The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Author: snewton

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Faculty Research Public Engagement Project

Budig Testifies Before U.S. Congress On Gender Wage Gap

Michelle Budig, associate professor of sociology and CPPA faculty associate, testified on September 30, 2010, before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee about the role of parenthood in the persistent gap between male and female earnings in this country.

Budig’s testimony about the kinds of policies that might reduce this gap was based in part on comparative research she conducted with Professor of Sociology and Public Policy Joya Misra and Irene Boeckmann, a doctoral student in sociology.

According to that research, which was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, publicly supported early childhood education programs, univeral family leave policies with provisions for paid maternal and paternal leaves, and stronger laws and enforcement governing workplace discrimination could all contribute to alleviating the “motherhood penalty” faced by U.S. workers.

The  Joint Economic Committee is a bicameral Congressional Committee composed of members from both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  It is currently chaired by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).

Budig’s full testimony is now posted on The Hill’s Congress Blog.

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Faculty Honors & Awards

Misra Named Next Editor of Gender and Society

Joya Misra, professor of sociology and public policy, has been selected as the next editor of Gender and Society, the premier journal in the sociology of gender.  Misra’s selection recognizes her outstanding scholarship and many contributions to the field.  Misra has been a faculty member at CPPA since 1999.  Additional information can be found at the CSBS website.

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Events Faculty Research

McDermott Featured Speaker at October 4 CPPA Faculty Colloquium

Kathryn McDermott, associate professor of education and public policy, will discuss “Diversity, Race-Neutrality, and Austerity: The Changing Politics of Urban Education” on Monday, October 4, at 12 p.m. in Thompson 620.  The talk is part of the Center for Public Policy and Administration’s Fall 2010 Faculty Colloquium.

Professor McDermott’s research concerns political debates around school diversity and how these debates have been shaped in recent years by the emphasis on school performance and the financial crisis of 2008. 

McDermott’s analysis draws on case material from school districts in Boston, MA, Raleigh, NC, and Louisville, KY.  Her findings suggest that racial and socioeconomic diversity have become less and less part of public debates about urban schools, and that concerns about enhancing racial and socioeconomic diversity have become increasingly disconnected from strategies for improving school performance. 

She also will describe how recent race-neutral policies governing school assignment generate different political dynamics from previous generations of race-conscious policies.  

McDermott is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity, and the forthcoming book, High Stakes Reform: The Politics of Educational Accountability.  She is a specialist on state-level educational policies and has led a comprehensive study of Massachusetts’ capacity to implement educational reform. As an expert on policies to achieve educational equity, she also has examined the role of public policy in providing better access to higher education in New England.  McDermott has been at UMass Amherst since 1999 and holds a doctorate in political science from Yale University.

This talk is free and open to the public.  Brownbag lunches are welcome. For additional information, go to www.masspolicy.org or contact Kathy Colón (kcolon@pubpol.umass.edu).

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Faculty Honors & Awards

Misra Receives Prestigious SWS Mentoring Award

Joya Misra, professor of sociology and public policy, received the 2010 Mentoring Award from the Sociologists for Women in Society at this year’s annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

The mentoring award was begun in 1990 to annually honor an SWS member who is an outstanding feminist mentor.  The SWS award recognizes Misra’s many contributions toward encouraging feminist scholarship, membership in the academy, and feminist change.  Recipients of the prestigious award are known for their mentoring of junior women, both inside and outside of sociology, and for their work as role models, teachers, and advocates. 

Misra is Chair of the Race, Gender & Class section of the ASA and previously served on the SWS Sister-to-Sister Task Force. At UMass, she has received several Mellon Mutual Mentoring grants, including to develop a CPPA grantswriting workshop.  She also has chaired the UMass Joint MSP/Administration Work Life Committee, which conducts research about, and advocates for, family-friendly policies on campus. She regularly publishes with graduate students in Sociology and CPPA.

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Faculty Research Public Engagement Project

Schalet’s Research on Teen Sexuality Featured in Salon, Time Magazine Online

Research by Amy Schalet on the different approaches of American and Dutch parents to teenagers’ sexual relationships has been picked up by journalists across the globe.  An article by Schalet in Contexts, a publication of the American Sociological Association, was recently featured in Salon and Time Online. Schalet has also been contacted by Dutch radio concerning her research.

Schalet is Assistant Professor of Sociology and a CPPA affiliate.  She also is a member of the UMass Public Engagement Project steering committee, which supports and trains UMass faculty members to help make a difference in the world.

Schalet’s research contrasts the attitudes of Dutch parents, who commonly allow their teenagers to spend the night with steady boyfriends or girlfriends, to those of American parents, who rarely condone such behavior.  Teen birth rates in the U.S. are 8 times as high as those in the Netherlands.  These findings have important implications for thinking about teen sexuality and possible approaches to sexual education.

Schalet’s work on teen sexuality has been featured in other widely-read publications in the past.  See, for example, an op-ed by Schalet in the Washington Post and an article that appeared on the website of Advocates for Youth, a national nonprofit that helps young people make informed and responsible decisions about reproductive and sexual health.

Schalet will be a featured speaker at the CPPA Faculty Colloquium on Monday, December 6 (12-1 p.m., Thompson 620).     

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Events

Jarice Hanson Opens Fall 2010 CPPA Faculty Colloquium

The Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) will kick off its Fall 2010 Faculty Colloquium on Monday, September 20, with a talk by Professor of Communication Jarice Hanson. The presentation will take place from 12-1 p.m. in Thompson 620. CPPA’s Colloquia are held monthly each semester and enable members of the UMass community to discuss ongoing research projects that have significant policy implications.

Hanson’s presentation, “The Digitally Divided: The New Minority and Willful Retreat from the Information Society,” is co-sponsored by the National Center for Digital Government (NCDG), a CPPA affiliate.

Hanson’s talk will investigate the growing movement of people who have withdrawn from Internet and cell phone use and their reasons for opting out of the “information society.” Her research draws from interviews with the “unconnected” and examines reasons for their choices along three dimensions related to economic principles, social choices, and perceptions of happiness.

Professor Hanson is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of 21 books, including 24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work and Play (2007). Along with her UMass position, Hanson holds the Verizon Chair in Telecommunications at Temple University and is also a CPPA faculty associate. In addition to her research on cell phone and Internet usage, she is conducting research on the social and behavioral aspects of the emerging field of nanotechnology and the impact of media coverage of the war in Iraq on the rhetorical dimensions of democratic practice. Hanson received an Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in 2008-2009. She has been at UMass Amherst since 1985 and holds a doctorate from Northwestern University.

Three additional speakers will participate in CPPA’s Faculty Colloquium this fall: Kathryn McDermott, associate professor of education and public policy (October 4,); Jeffrey Thompson, assistant research professor at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) (November 1); and Amy Schalet, assistant professor of sociology (December 7).

All talks in the CPPA Faculty Colloquium are free and open to the public. Brownbag lunches are welcome. For additional information, go to www.masspolicy.org or contact Kathy Colón (kcolon@pubpol.umass.edu).