Visiting Scholars Program, 2006-2007

About the Scholars

Four Visiting Scholars will be in residence for a one-week period at the Institute for Research on Poverty during 2006–2007.

Isaac McFarlin is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas. He will visit IRP during the week of April 19–23, 2007. His recent research has focused on minority achievement, labor market returns to schooling, inequality and economic discrimination, and peer effects. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2004. A recent paper is “Do Schoolteacher Parents Make a Difference?”

Michael Owens, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Emory University, will be in residence at IRP February 18–24, 2007. His research areas include religion and public policy, urban politics and policy, and community building and social change. He received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany in 2001. He is the author of “Which Churches Will Take Advantage of Charitable Choice? Explaining the Pursuit of Public Funding by Congregations” (Social Science Quarterly, March 2006).

Yolanda Padilla is Professor of Social Work and Women’s Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She will visit IRP March 19–24, 2007. Her professional interests are in population studies focusing on racial and ethnic disparities in health and well-being, with emphasis on Mexican American children and families, poverty, and immigration. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Michigan. She is the co-author of “Immigration in the Life Histories of Women Living in the United States-Mexico Border Region” (Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Services, 2004).

Ebonya Washington, Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University, will visit IRP November 27–December 1, 2006. Professor Washington received her Ph.D. from MIT in 2003. Her research interests lie in public economics and political economy. A recent publication is “How Black Candidates Affect Voter Turnout” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2006).