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Sheena McConnell
Vice President, Director of Human Services Research, Washington, DC
Sheena McConnell is vice president and director of human services research in Mathematica's Washington, DC, office.
An expert in policies to promote employment and strong families in disadvantaged populations, she is directing a national experimental evaluation of the Workforce Investment Act programs. These programs, providing training, employment counseling, and other employment-related services, are the backbone of the public workforce investment system in the United States.
McConnell is also principal investigator for Mathematica’s nine-year evaluation of the Building Strong Families program, which is designed to enhance child and family well-being by helping low-income, unwed couples strengthen their relationships and achieve healthy marriages. Her past work includes key roles in studies of Individual Training Accounts, the Job Corps program, and many welfare reform initiatives.
McConnell, who joined Mathematica in 1990 and is area leader for its labor policy research, was previously a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has published in the American Economic Review, Evaluation Review, and the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.
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- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Professional Activities
- Publications
- Policies to promote employment and strong families in disadvantaged populations
- Treasurer, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, 2010 and 2011
- "Impact Evaluation of the Workforce Investment Act." What the European Social Fund Can Learn from the Workforce Investment Act Experience, Washington, DC: University of Maryland, School of Public Policy (November 2009)
- "Entrepreneurship Through Self-Employment Assistance." Washington, DC: Recovery and Reemployment Research Conference (September 2009)
- "The Effects of Building Strong Families: A Healthy Marriage and Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (February 2012)
- "Neither Easy Nor Cheap." In The Workforce Investment Act: Implementation Experiences and Evaluation Findings (2011)
- "Strengthening Unmarried Parents' Relationships: The Early Impacts of Building Strong Families." The Building Strong Families Project (May 2010)