Faces of Michigan

Sheldon H. Danziger: Mentoring the Next Generation of Poverty Researchers

Since 1989, the Research and Training Program on Poverty and Public Policy at the University of Michigan has supported post-doctoral fellows and doctoral students who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in the social sciences. The program was founded and continues to be directed by Sheldon Danziger, the Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the National Poverty Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.

Trainees specialize in interdisciplinary research on the causes and consequences of poverty and how poverty and other socio-economic disadvantages can be ameliorated by public policies. They study a wide range of social science theories and methodological techniques in the classroom, serve as apprentice researchers under the supervision of nationally-recognized scholars, design and conduct their own research projects, and have access to the resources and research support services of the University of Michigan.

When asked why he remains committed to leading the program, Sheldon replied, “My career benefited greatly from my own postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. So, when I joined the Michigan faculty I wanted to provide that kind of mentorship to the next generation of poverty researchers.”

About three dozen young scholars have participated in the program and attained exceptional achievements; here are just a few examples: Michael Dawson (Fellow 1990-1991) is a Professor of Government and Afro-American Studies at the University of Chicago. David R. Harris (Fellow 1996-1997) is Deputy Provost, Vice Provost for Social Sciences, and Professor of Sociology at Cornell University. . Ngina Chiteji (Fellow 1997-1999) is an Associate Professor of Economics at Skidmore College. Sandra Smith (Fellow 1998-2000) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California-Berkeley. Rucker Johnson (Predoctoral fellow, 1997-2002) is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of California-Berkeley.

1997-1998 postdoctoral fellow Mary Pattillo, now a Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at Northwestern University, recalls the value of the program to her professional advancement and maturation as a scholar. “I realize how much of a boost (the Research and Training Program on Poverty and Public Policy) has been in terms of getting started in my career, and ultimately earning early tenure…. Viewing the post doc from my current vantage point, it offers something that I would contend most graduate schools do not—a mission to develop, mentor and professionalize black and Latino post-docs to become successful scholars.”

Fellows in this program have been supported over the last two decades by substantial funding from the Ford Foundation, plus grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the University of Michigan’s Presidential Initiatives Fund.