Kristin (Kricky) Ksiazek is a civic researcher and High Road Program Coordinator with the Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab, bringing years of experience in education, nonprofit leadership, community research, and civic engagement. She is Seneca, Hawk Clan and Polish. She holds a Master of Public Affairs from Cornell University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of New Mexico, and a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
She directs Cornell’s Buffalo High Road Fellowship Program, a 20-year, longstanding engaged-learning initiative that connects Cornell and, as of 2025, also SUNY Buffalo State University undergraduates with community organizations in Western New York. She co-teaches ILRGL 3052, the High Road Fellowship pre-course, which explores economic and community development, post-industrial cities, civic engagement, data collection and sharing, community-based participatory research, racial equity, narrative, and storytelling. She centers community members as experts and partners in research.
She has published research on the social-sector labor market, Indigenous communities in Western New York, workplace ownership models, and the experiences of Black women in the workplace in Buffalo-Niagara.