Research

Barbara Gault, Ph.D., Vice President & Director of Research

Areas of expertise: Early care and education, poverty, welfare, and the psychology of political attitudes and actions.

gault at iwpr.org

Barbara Gault, Ph.D., is the Vice President and Director of Research of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Since joining the Institute in 1997 she has focused on a wide range of issues of importance to women and their families, including poverty, access to education, health, work-life balance, political engagement, and the need for expanded preschool and child care options for working parents. Her publications include Resilient and Reaching for More: Challenges and Benefits of Higher Education for Welfare Participants and Their Children, "The Costs and Benefits of Policies to Advance Work Life Integration" as well as The Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast: Multiple Disadvantages and Key Assets for Recovery, The Price of School Readiness: A Tool for Estimating the Cost of Universal Preschool in the States; and Working First But Working Poor: The Need for Education and Training Following Welfare Reform. She has testified in Congress on low-income women’s educational access, has spoken on women’s issues in venues throughout the country, and has appeared in a range of print, radio and television media outlets. Prior to joining IWPR, Dr. Gault conducted research at the Office of Children’s Health Policy Research and served as a staff and board member of organizations promoting human rights in Latin America. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. from the University of Michigan. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Coalition on Human Needs, and is a Research Professor of Women’s Studies at the George Washington University.

Sunhwa Lee, Ph.D., Director of Aging and Family Income Security Programs

Areas of expertise: Older women's economics and welfare families.

Dr. Sunhwa Lee, Director of Aging and Family Income Security Programs, earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago, where she focused on gender inequalities in East Asian labor markets (e.g., South Korea and Japan). At IWPR, she works on many projects that analyze data from national surveys. Her recent projects include research on the impact of disabilities on women’s work participation, and the importance of work supports on women’s job retention. Dr. Lee’s research also focuses on older women’s economic issues including Social Security preservation, access to pensions, employment, and poverty issues. Before joining IWPR, she was in faculty at the Sociology Department of American University, and taught courses on social/economic inequalities, family, and social research methods.

Vicky Lovell, Ph.D., Director of Employment and Work/Life Programs

Areas of expertise: Pay Equity and the Wage Gap, Women's Employment, Family and Medical Leave, and Unemployment Insurance.

Dr. Lovell earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Portland State University, with a focus on women and work. She specializes in issues related to employment, wages and discrimination. Her newest project provides research support and technical assistance to policymakers, advocates and researchers working on family leave issues.  She is also conducting research on how the unemployment insurance system can be reformed to better support women and low-wage workers and maintains an on-going involvement with issues related to pay equity and the gender wage gap.

Jane Henrici, Ph.D., Study Director

Jane Henrici, Ph.D., is an anthropologist who studies gender and ethnicity and their relationship to policy and development. She received her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996; her doctoral and early postdoctoral research focused on the effects of development tourism and non-profit export projects in Peru. Between 1998-2000, Dr. Henrici was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Research Scientist working with an interdisciplinary project on the effects of welfare reform in the US (Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study). Based on material from that project, Dr. Henrici co-authored with Ronald Angel and Laura Lein Poor Families in America’s Health Care Crisis: How the Other Half Pays (Cambridge 2006) and edited Doing Without: Women and Work after Welfare Reform (Arizona 2006). In 2006, she began an investigation of job training for women in Memphis funded by a Faculty Research Grant from the University of Memphis, and returned to her earlier interest in development and women in Peru supported by a Fulbright Award as Visiting Lecturer at Catholic University in Lima. She has published on women and poverty, health care, job training, tourism development, free trade, and non-profits/NGOs. Currently, Dr. Henrici is completing her qualitative research on Memphis women, trade, and workforce development for a policy brief and article and expanding on her research on women and international tourism and trade in an article and book in progress. She is also starting new research, on women public housing residents from post-Katrina New Orleans. Jane Henrici is a faculty member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University.

