SECCOMBE

Karen Seccombe is the Director of the Center for Public Health Studies and Professor of Community Health at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University and her MSW in health and social welfare policy from the University of Washington. Her research focuses on the health and well-being of vulnerable families, including poor families and those leaving welfare for work. She has research articles published in The Journal of...See more

Karen Seccombe is the Director of the Center for Public Health Studies and Professor of Community Health at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University and her MSW in health and social welfare policy from the University of Washington. Her research focuses on the health and well-being of vulnerable families, including poor families and those leaving welfare for work. She has research articles published in The Journal of Marriage and Family, Family Relations, Journal of Family Issues, and Gender & Society. She is the author of So You Think I Drive a Cadillac? Welfare Recipients Perspectives on the System and its Reform. Karen is a member of the National Council on Family Relations, the American Sociological Association, and the Pacific Sociological Association, where she has held a number of elected offices. She has won the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award while a faculty member at the University of Florida. Her current research, a three-year study funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, investigates the effects of welfare reform on the access to health care among families leaving welfare. Rebecca L. Warner is Professor of Sociology at Oregon State University. She received her MA and Ph.D. in Sociology at Washington State University. Becky s current research project explores the meaning of children s gender for family relationships. Her work on this topic has appeared in Gender & Society, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Comparative Family Studies. After spending five years as Chair of her department, Becky has returned to a full-time teaching schedule, focusing on courses in the areas of gender and family. She has been exploring a variety of new teaching methods including the creation of a web-based family course, and a multidisciplinary course taught with a colleague in the Humanities on Reading and Writing the Family. She is the recipient of the Thomas R. Meehan Excellence in Teaching Award at Oregon State University and was appointed as a Master Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts in 1997. See less