The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) will honor former U.S. Secretary of Labor Dr. Ray Marshall together with Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist and op-ed columnist for the New York Times, at its 25th Anniversary Dinner event on Nov. 1 in Washington D.C.

Dr. Marshall was one of the original founders of EPI in 1986. He also served in two Presidential administrations; first as U.S. Secretary of Labor under the Carter administration and then as a member of the National Skills Standard Board and the Advisory Commission on Labor Development in the Clinton administration. In 1970, Dr. Marshall established the Center for the Study of Human Resources while he was teaching at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1999, the Center was renamed the Ray Marshall Center to honor his retirement from teaching at the University.

Dr. Marshall serves as senior advisor at the Ray Marshall Center, Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Professor (Emeritus) of Economics and Public Affairs at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, and is a Distinguished Fellow and member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.

“The Long-term Effects on Children and Adolescents of a Policy Providing Work Supports for Low-income Parents” in the autumn 2011 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management is co-authored by Anjali Gupta, Center research associate, Jessica Thornton Walker, Chantelle J. Dowsett, Sylvia R. Epps, Amy E. Imes, Vonnie C. McLoyd, and Aletha C. Huston, who is also a long-time partner of the Center.

The authors review “New Hope”, a random-assignment experiment of an employment-based poverty reduction intervention program for adults, and explore if the positive effects of the program on the young children of participants diminished or reversed when children reached adolescence. Their evaluation showed that small positive impacts on school progress, school motivation, positive social behavior, child well-being, and parent control endured, but impacts on school achievement and problem behavior were no longer evident eight years after the random assignment.

Anjali Gupta holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas and is a research associate at the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources. Gupta’s previous research has focused on relations between low-income mothers’ psychological well-being and economic/employment outcomes. Her research illuminates the complexity inherent in the work/ family balance debate and highlights a potential need for increased mental distress screening and treatment.

Aletha C. Huston is the Pricilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor of Child Development Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin and serves as the principal investigator of the New Hope project. She received her Ph.D in psychology and child development from the University of Minnesota.

Researchers from the Ray Marshall Center will present research at the 2011 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Fall Research Conference taking place Nov. 3- 5 in Washington D.C.

This year, over 1000 participants will attend the three-day Research Conference. The conference highlights leading-edge policy research and serves as a premier venue for discussing public policy and management issues.

Dr. Christopher King, director of the Ray Marshall Center, will present a research paper on workforce effectiveness co-authored with Dr. Carolyn Heinrich from the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School. The paper, entitled “How Effective are Workforce Development Programs? Implications for U.S. Workforce Policies Beyond the Great Recession,” will be discussed in the 9:30 AM panel session “Improving Evidence on Workforce Development Program Performance for Policymakers.” This panel session also will include another paper co-authored by Dr. King entitled “Evidence on the Implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:  Workforce Development and Unemployment Insurance Provisions.”

On the same day, Dr. Daniel Schroeder, research scientist at the Ray Marshall Center, will present a paper about “Interactions between SNAP and UI before and during the Great Recession” in the afternoon panel session titled “Social Safety Net Transitions to Employment: Policy Analysis of Great Recessions.”

On Nov. 5, Dr. King and interim associate director Dr. Robert W. Glover will present a paper co-authored with Tara C. Smith on “Opportunities and Challenges Confronting Dual-Generation Strategies: Achieving Larger, More Lasting Impacts from Declining Resources” at the 10:30 AM panel session discussing “The Prospects and Promise of Two-Generation Anti-Poverty Programs.”  This session also features papers by researchers Hiro Yoshikawa (Harvard), Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Teresa Sommer (Northwestern), who are partnering with the Ray Marshall Center on its dual-generation strategy work in Tulsa.

The September 2011 issue of the Ray Marshall Center e-newsletter is now available. To view the newsletter, please click on this link. Newsletters are sent semi-monthly. If you would like to receive a copy of our future e-newsletters, please sign up at this link.

Garry Davis, a graduate student at LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, has received the Bryna and Henry David Fellowship from the Ray Marshall Center and joins the Center as a graduate research assistant working on the Central Texas Student Futures Project. Davis is the fifth recipient of the fellowship. 

The Ray Marshall Center selects the David Fellow every two to three years to work half-time on education and workforce related research. Funding for the fellowship is generously supported by the endowment of Bryna and Henry David. Henry David taught at the LBJ School in the 1970s; both he and his wife Bryna were nationally recognized researchers in career-related education. 

Davis is in the Master of Public Affairs program with a focus on productivity improvement across social and economic policies and programs.  He expects to complete his degree in May 2013.

Prior to coming to the LBJ School and the Ray Marshall Center, Davis was a Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools, a nonprofit focusing on education reform, working with students at Bedichek Middle School in Austin. In this role, Davis worked closely with students to help close the achievement gap by helping them maintain or improve their academic standing and provided them with college and career connections. The intersection of the two goals is Davis’ specialization. He was responsible for engaging the community and bringing the community into the classroom, in the form of a 10-week apprenticeship program taught by volunteer professionals. Davis oversaw the volunteer recruitment, training, and support for staff and volunteers throughout the apprenticeship process.

Davis’ other experience included serving as an Operations Associate for the United Way of the Capital Area and interning Capital Area Food Bank in the volunteer management department.Davis received his Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies and a Professional Business Foundations Certificate from the University of Texas at Austin.