Helen Ginn Daugherty

Professor Emerit of Sociology

Helen Ginn Daugherty

Biography

Helen Ginn Daugherty is a Professor of Sociology and the G Thomas and Martha Meyers Chair in the Liberal Arts. She received her PhD, in sociology, from the University of Maryland, a MA from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and a BA from the University of South Carolina. She currently teaches at St Mary’s College of Maryland. Her area of teaching expertise is demography, race and ethnic relations, the sociology of gender, and research methods. She has had an active research agenda, focusing on issues of welfare reform, women’s employment and childbearing, teenage pregnancy, and the role of grandparents. Her current research efforts include a study on social policy and the demography of prisons, and the application of the United Nations Millennium Goals. In addition to a textbook in Demography, she has numerous publications and presentations on her research. She has been active in the International Congress of Women, attending and presenting papers in Ireland, Costa Rica, Australia, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Canada, and the United States. Students who have worked with her on sponsored research have gone on to graduate programs, research centers such as the Urban Institute, and the Populations Reference Bureau, and to employment at the U. S Bureau of the Census, in human resources, law, public policy and social services. Professor Daugherty believes that it is important to share expertise with others. She is active in the community as past Director for the Board of Social Services, Co-Chair for the campaign to build the Hospice House, and a member of the Local Management Board. Again, with a commitment to making opportunities for her students, she has placed volunteers in programs with the homeless, with the Department of Public Health, the hospital, and law offices. She resides in Lexington Park, Maryland with her husband, Tom.

Areas of Research Specialization

  • Women's Employment
  • Welfare Reform
  • Demography

Areas of Teaching Specialization

  • Race and Ethnic Relations
  • Gender

Education

  • B.A. in Sociology at University of South Carolina, 1974
  • M.A. in Sociology at University of North Carolina-Greensboro, 1977
  • Ph.D. in Sociology at University of Maryland, 1982