After obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, she conducted research at Stanford University before joining the UT faculty in 1990. A longtime leader on neighborhood issues, Echols helped to establish Hyde Park's Neighborhood Conservation Combining District and the successful Triangle redevelopment project. She has served on Community Advisory Groups for Corridor Planning and Capitol Metro, and on the Community Bond Oversight Committee for AISD, and currently serves on the Commercial Design Standards Taskforce. Echols serves on the board of the new affordable housing advocacy nonprofit, HousingWorks. She recently helped to organize a highly successful symposium, Affordable Housing in Downtown Austin: Oxymoron or Opportunity that was held in Austin in April.