Michelle Budig
Senior Vice Provost For Faculty & Academic Affairs, Professor of Sociology
Michelle J. Budig, PhD, is Senior Vice Provost for Faculty & Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include labor market inequalities, wage penalties for paid and unpaid caregiving, work-family policy, and nonstandard employment. She is collaborating on a grant from the United State-Israel Binational Science Foundation to investigate variation in the wage penalty for motherhood among Isreali women. Her research has appeared in the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Social Problems, Journal of Marriage and the Family, and numerous other professional journals. A past Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, her scholarship has been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. She is a past recipient of the Reuben Hill Award from the National Council on Family Relations, the World Bank/ Luxembourg Income Study Gender Research Award, and a two-time recipient of the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Research Excellence in Families and Work. She has provided expert testimony on the gender pay gap and the motherhood wage penalty to the US Congressional Joint Economic Commission and the Massachusetts State Legislature.
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Arizona—Tucson, 2001
Research Areas
Gender and Family Status Inequality in Labor Markets; Work and Family Policy; Care Work; Self-Employment; Quantitative Methods
Selected Publications
2023. “Maternal Employment and Labor Market Outcomes among Ethno-Religious Groups in Israel.” Michelle J. Budig, Vered Kraus, and Asaf Levanon. Gender & Society 37(2):208-39. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432231155913
2021. “Racial and Gender Pay Disparities: The Role of Education.” Michelle J. Budig, Melissa Hodges*, and Misun Lim*. Social Science Research 98 (2021) 102580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102580.
2019. “Wages for Nurturant and Reproductive Care Workers: Individual and Job Characteristics, Occupational Closure, and Wage-Equalizing Institutions.” Michelle J. Budig, Melissa Hodges, and Paula England. Social Problems 66:294-319
2016. “Do Highly Paid, Highly Skilled Women Experience the Largest Motherhood Penalty?” Paula England, Jonathan Bearak, Michelle Budig, and Melissa Hodges. American Sociological Review 81(6):1161-89.
2016. “Cohort Differences and the Marriage Bonus: Emergence of Gender-Neutral Household Specialization Effects.” Michelle J. Budig and Misun Lim. Journal of Marriage and the Family 78:1352-70.
2016. “Work-Family Policy Tradeoffs for Mothers? Unpacking the Cross-National Variation in the Motherhood Earnings Penalties.” Michelle J. Budig, Joya Misra, and Irene Boeckmann. Work and Occupations 43(2):119-77.
2015. “Cultural and Institutional Factors Shaping Mothers’ Employment and Working Hours in Postindustrial Countries.” Irene Boeckmann*, Joya Misra, and Michelle Budig. Social Forces 93(4): 1301-33.
2014. “Statistical Models and Empirical Evidence for Differences in the Motherhood Wage Penalty Across the Earnings Distribution: A Reply to Killewald and Bearak.” Michelle J. Budig and Melissa Hodges.* American Sociological Review 79(2):358-64.
2013. “From the Shop Floor to the Kitchen Floor: Maternal Job Complexity and Children’s Reading and Math Skills.” Ayse Yetis-Bayraktar*, Michelle J. Budig, and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey. Work and Occupations 40(1):38-65.
2012. “The Motherhood Pay Gap Cross-Nationally: How Work-Family Policies and Cultural Attitudes Intersect.” Michelle J. Budig, Joya Misra, and Irene Boeckmann*. Social Politics 19(2):163-193.
Selected Awards and Honors
2018. Chancellor's Leadership Fellowship, University of Massachusetts.
2016. Dean's Faculty Excellence in Research Award, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Massachusetts.
2012. Article of the Year Award, American Sociological Association Section on the Family.
2011. Reuben Hill Award, Research and Theory Section, National Council on Family Relations.
2011. Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Research Excellence in Families and Work, Center for Families at Purdue University and the Boston College Center for Work & Family.
2009. World Bank / Luxembourg Income Study Gender Research Award.
2003. Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Research Excellence in Families & Work, Center for Families at Purdue University and the Boston College Center for Work & Family.
