Susan E. Mayer, Ph.D.

Susan E. Mayer is a professor and dean of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and a professor in the College.

Susan E. Mayer is a professor and dean of the Harris School. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on the measurement of poverty, the effect of growing up in poor neighborhoods, and the effect of parental income on children's well-being. Recent articles include, "How Did the Increase in Economic Inequality between 1970 and 1990 Affect Children's Educational Attainment?" (American Journal of Sociology) and "How Economic Segregation Affects Children's Educational Attainment" (Social Forces). She is currently doing research on intergenerational economic mobility, having just published "Has the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Status Changed?" (Journal of Human Resources) among other papers on this topic, and the social and political consequences of the increase in economic inequality in the United States.

Mayer is a member of the Board of Directors of Chapin Hall Center for Children and the Government Accountability Office Educators' Advisory Panel. She has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on National Statistics Panel to Review U.S. Department of Agriculture's Measurement of Food Insecurity and Hunger, and the Committee on Standards of Evidence and the Quality of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Mayer is the past director and deputy director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. She has served as an associate editor for the American Journal of Sociology.