Overview: Poverty Studies Cluster Hiring Initiative

The University of Wisconsin-Madison launched the Cluster Hiring Initiative, an innovative university/state partnership, in 1998 to foster collaborative research, education, and outreach by creating new interdisciplinary areas of knowledge that cross the boundaries of existing academic departments.

The Poverty Studies Cluster was established in 2002 to enhance the interdisciplinary poverty research, education, and outreach that have long distinguished the University as a leader. It is integrated into the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP), which for 41 years has served as the nation’s original center for poverty-related multidisciplinary research, mentoring, and dissemination.

IRP is pleased to announce that the Poverty Studies Cluster is growing, with the recruitment of an assistant, associate, or full professor. The appointment will reside in a tenure-home granting department.

The cluster comprises 78 formal affiliated faculty representing a variety of disciplines, including Economics, Sociology, Social Work, Public Policy, Political Science, Human Ecology, Developmental Psychology, Educational Policy Studies, Rural Sociology, Population Health Sciences, and Law. It has been built on the quality and strengths of our current faculty, the support and resources of many colleges across campus, and the recruitment of new colleagues whose work is at the vanguard.

The cluster faculty members have not only benefited from the people and resources already at UW–Madison, but also have brought new ideas for collaborative research and new sources of funding to the Institute. These faculty have broadened the methodological and theoretical scope of core Institute and Poverty Studies Cluster activities, and have played a central role in ensuring that UW–Madison remains a national leader in poverty studies.