Recent Presentations
2024 European Research Council Structural Aspects of Gender Inequality Workshop (Ein Gedi, Israel) “How Firm Characteristics Shape Motherhood and Ethno-Religious Wage Disparities.” With Asaf Levanon.
2023 Ginsburg Institute, Center for Women in Law, University of Texas-Austin School of Law (virtual), “The Impact of Caregiving on Legal Careers.” With Juanita Harris and Michelle Browning Coughlin.
2023 Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) webinar (virtual) “From Data Points to Action Steps: COACHE Findings and Supporting Mid-career Faculty at UMass-Amherst.” With Christiane Healey and Sarah Poissant.
2023 Association of Public Land-grant Universities Annual Faculty Affairs Retreat (Chicago, IL) “Supporting Mid-Career Faculty: Preventing and Addressing Promotion Stalls for Associate Professors at UMass Amherst.”
2023 Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Social Demography Seminar (Cambridge, MA), “Israeli Ethno-Religious Differences in Motherhood Penalties on Employment and Earnings”
2023 Association of Public Land-grant Universities (APLU), Committee on Faculty Affairs, Council on Academic Affairs (zoom), “Getting Rid of Administrative Sludge: Reducing Faculty Workload Burdens.” With Kim Eby.
2022 American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession Summit Meeting (Chicago, IL), “Gender, Parenting, and Social Policies”
2021 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Advisory Committee on Faculty Affairs (Zoom), “Community Building, Engagement, and Faculty Success.” With Wendy Varner.
2021 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Advisory Committee on Faculty Affairs (Zoom), “Supporting Early Career Faculty.” With Wendy Varner.
2021 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Council on Academic Affairs (Zoom), “Promotion, Tenure, and Equity under Covid19.” With John McCarthy.
2021 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Council on Academic Affairs (Zoom), “Full-time Instructional Faculty.” With John McCarthy.
2021 COACHE, Harvard Graduate School of Education Strategy Workshop (Zoom), “Communication and Disseminating Findings from the UMass COACHE 2020 Survey.” With Christiane Healey.
2021 Kauffman Foundation Professional Development Series (Zoom), “Early Career Mentoring: How to Develop a Successful Research Agenda.”
2021 Faculty Affairs Network, Northeast (FANN) Annual Meeting (Zoom), “Immediate Effects of COVID on Faculty Affairs.”
2020 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Advisory Committee on Faculty Affairs (Zoom), “Evaluating Faculty Equitably and Using Covid-19 Impact Statements.”
2020 Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA), “Maternal Employment and Labor Market Outcomes among Ethno-Religious Groups in Israel.” With Asaf Levanon and Vered Kraus.
2020 Broom Center for Demography, University of California at Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA), “Maternal Employment and Labor Market Outcomes among Ethno-Religious Groups in Israel.” With Asaf Levanon and Vered Kraus.
Selected Grants
2017-20, “Do Israeli Mothers Pay a Penalty for Children During their Life Course?” Asaf Levanon (PI), Michelle J. Budig (Co-PI), and Vered Kraus (Co-PI). US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, $99,000.
2014-2016, “Cross-national Differences in Gendered Self-Employment Participation and Earnings: The Role of Work-Family Policy and Cultural Contexts,” Michelle J. Budig, PI. National Science Foundation, $179,997.
2011-12, “Penalties for Paid and Unpaid Carework,” Paula England, Suzanne Bianchi, Michelle J. Budig, and Joan Kahn (Co-PIs). Russell Sage Foundation. $146,515
2008-10, “Estimating the Cross-National Effects of Family Policies on the Wage Penalty for Motherhood Using Multilevel Models,” Michelle J. Budig (PI) and Joya Misra (Co-PI). National Science Foundation, $81,971.
2007-08, Humboldt Research Fellowship “Work-Family Reconciliation Policies, Women’s Employment, and Family Formation Outcomes: A Cross-National Analysis.” The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to conduct research at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany. Michelle J. Budig (PI), $43,000.
2006-08, “The Cross-National Effects of Work-Family Policies on the Wage Penalty for Motherhood,” Joya Misra (PI) and Michelle J. Budig (Co-PI). National Science Foundation, $108,000.