Tugging on the Safety Net:
Understanding Poverty and Poverty Programs in Today's Economy

Arthur C. Abramson

Arthur Abramson is the Chair of the UMBC Public Policy External Advisory Board. He has been the Executive Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council since 1990. He was previously the Community Relations Director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. Prior to that, he was the Washington State Area Director for the American Jewish Committee (AJC). He has also served as an Assistant Area Director for the AJC in its Los Angeles office.

Before joining the American Jewish Committee, Dr. Abramson taught political science for four years at the University of California at Los Angeles and the California State University at Northridge. His areas of expertise include the international relations and politics of the Middle East, American foreign policy and American government. A native of New York City, he attended Queens College of the City University of New York where he received his B.A. degree. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at UCLA in the field of political science.

Marvin Mandell

Dr. Mandell is a Professor of Public Policy at UMBC. His research and teaching center around the application of quantitative methods to policy analysis. Prof. Mandell has been involved in the evaluation of public programs in a variety of areas, including early childhood and family education, foster care, welfare reform, alternative dispute resolution programs, and programs to assist the homeless. He was Principal Investigator on a Ford Foundation-funded project entitled “Focusing on Success: Pathways Out of Child Poverty.”

Dr. Mandell received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Prior to coming to UMBC, he was on the faculty of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Dr. Mandell has also taught at The Johns Hopkins University.

Kathleen Short

Kathleen Short began working at the Census Bureau in 1984 with the Survey of Income and Program Participation research staff in the Population Division after receiving her doctorate in economics from the University of Michigan. She has also worked in the Center for International Research, and in the Income Statistics Branch of the Census Bureau.

Over her career at the Census Bureau, Dr. Short has worked primarily in the area of measuring economic well-being — preparing an international database on child well-being and reports on extended measures of well-being, such as material hardship. She has done extensive work with the Survey of Income and Program Participation, analyzing income and labor force transitions and spells of poverty and health insurance coverage.

Dr. Short has also published several articles in professional journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Social Policy, Journal of Housing Economics, Journal of Income Distribution, and the Review of Income and Wealth.

Rosemary Malone

Rosemary Malone is the Executive Director of the Family Investment Administration in the Maryland Department of Human Resources (DHR). She has over 30 years of experience with DHR. Prior to serving in her current capacity, she served as Deputy Executive Director responsible for the Office of Programs. In this role, she managed the agency's temporary cash assistance, food stamps, medical assistance and energy assistance programs. In addition to overseeing economic assistance programs, Ms. Malone has considerable experience in employment and training, quality control, research and analysis, and planning. After graduating from Eckerd College and doing graduate work at the University of South Florida, she began her public service career with the Florida Department of Commerce.

Gregory Acs

Gregory Acs is an economist and expert on low-wage labor markets and the well-being of low-income families and children. He is the director of the Urban Institute’s Income and Benefits Policy Center. Dr. Acs’s research has focused on social insurance, social welfare, employment, economic mobility, worker compensation, and welfare’s effects on family composition.

A member of the Income and Benefits Policy Center’s research team for 20 years, Dr. Acs rose from a research associate to a senior fellow before leaving in 2010 to work at the Congressional Budget Office, where he was the unit chief for labor and income security in the Health and Human Resources Division. He returned to the Urban Institute in February 2012.

Dr. Acs earned his Ph.D. in economics and social work from the University of Michigan. His research has been widely published in journals of economics and social policy.