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Carolyn Y. Barnes, Assistant Professor  

Office Location: 209 Sanford Building, Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708
Office Phone: (919) 613-9290
Duke Box: 90245
Email Address: carolyn.barnes@duke.edu

Areas of Expertise

    Education:
    Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2014
    B.A., Virginia Polytech Institute and State University, 2008

    Recent Publications   (More Publications)

    1. Barnes, C; Michener, J; Rains, E. "“It’s Like Night and Day”: How Bureaucratic Encounters Vary across WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid." Social Service Review 97.1 (March, 2023): 3-42. [doi]  [abs]
    2. Barnes, C; Riel, V. "‘I don’t know nothing about that’: How “learning costs” undermine COVID-related efforts to make SNAP and WIC more accessible." Administration & Society 54.10 (November, 2022): 1902-1930. [doi]  [abs]
    3. Barnes, C; Petry, S. ""It Was Actually Pretty Easy": COVID-19 Compliance Cost Reductions in the WIC Program.." Public Administration Review 81.6 (November, 2021): 1147-1156. [doi]  [abs]
    4. Barnes, CY. "“It Takes a While to Get Used to”: The Costs of Redeeming Public Benefits." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 31.2 (April, 2021): 295-310. [doi]  [abs]
    5. Barnes, CY; Gennetian, LA. "Experiences of Hispanic Families with Social Services in the Racially Segregated Southeast: Views from Administrators and Workers in North Carolina.." Race and Social Problems 13.1 (January, 2021): 6-21. [doi]  [abs]

    Highlight:

    Carolyn Barnes is an assistant professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Carolyn completed a PhD in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Michigan, where she worked as an affiliate of the National Poverty Center conducting research on the effects of nonprofit community-based service provision on parenting practices and the psycho-social well being of families and children. Her research agenda broadly explores the social and political implications of social policy on low-income populations in the areas of childcare policy, family services, and supports for young children.

    Her current book project consists of an in-depth organizational ethnography that examines how publicly funded nonprofit social services shape the political behavior of the economically disadvantaged. With special attention to the role of broad neighborhood, policy, and political contexts, Carolyn has initiated a new line of research that takes an interdisciplinary approach to assess the health implications of federal and state supports for women and children.  

    Carolyn Y. Barnes