“Sequencing Success” ft. the Institute for Family Studies’ Wendy Wang I Saturdays at Seven – Season Two, Episode Twenty
February 1, 2025
In the twentieth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Wendy Wang, the Director of Research for the Institute for Family Studies. Wang opens by discussing the research she and her colleagues conduct concerning the Success Sequence—a set of three steps that when followed in order (high school graduation, employment, and marriage) greatly increase a young person’s chance of flourishing in relation to a variety of measures. Wang offers details concerning her own vocation including her early research experience in China, coming to the United States to do doctoral work in sociology, and lessons she learned when working in a variety of roles for the Pew Research Center. She then shares her insights concerning the ways sociological data can be of benefit to policy makers seeking to improve the lives of families and children, occasions when we may ask too much of data, and occasions when we may ask too little of data. Wang then closes by exploring ways the data she and her colleagues collect can be of benefit to a variety of institutions including the Church, Church-related colleges and universities, and ways the Church and Church-related colleges and universities can work together when striving to improve the lives of families and children.
Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.
