Dr. Eppley is a former 5th grade teacher. Her research interest is at the intersection of literacy education and rural education. Her work explores ideas around rural literacies, textual representations of rurality, rural education as a matter of social justice, and policy analysis. She regularly presents at conferences such as National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the Literacy Research Association (LRA). She is the chair of the American Educational Research Association Rural Special Interest Group (SIG) and edits the Journal of Research in Rural Education. Her work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, and the Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy.