President of Russell Sage Foundation Second Speaker in Shepherd Program’s 20th Celebration
Washington and Lee University will host Sheldon Danziger, president of the Russell Sage Foundation, as the second speaker for the Shepherd Program’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on March 15 at 4:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theatre.
Following the theme “Poverty, Inequality and Work Today,” the talk is titled “Poverty, Inequality and Public Policies: Reflections on the End of the Safety Net As We Know It.” The talk is free and open to the public.
Danziger’s research focuses on social welfare policies and the effects of economic, demographic and public policy changes on trends in poverty and inequality.
“Sheldon Danziger is one of the most respected scholars in the social sciences examining the causes and consequences of poverty in the United States and the role that public policies have played in both preventing poverty and assisting those below the poverty line,” said Art Goldsmith, Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Economics.
Three of Danziger’s books have been selected as Noteworthy Books in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics by Princeton University’s Industrial Relations Section: “The Price of Independence: The Economics of Early Adulthood” (2007); “Working and Poor: How Economic Conditions and Policy Changes Affect Low-Wage Workers” (2006); and “America Unequal,” co-authored with Peter Gottschalk (1995).
From 1989 through 2013, Danziger directed the research and training program on poverty and public policy at the University of Michigan, geared toward developing the careers of emerging scholars from underrepresented groups.
In addition to being president of the Russell Sage Foundation, which supports social science research “for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States,” he is also the Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.
Beginning in 1997, the Shepherd Program’s focus is on the various causes and consequences of poverty as well as on our individual and collective responsibilities to address the problems associated with poverty.
“At the heart of a Shepherd education is a greater understanding of how economic, social and political realities affect the precariously employed, the unemployed and the communities in which we all live,” said Howard Pickett, assistant professor and director of the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability, and adjunct professor of law.
The Shepherd Program integrates thought and action in direct service to disadvantaged communities. Through an array of courses and service opportunities, it prepares students from a variety of majors and political perspectives to work with those communities to address the problems associated with poverty.
The event is sponsored by the Shepherd Program, the Mudd Center, the Economics Department, the Office of the Provost and the University Lectures Series.
