Stephanie Potochnick

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Dr. Potochnick’s research examines the social demography of immigration and how programs and policies can promote the education and health of immigrant youth. She uses an interdisciplinary perceptive to identify the health and educational needs and resources of immigrant children and families, and to examine the impact national, state, and local-level policies have on their well-being. Current projects examine how federal immigration raids and local-level immigration enforcement policies affect the mental health and school investment decisions of immigrant children at different times in their educational pathway, how pre-migration schooling and parental resources affect children’s post-migration mobility, and how settlement in new immigrant growth areas affects the health of immigrant children.

Recent Publications:

• Santillano, R., Potochnick, S., & Jenkins, J. (2020, May). Do immigration raids deter Head Start enrollment?. In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 110, pp. 419-423). 2014 Broadway, Suite 305, Nashville, TN 37203: American Economic Association.
• Potochnick, S., & Stegmaier, M. (2020). Latino political participation by citizenship status and immigrant generation. Social Science Quarterly, 101(2), 527-544.
• Perreira, K. M., Potochnick, S., & Brietzke, M. P. (2020). Integrating Hispanic immigrant youth: Perspectives from white and black Americans in emerging Hispanic communities and schools. In The End of Compassion (pp. 119-141). Routledge.
• Potochnick, S., & Hall, M. (2021). US occupational mobility of children of immigrants based on parents’ origin-country occupation. Demography, 58(1), 219-245.
• Kim, M., Potochnick, S., & Olson, K. (2022). The prevalence of ethnic, cultural, and folk nonprofit organizations in increasingly diverse communities: A case of demand heterogeneity. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 51(2), 301-326.
• Watson, S., Potochnick, S., Case, A., Cole, J., Whitlow, C., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., … & Kilmer, R. (2023). ‘Can you put down your mission and plug into mine?’ ‘How place-based initiatives leverage collaborations with academic institutions to enhance their ABCD and CBR potential. Gateways, 16(2), 1-18.
• Thomas, T., Kennedy, C. C., Holzman, B., & Potochnick, S. (2024). High School Choices and Contexts of Newcomer Students in HISD. Houston Education Research Consortium.
• Holzman, B., Thomas, T., Kennedy, C. C., Chin, A., Potochnick, S., & Cortes, K. (2024). Who Goes to Newcomer Schools? Liberty High School. Houston Education Research Consortium.
• Potochnick, S., Mikkelsen, I., Gallo, L. C., Isasi, C. R., Gonzalez, F., & Perreira, K. M. (2024). Immigrant parent legal status and children’s health in the hispanic community health study of latino youth (SOL Youth). Journal of immigrant and minority health, 26(3), 461-473.
• Potochnick, S., Armstrong, L. M., Kangmennaang, J., Delmelle, E., Gadaire, A., Suclupe, R., … & Kilmer, R. P. (2024). Using civically engaged research to promote young Black and Latino children’s well-being: lessons from a new interdisciplinary community-university, faculty–student collaboration. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 1-24.
• Pham, T., & Potochnick, S. (2024). Undergraduate Grading Practices of International and Domestic Faculty: Evidence From Three Large US Public Universities. AERA Open, 10, 23328584241267910.
• Ackert, E., & Potochnick, S. (2024). Health Care Access Among Children in Latinx Families Across US Destinations. Population Research and Policy Review, 43(5), 69.
  Pedroza, J., Potochnick, S., & Santillano, R. (2025). The 2016 United States Election and Financial Support to Migrant-Serving Legal-Aid Organizations. International Migration Review, 01979183241309573.