Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives
Anna Maria Santiago
Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives
Professor of Social Work
College of Social Science, Michigan State University
Dr. Anna Maria Santiago, Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives, joined the MSU College of Social Science as Professor of Social Work in August, 2015. She was previously appointed as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in January, 2018. Her previous positions include serving as the inaugural holder of the Leona Bevis and Marguerite Haynam Professorship in Community Development at Case Western Reserve University, professor and inaugural director of the PhD Program in social work at Wayne State University. She also has held faculty positions in the social sciences at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Seton Hall University and Indiana University. In 2014, she served as President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Dr. Santiago is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Community Practice.
For more than two decades, Dr. Santiago has conducted research that examines the importance of place on the economic opportunities and life chances available to low-income Latino, African American and Vietnamese families and their children. Her current research focuses primarily on how federal, state and local housing policies and programs serve as vehicles for community and social development in the United States and in Scandinavia. Dr. Santiago’s research has been supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Ford Foundation, the Mac Arthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Norwegian Social Research Council. Her publications include numerous articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and three books, Opportunity Neighborhoods for Latino and African American Children, Why NOT in My Backyard?, and Financial Capability and Asset Building with Diverse Populations: Improving Financial Well-Being in Families and Communities.
Dr. Santiago earned her undergraduate degree in social sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She earned her master’s degree in geography and her doctoral degree in urban social institutions from the University of Milwaukee.
If you would like to contact Associate Dean Santiago, please contact her assistant Jennifer Abbott at or call 517--353-4823.