Kelly Marie Ward

Kelly Marie Ward is an Assistant Professor in the Gender & Women’s Studies and Sociology departments at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She studies the organizational features of abortion and reproductive healthcare with an emphasis on low status workers. She has published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Contraception, Mobilization, and The Sociological Quarterly. Kelly is a recipient of the National Abortion Federation’s Carole Joffe and Stanley Henshaw Early Achievement in Social Science Research Award and the Society for Family Planning’s Emerging Scholars Award. She also engages in diverse ways to support broader research as the Engagement Hub Advisor at UW Madison’s Collaborative on Reproductive Equity and a co-facilitator for the Abortion Researcher Incubator at University of California San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. Kelly is also a full spectrum doula to unconditionally support the goals of pregnant people and works with community organizations focused on abortion access and birth justice.

Selected Publication:

Ward, Kelly Marie. “Crafting the conditions for professional membership: Women of color navigating inclusion into academia.” The Sociological Quarterly 63, no. 3 (2022): 497-515.