Margaret Kerr

Margaret Kerr is an Associate Professor of Human Development & Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology. Her work focuses on parental emotional experiences, societal expectations of parenthood, and promoting equity through anti-racist parenting practices. She holds affiliations with the Human Development & Relationships Institute and the Institute for Research on Poverty.

Education: PhD and MA in Positive Developmental Psychology from Claremont Graduate University; BS in Psychology from Michigan State University.

Research Interests: Dr. Kerr explores factors influencing parental burnout, family resiliency, and anti-racist education for children. Her work emphasizes real-time parental emotions and systemic inequities in parenting norms. She develops interventions to support marginalized families and reduce societal pressures on parents.

Key Research Themes: Recent studies examine pandemic impacts on parenting, fatherhood experiences, media use in families, and interventions for incarcerated parents' children.

Awards & Media: Featured in Wisconsin Public Radio, The Economist, and Fatherly magazine. No formal awards listed but actively engages in public discourse on parenting challenges.

Grants & Outreach: Leads initiatives like the Wisconsin Statewide Fatherhood Needs Assessment and the Anywhere Dads podcast. Co-developed a preschool reading curriculum promoting race-conscious conversations in white families.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams at UW-Madison’s Division of Extension and the Institute for Research on Poverty to advance family-centered policies.