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Female faculty may experience disproportionate caregiving-type responsibilities in the academy and at home. A web-based survey inquired about the impact of childcare responsibilities on research-related travel. A convenience sample of full-time faculty participated ( n = 127). From the overwhelmingly female faculty respondents (81.3%), results show that childcare issues impact their ability to plan research travel, submit to professional conferences, and travel to give an invited talk. Faculty rank, discipline, and whether their partner was employed at the same university negatively impacted their ability to travel. Work/life travel policies may reduce barriers to travel, hence reducing a type of cumulative disadvantage.

This study compares administrative and caseworker perspectives on service delivery processes in rural areas in an Appalachian state with high levels of poverty and unemployment and limited economic resources for investment and development. The focus of this study is on the implementation of West Virginia Works, West Virginia’s public assistance program that was adopted in response to new federal welfare law enacted in 1996. The data source used in this research comes from focus groups with approximately 80 caseworkers and 5 West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources administrators with key knowledge of welfare reform in West Virginia. Implications for service delivery and public policy are discussed.

The devolution of state authority embedded in the 1996 federal welfare reform law (since reaffirmed in the 2006 reauthorization of this law) has enormous implications for economically disadvantaged adults and their families as well as those responsible for the local management and delivery of these welfare services. Although over a decade of welfare reform “impact” research currently exists, the majority of this literature focuses primarily on welfare clients in urban areas. This study identifies service delivery processes in rural areas in an Appalachian state with high levels of poverty and unemployment, limited economic resources for investment and development, and inadequate administrative capacity. Welfare reform affects urban and rural beneficiaries differently. This article highlights (1) the challenges faced by TANF caseworkers who implement welfare reform policies on a daily basis in West Virginia, (2) how these daily practices are heavily influenced by cultural and organization practices, and (3) the “chaining of social problems” found within welfare reform. The data used in this research come from focus groups with approximately eighty caseworkers in West Virginia. Implications for service delivery and public policy are discussed.