News Releases

The University of Michigan Board of Regents have approved Kate Cagney as Director of the Institute for Social Research for a second five-year term, effective September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2031. This recommendation follows an extensive review process.

Under Professor Cagney’s leadership, ISR’s research portfolio has expanded, including projects integrating social science with engineering, social science with the arts, and social science with bioscience. ISR’s joint initiative with the College of Engineering on rural life has led to three rounds of funding for projects that cut across the Look to Michigan impact areas. The Berlin Philharmonic project, a collaboration with the University Musical Society and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, captures the value and impact of orchestral music, its organization, and its audience. This work undergirds ISR’s efforts to understand how social science can contribute to the assessment and evaluation of the arts. Professor Cagney has supported the painter and sculptor Rick Lowe as ISR’s Arts Initiative artist-in-residence; ISR is the first non-arts unit to have such a program. She also assembled ISR’s first external advisory board.

During Professor Cagney’s tenure two flagship ISR projects were renewed: the American National Election Study (ANES) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The ANES is a cornerstone for understanding democracy and electoral engagement through its pre- and post- election measures. The renewal of the HRS, the largest grant in the University of Michigan’s history, ensures the continuation of this internationally recognized study that provides essential data on health and well-being.

Professor Cagney earned the B.A. degree in sociology and political science from Western Michigan University in 1987. She earned the M.P.P. degree in public policy from the University of Chicago in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University in 1998. From late 1997 through mid-1999, she held a post-doctoral fellowship, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, in the Population Research Center at NORC, University of Chicago. In August 1999, she joined the Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago as an assistant professor and rose to associate professor in this department. In July 2011, she joined the Department of Sociology where she rose to professor. At the University of Chicago, Professor Cagney held the following positions: faculty director of the Yuen Campus, Hong Kong; director, Population Research Center; director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral Training Program; co-director, Center on the Demography and Economics of Aging (CHABLIS); and faculty associate in the Department of Comparative Human Development. From September 2017 through June 2020, she served as the deputy dean in the Division of Social Sciences. Professor Cagney has served as the director of the Institute for Social Research since September 2021.