Laura Lein, Ph.D. is Professor in the School of Social Work and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her doctorate in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1973. She is the author, with Kathryn Edin, of Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. She has published numerous articles, most recently in Community, Work and Family, Violence Against Women, and Journal of Adolescent Research.