Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Phi Kappa Phi Member Wins Pulitzer Prize

Phi Kappa Phi member Matthew Desmond has won a Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

In the book, Desmond tells the story of eight families living in poverty in Milwaukee and facing eviction.

For research on the book, Desmond immersed himself in the issue, moving into a trailer park and then a rooming house in Milwaukee. He found eviction is a complex, multifaceted and far-reaching problem, affecting all aspects of family life. With the book and his extensive research, he aims to transform society’s understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation.

Desmond is currently the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and codirector of the Justice and Poverty Project. A former member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, he is the author of the award-winning book, On the Fireline, coauthor of two books on race and editor of a collection of studies on severe deprivation in America. In 2015, he was awarded a $625,000 MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the “Genius Grant.”

Desmond, a life member, was initiated into Phi Kappa Phi in 2002 at Arizona State University and also received a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship the same year.

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