 |
Katherine white-
| Ph.D.: |
University of Washington, 2003 |
| Assistant Professor: |
Department of Rural Sociology |
- BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
- Katherine White (Ph.D. 2003, University of Washington) joined the Department of Rural Sociology as Assistant Professor on July 1st, 2007. White's interests include migration and population redistribution, inequality, land use, and spatial statistics. Her research examines historical economic, social and demographic shifts in three regions (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Great Plains, and the South) and the spatial distribution of poverty in the contemporary U.S.
In her research on Puerto Rico, White investigates the influence of the economic transition on inequality that followed U.S. governance in the early decades of the 1900s. This research, supported by NICHD, is primarily focused on the relationship between systems of crop production and racial inequality. Collaborative research with UW historian Francisco Scarano addresses changes in the spatial distribution of family composition in the early 20th century and racial composition in the 18th century.
A second area of White's research examines population change in the Great Plains over the 20th century. She uses spatial regression techniques to assess the relative influence of correlates of population change advanced in theories of urbanization typically applied to positive growth regions, including transportation, industry, and natural amenities.
In a third area of research, White focuses on the migration of southern Americans to the non-south (the Great Migration) and the return to the South (the Return Migration). Her work, published in Demography and Social Science History, demonstrates the interplay of racial and gender inequality in settlement patterns and economic consequences of migration.
White has recently turned her attention to an investigation of the historical processes underlying contemporary patterns of persistent poverty among U.S. counties. She is developing spatio-temporal models to directly measure legacy effects in the prevalence of county poverty.
In addition to her departmental appointment, White will conduct extension research with the Applied Population Laboratory and the Environmental Resources Center. Before coming to the University of Wisconsin, White was on faculty in the Department of Sociology at Brown University, and was an affiliate of the Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences Initiative, the Population Studies and Training Center, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
|
