Tuesday., Dec. 7, 2010, noon

Creating an Opportunity Society

This lecture affords participants the opportunity to learn more about the perspectives on poverty. Research has revealed that both culture and structure keep people on the bottom rungs of the ladder. Dr. Ron Haskins will discuss indicators of poverty and policy recommendations founded on four values-based premises about the appropriate role of government.

Ron Haskins, Ph.D.

Sponsors: 
Oklahoma Marriage Initiative and OKDHS Family Support Services Division

About the Speaker:
Ron Haskins, Ph.D., is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program and co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution and senior consultant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Md. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history, a master’s in education, and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Haskins has served as the Senior Advisor to the President for Welfare Policy at the White House, Majority Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives and Welfare Counsel for the Republican Staff of the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives.

He has been a research professor at the UNC, Chapel Hill, a lecturer in history and education at the UNC, Charlotte, N.C., and a high school social studies teacher. Haskins has published books and articles on a number of education-related topics, including intellectual development, day-care policy, federal expenditures on social programs and federal budget and tax policy, including Creating an Opportunity Society, a book that he co-authored with Isabel Sawhill. Haskins is a senior editor of The Future of Children, a journal on policy issues that affect children and families. His areas of expertise include welfare reform, child care, child support enforcement, family composition and marriage, and child protection.

In 1997, Haskins was selected by the National Journal as one of the 100 most influential people in the federal government. In 2000, Haskins received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. In 2005, he received the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Human Services from the American Public Human Services Association.

Video, Audio and Transcript (Opens in new window)