Trying to Understand the Orlando Shooting
Following the horrific massacre in Orlando, some SBS professors were called on to share their expertise. Chris Segrin, head of the Department of Communication, discussed the mental health of the shooter. Sandra Soto, an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, was interviewed on how the shooting is affecting the LGBTQ community. And sociologist Jennifer Carlson, who studies gun policy, spoke about how the shootings will mobilize advocates on both sides of the gun debate.
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Middle school teacher Ryan Robinson and high school teacher Valerie Thaler deep in writing mode. Photo by Anna Augustowska. |
Southern Arizona Writing Project Heats Up
This summer, 11 teachers, mostly from Tucson middle and high schools, are meeting for six hours a day, four days a week, for five weeks as part of a summer institute offered by the Southern Arizona Writing Project, or SAWP. Housed in the Department of English, SAWP is part of the National Writing Project, which serves teachers across disciplines and at all levels, providing professional development opportunities to improve the teaching of writing.
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Morua Estuary in Sonora, Mexico.
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Taking A Closer Look at Desalination
UA researchers delved into the environmental, political, and social impacts of binational desalination plants in a recent article. Lead author Margaret Wilder, an associate professor in the School of Geography and Development and the Center for Latin American Studies, said the article is a call for transparent and accountable assessment of desalination and its alternatives. "I think most of us feel it is going to happen at some point. But is it going to happen on the coast of Mexico? Is it going to happen with protection for the environment and with social protections so that we are not growing unsustainably?" More
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Susan Stryker
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A Push for Transgender Studies
Inside Higher Ed featured the UA's groundbreaking Transgender Studies Initiative, launched in 2013, which features a cluster hiring of faculty members. Since 2014, the UA has hosted one of the few peer-reviewed journals on interdisciplinary transgender studies in the world. The UA will also host an international transgender studies conference this fall and plans to launch a transgender studies master's program as early as fall 2017. The driving force behind the initiative is Susan Stryker, professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies.
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UA Workshop Discovers Barriers Among Poor
Students in the Poverty in Tucson Field Workshop who surveyed low-income households in Tucson found that housing costs remain the biggest challenge. They also found that barriers to the utilization of services include feeling uncomfortable receiving assistance and lack of transportation.
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Sonia Arellano, a doctoral student in the Department of English, is investigating how migrant quilt projects raise awareness about migrant deaths in the Tucson community. |
Confluencenter Grants Fund Interdisciplinary Research
In the latest round of grants offered by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry, professors and graduate students in SBS received funds for interdisciplinary research.
Faculty projects include collecting oral histories of Tucson's refugee communities and developing an effective Arabic language planning model in Egypt.
Graduate student projects range from exploring the connections between hip-hop music and Palestinian identity formation to examining how mindfulness has impacted the Silicon Valley tech industry.
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* The research of Barbara Norrander, a professor in the School of Government and Public Policy, was featured on the John Oliver Show. He spoke about her book "The Imperfect Primary."
* Journalism graduate Karen Schaffner was featured on AZPM. Schaffner, 58, graduated with her bachelor's degree after stopping and starting her studies over the course of 41 years. More
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Eric Plemons
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* Anthropologist Eric Plemons was quoted in the TIME story "What science says about the bathroom debate." More
* Beth Mitchneck, a professor in the School of Geography and Development, wrote an op-ed about the bias women and minorities face in STEM programs.
She also wrote an op-ed about her experiences with her daughter as they toured college campuses and asked each tour guide about how institutions handle sexual assault.
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Carolyn Lukensmeyer
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* Carolyn Lukensmeyer, executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, wrote the op-ed "Hate, fear, and America." More
* Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped the National Institute for Civil Discourse launch its "Revive Civility" campaign, which aims to bring more respectful behavior to the 2016 campaign. More
* Political scientist Samara Klar received the Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association's Political Organizations and Parties section.
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Sonia Shiri
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Sonia Shiri, the academic director of the prestigious
Arizona Arabic Flagship Program, was nominated to be chair of the Flagship Council of Directors for this coming year.
* In an effort to help first responders in an emergency, a new public service announcement campaign is now airing on the radio. The campaign was created by graduate students in the School of Government and Public Policy, with help from the Drexel Heights Fire District. More
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Corey Abramson
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* UA
sociologist Corey Abramson received the 2016 Outstanding Publication Award of the American Sociological Association's Aging and the Life Course (SALC) section for his book "The End Game: How Inequality Shapes our Final Years."
* Judith McDaniel, an instructor with the School of Government and Public Policy, wrote an op-ed about her desire for a vibrant progressive movement. More
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Sally Stevens
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The UA is bringing together an interdisciplinary team of researcher, including Sally Stevens in the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, to address the challenges of a rapidly evolving "transportation ecosystem."
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* Two recent alumni from the Creative Writing graduate program were selected by Jonathan Franzen for inclusion in
Best American Essays 2016: Francisco Cantú (MFA 2016) for his essay "Bajadas" and Kati Standefer (MFA 2014) for her essay "In Praise of Contempt."
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Anthropologist and
Southwest Center researcher
Thomas Sheridan was awarded the Alene Dunlap Smith and Paul Smith Lifetime Achievement Award for Historic Preservation by the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission.
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Whitman Circle Summer Social: Poetry and Climate Change
Presented by the Poetry Center
July 20, 5:30 p.m.
Location: Hotel Congress
Speaker: Poet and geographer Eric Magrane
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"Prophecy, Prayer, and Penance: Lay Religiosity and Catholicism in Fifteenth-Century Germany"
Presented by the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies
Aug. 7, 10:15 a.m. (other lectures in the series on Aug. 14, 21, and 28)
Location: St. Philip's in the Hills Church
The theme of the 2016 Summer Lecture Series is "European Catholicism in the Late Middle Ages." Characterized by great turmoil, the Late Middle Ages was a period of religious diversity and vitality. The four lectures will probe the wide variety of beliefs and practices held by clergy and laity in Europe before the age of the Protestant Reformation.
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