She received her A.B. from Barnard College of Columbia University and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. White has received the University Professor Award and the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award. She is involved in a seven-year study of the impact of welfare reform in rural Ohio supported by the Joyce Foundation and the Voinovich School. Professor White's research on welfare policy is the subject of her book, Democracy, Justice and the Welfare State: Reconstructing Public Care.