Erica Williams, Study Director

Contact her with questions about: Status of Women in the States reports, general research, and information requests.

Erica Williams is a study director at IWPR and has worked with the Institute since 2004. She earned her MA in International Policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, with a Certificate in Gender and Development, and double majored in Sociology and Spanish Studies as an undergraduate at Santa Clara University. Ms. Williams manages IWPR’s Status of Women in the States project and engages in research and analysis for a number of the Institute's other projects. While at IWPR she has authored and co-authored a number of reports on the status of women and girls, the well-being of women in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and the cost and demand for early care and education. Ms. Williams also coordinates the activities of IWPR’s Working Group on Women's Public Vision for the Institute's project on Politics, Religion, and Women's Public Vision and serves as IWPR's liaison and co-chair to the Domestic Priorities Task Force of the National Council of Women's Organizations.

Ariane Hegewisch, Scholar in Residence

Areas of expertise: policies supporting work-family reconciliation and gender equality in employment in OECD countries; pay equity

Contact her with questions about: Status of Women in the States reports, work/life issues, and information requests

Ariane Hegewisch has been a scholar-in- residence at IWPR since October 2006. She is a specialist in comparative human resource management, with a focus on policies and legislative approaches to facilitate greater work family reconciliation and gender equality in developed economies. She also has a particular interest in public sector developments. Prior to coming to the USA she taught comparative European human resource management at Cranfield School of Management in the UK and worked as a policy advisor on gender and employment in local government in the UK. She is German and holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the IDS, Sussex. She is also an international associate of the Center for WorkLife Law, U.C Hastings.

Avis Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D., Affiliated Scholar

Areas of expertise: Welfare reform, poverty reduction, and issues surrounding race and gender inequality.

Avis Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D., is former the Director of Poverty, Education, and Social Justice Programs at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and recently joined the National Council of Negro Women as the Director of the Research, Public Policy, and Information Center for African American Women. She is contiuing her connection to IWPR as an Affiliated Scholar. Her work examines the causes and consequences of poverty on the well-being of low-income women and families while identifying effective programmatic strategies that result in poverty reduction. Dr. Jones-DeWeever has authored or coauthored numerous publications including When the Spirit Blooms: Acquiring Higher Education in the Context of Welfare Reform; Saving Ourselves: African American Women and the HIV/AIDS Crisis; and The Women of New Orleans and the Golf Coast: Multiple Disadvantages and Key Assets for Recovery. A highly sought-after speaker, Dr. Jones-DeWeever’s policy perspectives have been distributed through a variety of media outlets including CNN, ABC News Now, National Public Radio, BBC Radio International and the New York Times. Her areas of expertise include poverty in urban communities, inequality of educational opportunity, and the impact of welfare reform on women and communities of color. Dr. Jones-DeWeever received her Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund.

Lois Shaw, Ph.D., Senior Consulting Economist
shaw at iwpr.org

Areas of expertise: Contact her with questions about: Social Security, older women's issues

Angela Carlberg, Mariam K Chamberlain Fellow

Angela Carlberg joined IWPR in October 2007 as a Mariam K. Chamberlain Fellow. She is a 2007 graduate from Elon University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Public Administration and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. During college, she became increasingly aware of the global disparities encountered by communities and individuals as well as the diverse nature of solutions.  Much of her focus related to the institutional and social structures that affect policies undergone by disadvantaged groups. Angela studied abroad in South Africa during her winter term in 2007. While observing the culture, she analyzed the similarities and differences of race and gender relations in the US with those of post-Apartheid South Africa. Last summer, Angela was chosen to participate in the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University where she primed her research composition and statistical skills. Her paper titled “Stand by Your Man(Hood): Implications of Male-Identification Among African-American Men and Women” analyzed black opinions toward AIDS, its origins and its upholding within the black community. Her paper was then selected to be presented at the 2006 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Angela also presented her paper at Elon University’s Student Undergraduate Research Forum. Before venturing out to the east coast, Angela lived in Sioux Falls, SD. Angela has an intense desire to learn and plans to continue her education in the social policy field.

