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Cohort 1

Jurisdiction: Spindale

University: UNC-Chapel Hill

Hometown: Carrboro, NC

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.

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.

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