The University of Texas at Austin

Francie Ostrower, Ph.D. is Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Senior Fellow in the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. Prior to joining the University of Texas in 2008, she was Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Prior to that, she was a sociology faculty member at Harvard University. Dr. Ostrower received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University, where she also served as Associate Director of the Program on Nonprofit Organizations.

Dr. Ostrower is the author of books on Trustees of Culture and Why the Wealthy Give, which received awards from ARNOVA and Independent Sector, and co-author of Race, Ethnicity and Participation in the Arts. Among her articles and monographs are Attitudes and Practices Concerning Effective Philanthropy (recipient of Independent Sector's 2006 Virginia Hodgkinson Research Prize); Nonprofit Governance in the United States; The Reality Underneath the Buzz of Partnerships; The Diversity of Cultural Participation and a co-authored chapter on governance in The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook.

In recent years, she has served on the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly board, the advisory committees of the Aspen Institute's Community Foundation Initiative and the National Endowment for the Arts 2007 SPPA Planning Study, and as Vice President for Publications and board member of the Association for Research on Voluntary and Nonprofit Action.

Professor Ostrower is also an Urban Institute Affiliated Scholar.

Education

Ph.D., M.Phil, MA, Sociology Yale University, B.A., Swarthmore College.

Current Positions

Joint appointment, LBJ School of Public Affairs and College of Fine Arts (Department of Theatre and Dance), The University of Texas at Austin; Associate Scholar, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, The Urban Institute.

Previous Positions

Senior Research Associate, The Urban Institute, 2000-2008;
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Harvard University (1995-2000; assistant professor 1991-1995; instructor 1990-1991); Associate Director and Assistant Director, Yale University Program on Non-Profit Organizations
(1988-1989).

Author, Trustees of Culture (University of Chicago 2002), Why the Wealthy Give (Princeton 1995), and co-author Race, Ethnicity and Participation in the Arts (Seven Locks Press/National Endowment for the Arts 1992). Author of various other publications on philanthropy, governance, and
cultural participation such as “Multiple Motives, Multiple Experiences: The Diversity of Cultural Participation” in Bill Ivey and Steven Tepper (editors) Engaging Art: The Next Great Transformation of America’s Cultural Life (Routledge, 2008); Nonprofit Governance in the United States: Findings on Performance and Accountability from the First National Representative Study (The Urban Institute, 2007); "Foundation Approaches to Effectiveness: A Typology," Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2006); Attitudes and Practices Concerning Effective Philanthropy: Survey Report (The Urban Institute, 2004).

Culture
Nonprofit Management and Governance
Philanthropy