Professor of Psychology & Director of Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Email:
mpj@psych.umass.edu
Topics of Expertise:
Children / Division of Labor in Families / Economic Inequality / Parenthood: Motherhood/Fatherhood / Transition – Couples to Parenting / Work & Family
Professor Maureen Perry-Jenkins has garnered national and international recognition for her research focused on the challenges facing working-poor families as they cope with the stress of new parenthood and holding down full-time work. In her time at UMass, Dr. Perry-Jenkins has received over 2 million dollars in funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct her longitudinal research that examines how work conditions and policies affect the well-being of new parents transitioning to parenthood. She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications and chapters and is currently a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford writing a book on the impact of low-wage work on children.
As an indication of her stature in the field, Professor Perry-Jenkins was named a Fellow by the National Council on Family Relations in 2014, an honor given to less than 3% of NCFR members for their “outstanding contributions to family science.” Her research has had a significant impact on social policy related to work-family issues. She recently served on a panel for the Center for Law and Public Policy with Senator Elizabeth Warren to discuss new legislation on workplace schedules of low-income workers; and was invited to Washington DC to address a Federal Committee developing new national level policy on Workplace Flexibility.
She was recently elected as Program Chair for the 2017 Annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, the premier family research organization internationally, an honor that recognizes her visibility and leadership in the field of family research. She is also a member of the Conference Planning Committee for the Work and Family Research Network, a new organization aimed at highlighting the cross-disciplinary research on work and family. She serves on the editorial board of the five top family journals, has served on NIH review panels, and served as mentor for junior faculty through the Mellon program and as NIH K-Award Mentor.
