Gina Mueterthies is a research assistant in the child welfare program area. Prior to joining Child Trends, she graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in sociology & anthropology, concentrating in gender and sexuality studies. At St. Olaf, Gina contributed to a variety of internally-focused research projects aimed at understanding and improving students’ on-campus experience. Topics of these projects included student employment satisfaction, faculty’s understanding and use of antiracist pedagogy, campus-wide inclusion efforts, and St. Olaf’s dry campus policy. Gina also has a range of direct service experience in issues such as food security and local food systems, unemployment, and early childhood education.

Broadly, Gina’s research interests lie in issues of power, especially regarding the ways that communities negotiate their lives within the systems and institutions that hold power over them.