Kevin Miller, Research Consultant

Kevin Miller holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and political science from the University of Illinois and is currently a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the Ohio State University. During the time he spent at IWPR as a summer research intern, he worked on projects relating to state preschool expansions, the status of girls, and family, friend, and neighbor child care. When IWPR offered to keep him on as a consultant, he happily accepted. While not working on projects for the Institute, Kevin is completing his dissertation on religious beliefs, beliefs about the nature of homosexuality, and the personal and political attitudes people hold about gay men and lesbians.

Lynette Osborne, Ph.D., Research Associate

Area of Expertise: gender and engineering, higher education, pedagogy, family and intimate relationships

Lynette Osborne earned her Ph.D. in sociology with an emphasis in Women's Studies from Purdue University in 2006. Her dissertation research focused on gender and the classroom climate in engineering education with particular attention to peer culture and use of student-centered teaching techniques by faculty. Dr. Osborne joined the Institute for Women's Policy Research in May 2007 as a Research Associate and has been assisting on several projects including those on universal day care systems, paid sick leave, the status of girls in Minnesota, consent decrees and workplace environment, and encouraging girls to explore engineering as a college major and occupation.

Claudia Williams, Research Assistant

Claudia Williams joined IWPR in August 2007 as a Mariam K. Chamberlain Fellow. She studied Economics at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Her interests are focused on gender, poverty and development. She participated in the Mexican Colloquium of Mathematical Economy and Econometrics with a paper titled “Gender Wage Gap in Mexico”; where using the Mexican Family Life Survey she stduied gender and returns to education among Mexian adults. Claudia studied abroad in Montreal in the fall of 2005 where she took a women’s studies class and focused her research on feminist economics. She was part of an American University summer institute program in the summer of 2005 where she got involved with North American issues. Before joining IWPR she lived in Metepec, Mexico and worked full time as a research assistant at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Claudia is excited about learning and working on women's issues and living in DC. Claudia enjoys running, yoga, reading and writing in her blog.

Development

Ryan Koch, Development Associate

Contact him with questions about: fundraising, foundations, and grant information

Ryan Koch joined IWPR in 2007 as the Development Associate. He earned his MS in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin and as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech he majored in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. His area of study and interest has been and remains focused on issues of race, class and gender. Ryan comes to the IWPR after several years successfully writing grant proposals for the City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development and the Memphis Housing Authority. He spent most of his time working with the Housing Authority's Humans Services programs and the City's homeless Continuum of Care. Ryan is responsible for ensuring the Development Department runs smoothly and is excited about helping IWPR identify new funding opportunities and expanding its support.

Elisabeth Crum, Communications and Outreach Coordinator

Contact her with questions about: Internships, fellowships, press releases, and membership information

Elisabeth Crum currently serves as the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Institute. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Gender Studies from Indiana University in May of 2006. Her senior honors thesis in history combined oral interviews and archival research to produce a study on feminist activism in the state of Indiana from the 1960s to the 1980s. During the summer of 2005 she interned with the National Organization for Women where she helped at the Annual Conference and worked on several other task forces. Her current duties include maintaining the Institute’s website and public relations, coordinating and editing the quarterly newsletter, maintaining IWPR’s Information Network, and facilitating the Institute’s publications. She also serves as IWPR’s liason to the Media and Technology Task Force of the National Council of Women’s Organizations as well as the DC Women’s Agenda. Elisabeth studied abroad in Florence her junior year of college and took the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe. She is continuing her education at The George Washington University where she'll earn her Master's Degree in Public Policy with a concentration in Women's Studies.

