Sarah Caitlin Halpern-Meekin
(Sociology & Social Policy, June 2009)
Thesis Title: A Relationship Legacy: The Intergenerational Transmission of Marriage and Divorce
Committee: Kathryn Edin (chair), William Julius Wilson, and Martin K. Whyte
Initial Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Center for Family & Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University (2009-2010); Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Franklin & Marshall College (2010-2011); Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011-2013)
Current Position: Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
I am a sociologist who uses qualitative and quantitative methods to study romantic relationships and low-income families’ finances, as well as government policies directed at both of these areas. My current research includes examining how social poverty—or lacking adequate relational resources—shapes people’s wellbeing and decisions; understanding the lives of prime-age men who are out of the labor force (neither working nor seeking a formal job); studying the role of relationship churning—on-again/off-again relationships—in the lives of parents and their children; and longitudinally following how poor mothers of babies experience a program that provides them with monthly unconditional cash gifts.