Rate My Professor Heather D. Hill

Heather D. Hill is a Professor and Director of the PhD Program in Public Policy and Management at the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University in 2007, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington. Before joining the Evans School faculty, Hill worked for three years as a research analyst at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Côte d'Ivoire. She is a faculty affiliate of the West Coast Poverty Center, the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, and the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences at the University of Washington, as well as the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hill's research investigates how public and workplace policies affect family economic circumstances and child wellbeing among low-income families, integrating perspectives from developmental psychology, economics, and sociology. Her projects encompass the effects of income and wealth inequality on children, evaluations of Washington State's Paid Family and Medical Leave program funded by the Perigee Fund and state agencies, and the impacts of state Earned Income Tax Credits on violence, supported by the Centers for Disease Control. She received the Hubert G. Locke Diversity Award in 2018 from the Evans School. Hill chairs the Primary Research Area on the Wellbeing of Families and Households at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology since 2017 and serves on its Executive Board. Previously, she was an elected member of the APPAM Policy Council from 2019 to 2022. She is Deputy Editor of Demography since 2022 and a member of the External Review Board for Social Service Review since 2015. Notable publications include 'The consequences of income instability for children's well-being' (Hill et al., 2013, Child Development Perspectives), 'Unstable and multiple child care arrangements and young children's behavior' (Pilarz and Hill, 2014, Early Childhood Research Quarterly), 'Intrayear household income dynamics and adolescent school behavior' (Gennetian et al., 2015, Demography), 'Association of the State Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) Programs with Substance Use Disorder and Overdose Outcomes' (van Draanen et al., 2024, Drug and Alcohol Dependence), and 'Income Support as a Health Intervention' (Hill and Rowhani-Rahbar, 2022, JAMA Network Open).