H. Luke Shaefer
Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy, Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean, School of Social Work, Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy, Center Director, Poverty Center and Adjunct Professor of Law, Law School
H. Luke Shaefer, Ph.D. is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is also a professor of social work and the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty. Through his role at Poverty Solutions, Shaefer acts as a special counselor on anti-poverty policy to the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Shaefer’s research on poverty and social welfare policy in the United States has been published in top peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of public policy, social work, public health, health services research, and history, and his work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau among other sources. He has presented his research at the White House and before numerous federal agencies, has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and has advised a number of the nation’s largest human service providers.
His work has been cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, and Los Angeles Times, and he has been featured on such programs as Marketplace and CNBC’s Nightly Business Report. His book with Kathryn Edin, “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2015 by the New York Times Book Review, and won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism among other awards. He was recently named to an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Shaefer received his BA in politics from Oberlin College and AM and PhD from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.
Shaefer’s research on poverty and social welfare policy in the United States has been published in top peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of public policy, social work, public health, health services research, and history, and his work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau among other sources. He has presented his research at the White House and before numerous federal agencies, has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and has advised a number of the nation’s largest human service providers.
His work has been cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, and Los Angeles Times, and he has been featured on such programs as Marketplace and CNBC’s Nightly Business Report. His book with Kathryn Edin, “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2015 by the New York Times Book Review, and won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism among other awards. He was recently named to an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Shaefer received his BA in politics from Oberlin College and AM and PhD from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.
Research Interests/Focus
Social safety net, low-wage workers, economically disadvantage families, non-profit management
Contact Information
| Phone | Room | Address | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (734) 936-5065 | lshaefer@umich.edu | 2792 SSWB | University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ann Arbor, MI 48109 |
Education
| Year | Degree | School | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | PhD | Social Service Administration | University of Chicago, Illinois |
| 2005 | MA | Social Service Administration | University of Chicago, Illinois |
| 2001 | BA | Politics | Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH |
Websites
| Poverty Solutions |
Allard, S. W., Wathen, M. V., Shaefer, H. L., & Danziger, S. K. (in press). Neighborhood Food Infrastructure and Food Security in Metropolitan Detroit. Journal of Consumer Affairs.
Shaefer, H. L., Garfinkel, I., Harris, D., Waldfogel, J., Wimer, C., & Wu, P. (2017). Convert the child tax credit into a universal child allowance: A policy action to reduce extreme economic inequality. Grand Challenges for Social Work: Policy Action Statement.
Lein, L., Danziger, S. K., Shaefer, H. L., & Tillotson, A. (2016). Social Policy, Transfers, Programs and Assistance. In D. Brady & L. Burton (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edin, K. & Shaefer, H. L. (2015). $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Shaefer, H. L., Edin, K. & Talbert, E. (2015). Understanding the dynamics of $2-a-Day poverty in the United States. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 1(1), 120-138.
Shaefer, H. L., Song, X., & Williams Shanks, T. R. (2013). Do single mothers use the Earned Income Tax Credit to reduce unsecured debt? Review of Economics of the Household, 11(4), 659-680.
Shaefer, H. L. & Boudreaux, T. (2012). Private charitable giving during economic recessions. Families in Society, 93(1), 5-10.
Shaefer, H. L., & Ybarra, M. (2012). The welfare reforms of the 1990s and the stratification of material well-being among low-income households with children. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), 1810-1817.
Sammons, E. D., Shaefer, H. L., & Ybarra, M. (2011). The Children’s Bureau and the passage of the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921: Early social work macro practice in action. Families in Society, 92(4), 358-363.
Shaefer, H. L. (2011). [Review of the book Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship 3rd Ed by Soraya M. Coley & Cynthia A. Scheinberg]. Administration in Social Work, 35(5), 551-552.
Shaefer, H. L. (2010). [Review of the book Minimum wages]. Journal of Social Policy, 39(2), 330-332.
Shaefer, H. L., DeLand, M., & Jones, T. R. (2010). Leading collaborations: Creating strategic alliances, strategic restructuring via mergers, acquisitions, and integration. In K. A. Agard (Ed.), Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan
