Kristin Seefeldt

Kristin Seefeldt is the acting faculty director of Poverty Solutions for the 2024-25 academic year. In her permanent role as associate faculty director at Poverty Solutions, Seefeldt, PhD, oversees educational programs and promotes student engagement, with an emphasis on involving doctoral students in research opportunities. She also is an associate professor of social work and public policy.

Seefeldt’s primary research interests lie in exploring how low-income individuals understand their situations, particularly around issues related to work and economic well-being. Her most recent book, “Abandoned Families: Social Isolation in the 21st Century” examines the ways in which political and economic changes have altered the pathways of opportunity for low-income families. Through in-depth interviews over a six-year period with women in Detroit, Seefeldt charts the increasing social isolation of many low-income workers, particularly African Americans, and analyzes how economic and residential segregation keep them from achieving the American Dream of upward mobility. In addition to numerous journal articles, she also is the author of “Working After Welfare,” which discusses employment and work-family balance challenges among former welfare recipients, and a co-author of “America’s Poor and the Great Recession.”

PhD in sociology and public policy, University of Michigan; MPP, University of Michigan; and bachelor’s degree, Georgetown University.