Katherine Newman is presently the Malcolm Wiener professor of urban studies at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She chairs the National Science Foundation training program on “Inequality and Social Policy” and the joint doctoral programs in sociology, government and social policy.

Dr. Newman is the author of several books on middle class economic insecurity. Her 1999 book, No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City, focused on job search strategies, work experiences and family lives of African American and Latino youth and adults in Harlem. No Shame in My Game has been named the winner of the Sidney Hillman Book Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for 2000.