Holly Michelle Wood
Graduate Student in Sociology
Biographical Note
Holly Wood received her B.A. with High Honors in Sociology from Wesleyan University in 2008. Her honors thesis at Wesleyan addressed the continually limited representation of low-income students at America's most elite private colleges, examining how cultural capital translates into advantage within the college admissions process despite the proliferation of institutional initiatives to increase student diversity. This project heightened her interest in examining the familial anxiety surrounding class status reproduction and how individual-level processes manifest into macro-level consequences.
Thus, Holly's main academic interests revolve around identifying and ameliorating the social mechanisms which perpetuate inequality and stratification. This interest compels her to examine how welfare and other aspects of social policy are experienced in America today. Holly's current research asks the question: how is our nation doing in housing its urban poor in an era of poverty deconcentration? With this in mind, she investigates how poor families navigate public housing policy options in inner-city Boston and Baltimore.
She also finds writing about herself in the third person a hilarious endeavor.
04/28/2011
- Research Interests
- Inequality and stratification, housing and social policy, social mobility, wealth and poverty, culture, social theory, political sociology, qualitative research methods, cartographic and spatial analytical methods
- Previous Degrees
- BA Sociology and Government, Phi Beta Kappa, Wesleyan University, 2008
Miscellaneous Additional Information
- Research Assistantships
- Kathryn Edin, Investing in Enduring Resources with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
- Grants Received
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Fellowships and Scholarships:
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship (2009-2013), U.S. Department of Education
Doctoral Fellowship (2009-2013), Harvard Kennedy School Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy
The Real Estate Academic Initiative Research Grant (2009), Real Estate Academic Initiative at Harvard University
CAPS Graduate Seed Grant (2009-2010), Center for American Politics
Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Fellowship (2007-2008), U.S. Department of Education
Bienecke Graduate Scholarship (2007-2009), The Sperry Fund
Horatio Alger Pennsylvania Scholarship Program (2004-2008), The Horatio Alger Association
Suggested Links
Contact
617-496-5794 (FAX)
643 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Office Hours
by appointment