Colleen Heflin
Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs
Biography
Colleen Heflin is a Professor of Public Administration and
International Affairs and a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Policy
Research. Dr. Heflin conducts policy-relevant research that sits at the
boundaries of sociology, economics, public health, public administration, and
women’s studies. The broad aim of her research is to understand the processes
that create systems and patterns of social stratification and, more
specifically, to examine welfare policy and the well-being of vulnerable
populations, with a particular emphasis on the causes and consequences of
material hardship. In a recent project, Dr. Heflin analyzed how specific shocks
to family stability, such as unemployment or becoming disabled, lead to
particular kinds of material hardship, such as medical or housing hardship.
Other recent projects have examined how the population using food stamps and
unemployment insurance has changed with the Great Recession; how the experience
of material hardship affects couples’ decisions to marry; how children’s
participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) affects their households’ overall
food insecurity; and how veterans’ well-being and social program participation
compares to that of other groups. She has recently received funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services through the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin to explore how child support benefits interact with other social programs in Virginia with Dr. Len Lopoo.
Dr.
Heflin’s research has appeared in leading journals such as the American Sociological
Review, Social Problems,
the Journal of Health and
Social Behavior, and the Journal of Policy Analysis & Management. In 2014, her paper on community social capital
was awarded the W. Richard Scott Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the
American Sociological Association. Dr. Heflin’s research has been funded by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Selected Publications
“Design Flaws: Consequences of the Coverage Gap in Food Programs on Children at Kindergarten Entry.” Arteaga, Irma, Colleen Heflin, and Sarah Parsons. Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy. Volume 41, Issue 2, June 2019, Pages 265–283.
“Food Insecurity and Disability in the United States.”Heflin, Colleen, Claire Altman, and Laura Rodriguez. 2019. Disability and Health Journal. Vol. 12(2): 220-226.
“Emergency Food Assistance and the Great Recession.” Heflin, Colleen and Ashley Price. 2019. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition. 14:1-2, 225-239.
“SNAP Benefits and Childhood Asthma.” Heflin, Colleen, Irma Arteaga, Leslie Hodges, Jean Felix Ndashiyme, and Matthew P Rabbitt. 2019. Social Science & Medicine. 220: 203-211.
“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Size and Timing and Hypertension-Related Emergency Department Claims Among Medicaid Enrollees.” Ojinnaka, Chinnedum and Colleen Heflin. 2018. Journal of the American Society of Hypertension 12(11) e27-e34.
More Publications
Research Grants and Awards
Co-Principal Investigator. “Food insecurity and chronic diseases in low-income older Americans: The role of SNAP receipt in medication underuse,” with Irma Artega, Leslie Hodges and Chinedum Ojinnaka. Funded by University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research. 2020-2022.
Principle Investigator. "Changing patterns of eligibility and take up in SNAP and the role of out of pocket medical expenses (OOPM)." Funded by University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research. 2020-2022.
Principle Investigator. "Hunger SNAPS: Food Insecurity Among Older Adults," collaboration with Madonna Harrington Meyer. Funded by Russell Sage Foundation. 2020-2022.
Principle Investigator. "Employment Instability As a Barrier to Childcare," with Co-PI Taryn Morrissey. Funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2020-2021.
Principal Investigator. "Snap Uptake and School Readiness in Virginia," with Michah Rothbart. Funded by the Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. 2018-2020.
Principal Investigator. “Creating Evidence-Based Strategies to Address Administrative Churn in SNAP," with Len Lopoo, Co-Principal Investigator, and in partnership with the Maxwell X Lab. Funded by the Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. 2018-2020.