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3 students sitting across a desk from a smiling professor

Research & Faculty

Our faculty and doctoral students gather data to answer some of the most pressing questions in clinical social work, social policy, social welfare administration, and community development.
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Reuben Miller, a male-presenting person, smiles towards the camera while standing outdoors.
Reuben Jonathan Miller
Associate Professor in the Crown Family School and Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation; Associated Faculty, Sociology

A 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Reuben Jonathan Miller's research examines how racialized and poor people experience law, crime control, and social welfare policy. His first book, "Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration" is based on 15 years of research and practice with currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, their families, partners, and friends in Chicago, Detroit, and a number of cities across the United States.

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Nicole Marwell, a female-presenting person, smiles towards the camera in a library.
Nicole P. Marwell
Associate Professor, Faculty Director, SSL Program; Associated Faculty, Sociology

Marwell's research examines a range of questions about urban governance, with a focus on the diverse intersections between nonprofit organizations, government bureaucracies, communities, and politics. 

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Alida Bouris, a female-presenting person, smiles towards the camera against a dark-gray background.
Alida M. Bouris
Associate Professor; Co-Director, The Chicago Center for HIV Elimination

As a social work scholar, Dr. Bouris's research is broadly focused on the relationship between social context and health, with a particular emphasis on understanding how social inequality, social networks, and social support shape the health and well-being of historically excluded and marginalized youth and adult populations. The overall goal of Dr. Bouris's research agenda is to develop effective and sustainable interventions that can address existing inequities in mental health, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse.

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Shanta Robinson, a female-presenting person, smiles towards the camera in a library.
Shantá R Robinson
Assistant Professor

Robinson’s research interests include the role of social identity in marginalized students’ educational experiences, aspirations, and outcomes; empirical investigations of marginalized student achievement and underachievement; inequities in the distribution of educational resources; and the history, culture, and social organization of K-12 educational institutions.

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Julia Henly, a female-presenting person, smiles towards the camera in a library.
Julia R Henly
Professor; Deputy Dean for Research and Faculty Development; Co-Director, Employment Instability, Family Well-being, and Social Policy Network

Henly’s scholarship advances understanding of the economic and caregiving strategies of low-income families, with particular attention to the prevalence and consequences of volatile and unpredictable work schedules, the impact of parental work schedules on children's care arrangements, and how well child care subsidies and other public benefits serve low-income families.

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Alan Zarychta wearing a tie and suit jacket in front of library shelves
Alan Zarychta
Assistant Professor

Zarychta's research focuses on the politics of social services in Central and South America, especially in the areas of public health and environmental policy. Most broadly, he investigates the sources and effects of institutional reforms aiming to improve local service delivery—how public sector reforms are targeted, the contextual conditions that shape their effectiveness, and whether such reforms can fundamentally alter local governance systems.

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Susan Lambert, a female-presenting person, smiles towards the camera against a light-gray background.
Susan J. Lambert
Professor; Co-Director of the Employment Instability, Family Well-Being, and Social Policy Scholars Network (EINet)

Lambert’s research focuses on employer practices and how they shape the quality of hourly jobs, the lives of low-paid workers, and inequality in society. Her research includes comparative organizational case-studies and randomized workplace experiments as well as analyses of national data on the prevalence of precarious scheduling practices in today’s US labor market.

Faculty Books
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Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration

Spotlight 

Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration

Reuben Jonathan Miller, Associate Professor and 2022 MacArthur Fellow

Informed by 15 years of research and practice and Miller's experience as the son and brother of incarcerated men, Halfway Home captures the stories of the men, women, and communities fighting against a system that is designed for them to fail.

Community Partnerships
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At Crown Family School, we partner with community organizations across Chicago to make an impact in the city we call home.

Featured Partners

Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention

CityKey

The Chicago Fathers and Sons Project

Institute, Centers and Networks

The mission of the Urban Education Institute is to produce knowledge to create reliably excellent urban schooling.

As an interdisciplinary, collaborative Center, CHAS is all about people. From helping disadvantaged populations through research, to providing resources to students and faculty to facilitate their educational and research needs, to maintaining communications with our Committee Members and Fellows, our mission is to continue perpetuating the interconnectedness that arose with the early history of CHAS and continues today as we advance our mission.

The Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCYVP) is devoted to studying the causes and consequences of youth violence to inform the development and testing of prevention interventions to support children, youth and families living in high burden urban communities.

The Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development was established in 2021 with a generous gift from the Kiphart Family Foundation to advance research, training, and intervention to address global health and health equity around the world.

The Network for College Success (NCS) envisions neighborhood high schools that continuously cultivate collaboration, powerful learning, and a culture of high achievement to prepare all students for college and career success.

Institutional Review Board

The Institutional Review Board reviews and approves, disapproves, or defers all research protocols. It provides assistance with IRB applications for staff, students, and faculty.

Social Service Review

The first scholarly journal in the field of social work, SSR provides multidisciplinary analyses of current policies and past practices from social welfare scholars and practitioners, as well as from experts in other fields.