Ashley English, Special Assistant to Dr. Heidi Hartmann

Ashley English currently serves as the Special Assistant to Dr. Heidi Hartmann. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science with Honors at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Ashley's senior honors thesis used popular conceptions of gender roles and equal opportunity to explain why popular discussions about Title IX focus on athletics, not academics. Prior to joining IWPR, Ashley served as the Campaign Manager for State Representative Barbara L'Italien (Massachusetts) and then as the Public Policy Specialist for Citizen Schools (Boston, Massachusetts). When she is not hard at work at IWPR, Ashley enjoys running, ultimate Frisbee, books, and the Sunday New York Times

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IWPR Board of Directors

Martha Darling, Chair
Educational Policy Consultant

Lenora Cole, Secretary
University of Maryland University College

Esmeralda O. Lyn, Treasurer
Hofstra University

Cynthia Lloyd, Secretary
Population Council

Heidi Hartmann, President
Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Bill Baer
Bloomingdale's

Mariam Chamberlain
National Council for Research on Women

Daisy Chin-Lor
Birks & Mayors, Inc.

Bob Corti
Avon Foundation

Ellen Delany
Delany, Siegel, Zorn & Associates, Inc.

Holly Fechner
Covington & Burling LLP

Irasema Garza
Legal Momentum

Lynn Gitlitz
Business Development Consultant

David A. Goslin, PhD.
American Institutes for Research

Carol Greene
Goldens Bridge, NY

Yvonne Jackson
BeecherJackson

Susan Meade
Phillips Oppenheim

Emily van Agtmael
Van Agtmael Interiors

Sheila W. Wellington
New York University

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IWPR Program Advisory Committee

Barbara Bergmann
American University

Nancy Duff Campbell
National Women’s Law Center

Joe Cordes
The George Washington University

Nikki Daruwala
American Rights at Work

Cynthia Deitch
The George Washington University

David Fasenfest
Wayne State University

Sarah Gotbaum
SCG Associates

Caren Grown
American University

Cindy Hall
Women’s Policy, Inc

Cynthia Harrison
The George Washington University

Rufina Hernandez
National Education Association

Catherine Hill
American Association of University Women

Lisalyn Jacobs
Legal Momentum

Gwendolyn Keita
American Psychological Association

Joan Kuriansky
Wider Opportunities for Women

Sara Melendez
The George Washington University

Daniel Moshenberg
The George Washington University

Christine Owens
National Employment Law Project

Afeefa Syeed
Al Fatih Academy

Elena Silva
Education Sector

Deborah Weinstein
Coalition on Human Needs

Nancy Zirkin
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

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Dr. Linda Williams, In Memoriam

In October of 2006 the world lost an amazing trailblazer, scholar, and activist, Dr. Linda Faye Williams. Dr. Williams was a longtime member of IWPR’s Program Advisory Committee and a Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. She was the author of two highly acclaimed books: From Exclusion to Inclusion: The Long Struggle for African American Political Power with her husband Dr. Ralph Gomes, and the ground-breaking work Constraint Of Race: Legacies Of White Skin Privilege In America which won the W.E.B. DuBois Best Book Award and the Michael Harrington Best Book Award, and was named the Best Book of 2004 on Public Policy and Race and Ethnicity by the American Political Science Association (APSA). Most recently, Dr. Williams received the APSA Women’s Caucus Outstanding Mentorship Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from APSA’s Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession.

Dr. Williams was the first African American undergraduate to enroll and graduate from Rice University. She then went on to complete her doctoral work at the University of Chicago and served on the faculties of Howard, Cornell and Brandeis Universities. Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland, Dr. Williams held a Weiner Research Fellowship at Harvard University and served as Associate Director of Research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. At Maryland, she co-founded the Democracy Collaborative’s Diversity, Democracy, and Voice Initiative and worked tirelessly as a devoted mentor to the next generation of African-American scholar/activists. We will all miss her sharp intellect, indomitable spirit, keen wit, unwavering friendship, and passion for creating change through bold action.

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