Stephanie For ACC

Stephanie Gharakhanian is a first-generation American, an attorney, and a community organizer. She was elected by the voters of the Austin Community College District as the Trustee for Place 8 in December 2018.  

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Stephanie believes that Austin Community College can be a leader in confronting economic inequality and lack of affordability in Central Texas.  She is running for a second term so she can continue to be a champion for working families on ACC’s Board of Trustees.

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During her first term on the ACC Board, Stephanie led efforts to make ACC more affordable, strengthen wrap-around services for ACC students, and improve wages and benefits for ACC employees. She has been a strong proponent of ACC’s Free Tuition Pilot and ACC’s Affordability Scholarship, expanding access to child care, health care, and housing for ACC students, raising ACC’s minimum wage, and implementing a 12-week paid parental leave policy for ACC employees.

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In her career, Stephanie has been a consistent advocate for living wages for all, creating workforce development pipelines, and reducing inequality in Central Texas. As an attorney, she has represented low-wage workers who are victims of wage theft and other abuses at work. During her eight years as a director at Workers Defense Project, Stephanie led campaigns to win higher wages and safer jobs for Texas workers. She has a proven track record of collaborating with both elected officials and local communities to achieve concrete gains for working people.

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Stephanie earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame. She received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Northeastern University School of Law as a Public Interest Law Scholar and earned her law degree in 2013.

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She lives in North Central Austin with her partner Nick and their two young kids.