He also completed a minor in German at Universität Mannheim in Germany. While at Carolina, Harrison worked as a science educator and mascot at Morehead Planetarium and as a research assistant at UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center.

News

June 18, 2025
From Student to Public Servant

In August 2024, Paloma Garcia-Serrano stepped into the Foothills Regional Commission for her first day of work as a Lead for North Carolina Fellow. Lead for NC is a leadership development program…

News

June 11, 2025
The Role of Social Capital in Public Art

Written by: Skye Allan (Lead for North Carolina Cohort 3 Alum) In small towns held together by close ties and limited resources, projects and initiatives succeed or fail based on…

News

April 14, 2025
NC Fellows Advancing Language Access

After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill and NC State University in 2024, Kristy Nguyen and Anu Mishra were selected to be part of a unique local government fellowship program based…

Join a New Generation of Public Service Leaders

North Carolina communities are ready for you.

Get started
AmeriCorps

Knapp-Sanders Building
Campus Box 3330
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3330

© 2024 Lead for North Carolina. All rights reserved.