C
PPA director M.V. Lee Badgett drew laughs when she opened her remarks at a recent debate on legalizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island, noting “I’ve been outed as an economist.” Extending marriage privileges to gay and lesbian couples is currently an important policy issue in Rhode Island. For additional information about the debate, please see the article in the February 20, 2011, issue of The Providence Journal by Edward Fitzpatrick.
Category: Public Engagement Project
You can read about Nancy Folbre’s research and engagement in two recent UMass publications: an article on the front page of the campus website, and in the University’s 2010 Report on Research. Folbre is a professor of economics at UMass Amherst and a CPPA faculty associate.
In the January 5, 2011, article that appears on the website, Folbre talks about her experience as a contributor to the New York Times blog Economix. “[T]rying to distill an economic argument into about 600 words [is] a good exercise,” says Folbre. “I like the immediate and often diverse responses from readers. I was somewhat unprepared and initially taken aback by the sometimes-rude tenor of posted comments but have come to the conclusion that I’ve led a sheltered life in the university. I think it’s good to learn how to take a little abuse.”
The article in the University’s annual research report, “Bridging the Gap: Toward a Public Understanding of Economics,” also talks about Folbre’s combined research and public engagement work, “honoring the campus’s land-grant promise to transfer knowledge discovered through research and creative activity to the citizens of Massachusetts.”
Folbre has been a faculty member at UMass Amherst since 1981 and received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (also known as the Genius Award) in 1998.
Amy Schalet will be featured on the upcoming webinar, “Talking With Teens About Healthy Sexual Relationships.” According to the sponsor, “adolescents in the United States fare poorly in regards to their sexual health as compared to other industrialized nations. By participating in this Web cast, you can learn about research examining these differences and learn a new approach towards promoting positive sexual health for our youth patients.” The webinar will provide attendees with statistics related to adolescent sexual health activities in the United States and the Netherlands (the focus of Schalet’s research) and an understanding of the importance of a paradigm shift away from a risk-based perspective toward engaging youth in discussions about healthy sexual relationships. It will additionally empower attendees with strategies for discussing healthy sexual relationships with youth.
The webinar airs on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, at 12 p.m. Eastern Time (9 a.m. Pacific), and is sponsored by the AAP Adolescent Health Partnership Project. To register for the event, please visit AAP Adolesecent Health.
In addition to her speaking at the webinar, Schalet also recently gave the keynote address at the 2010 California Adolescent Health Conference and was cited in the Daily Dish, a non-partisan blog sponsored by The Atlantic.
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.
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.
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).