#  Sarah Caitlin Halpern-Meekin 

 

 



   ![meekin](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/sociology/files/sarah-halpern-meekin.jpg?itok=ubbEclkA) 

 



 

 laptop\_windows [Sarah Halpern-Meekin's Website](https://sohe.wisc.edu/staff/sarah-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](https://sohe.wisc.edu/staff/sarah-halpern-meekin/)

 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.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Alumni Ladder Track Institution Type
    
     [Public Policy](/alumni-ladder-track-institution-type/public-policy)
- ## Alumni Position Type
    
     [R1](/alumni-position-type/r1)
- ## Early Placement (Alumni only)
    
     [Postdoctoral Fellow](/early-placement-alumni-only/postdoctoral-fellow)
- ## Alumni category (for alumni profiles only)
    
     [Doctor of Philosophy](/profile-alumni/doctor-philosophy)