The director of the Cornell Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures and the Senior Associate Dean of Public Engagement at the Brooks School, Jamila Michener focuses on poverty, racial inequality, and public policy in the United States.

Her recent book, Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics, examines how Medicaid–the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low income–affects democratic citizenship. Unpacking how federalism transforms Medicaid beneficiaries’ interpretations of government and structures their participation in politics, Fragmented Democracy assesses American political life from the vantage point of those who are living in or near poverty, disproportionately Black or Latino, and reliant on a federated government for vital resources. In addition to her Brooks affiliation, she is an associate professor in the Department of Government.

Professor Michener’s research has been supported by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.  

She received her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University.