Professor Willis is an Associate Professor of American Studies and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D at Northwestern University, and her research focuses on access to work and maunfacturing jobs in the South.

Willis teaches numerous courses in the American Studies and Economics departments relating to service learning, women and economics, access to work, the role of the university, and a first year seminar on "Navigating America."

Professor Willis can be contacted at rachel.willis@unc.edu.