Image: Payday loans store, by Tony Webster, cc.
Thanks for reading our weekly roundup of news and events at the School of Human Ecology. Have something we should know about? Email Public Relations Manager Serena Larkin, or submit your SoHE event via this form. View past issues of news and events here.
SoHE scholars in the news
Harvey on alternative financial services in times of crisis
Dr. Melody Harvey, who will join SoHE’s Consumer Science department this fall, shared her expertise on the likely increased use of alternative financial services, like payday lending, by families and individuals experiencing financial stress due to COVID-19: “I suspect that we may ultimately see an increase in alternative financial services use, but I think the extent of that increase will depend on the interplay of how states treat the institutions that provide these services as well as the availability of other options.” The article also cited her 2019 paper in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
Addo on racial wealth disparities in MarketWatch
Dr. Fenaba Addo, Lorna Jorgenson Wendt Associate Professor in Money, Relationships, and Equality (MORE) in Consumer Science and an affiliate of the Center for Financial Security, spoke with MarketWatch about the racial wealth and student debt disparities she has studied in her research. The longform article laid out the various additional challenges young Black people face trying to find jobs or save money at present and profiled a number of individuals whose experiences illustrate these realities.
Whelan advises on adjusting to social engagements again after lockdown
Dr. Christine Whelan, Clinical Professor of Consumer Science and Director of the Money, Equality, and Relationships (MORE) Initiative, spoke with Channel 3000 about readjusting to social engagements after physical distancing requirements under COVID-19.
Olive lends financial guidance for Wisconsin families
Peggy Olive, Financial Capability Specialist, shared financial guidance in Kenosha News for families struggling economically under COVID-19.
New research from SoHE
Addo on debt concordance and relationship quality
Dr. Fenaba Addo has a new paper in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues on the degree of couple-level agreement on finances and its association with relationship outcomes (full text here [PDF]).
Kirkorian on young children’s screen use
Dr. Heather Kirkorian, the Laura M. Secord Chair in Early Childhood Development and Faculty Director of the UW Child Development Lab, has a new paper out in Pediatrics (the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics), examining young children’s use of smartphones and tablets via mobile device sampling to measure usage rates rather than other methods, like parent reporting on usage.
Hartley publishes two papers on Alzheimer’s and Down Syndrome relationship
Dr. Sigan Hartley, SoHE’s 100 Women Chair in Human Ecology and Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, has two new papers out in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine describing the relationship between Alzheimer’s and Down Syndrome in adults: “Regional associations between amyloid and glucose metabolism during the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in Down syndrome” and “Spatial distribution of neurofibrillary tau with Aβ load distinguish cases of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease from cognitively stable individuals with Down syndrome.”
Flanagan and Smallwood on urban youth and the environmental commons
Retiring Associate Dean of SoHE and Vaughan Bascom Professor in Women, Family, and Community Dr. Connie Flanagan, along with graduate student Morgan Smallwood, who is earning her PhD in Civil Society and Community Research, have published a paper in Sustainable Earth assessing what urban youth learn about the “environmental commons” by participating in place-based stewardship education projects.
SoHE Summertime Research Award Recipient Publishes Findings for NIDA
Dr. Albert Burgess-Hull, a 2018 graduate of SoHE’s Human Development and Family Studies PhD program, now a postdoctoral fellow with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (U.S.), has published a paper in Prevention Science on finite mixture modeling methodology. His research was supported by a SoHE Summertime Academic Research (STAR) Award, and he thanked Drs. Kristin Litzelman and Robert Nix for their feedback on his work.
Student with Dilworth-Bart lab publishes poster with UW Undergraduate Symposium
Joana Arengo, a recent graduate from SoHE’s Human Development and Family Studies major and an intern with Dr. Janean Dilworth-Bart‘s Child and Family Ecologies (“Cafe”) Lab, has published a poster, under Dilworth-Bart’s mentorship, with the UW–Madison Undergraduate Symposium, held online this year. Her topic was “The Role of Environmental Risk Factors in Preschoolers’ Self-Regulation and Verbal Abilities.”
CommNS publishes report on civic health of Wisconsin
Mary Beth Collins, Executive Director of the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (“the CommNS”) and two Civil Society and Community Research PhD students, Garret Zastoupil and Mallory Vanmeeter, have co-published with a number of organizations around the state a report on the state of civic health in Wisconsin (PDF).
Events
Kirkorian on screentime and children
Dr. Heather Kirkorian participated yesterday in a virtual panel discussion, free and open to the public, with the group Children and Screens, to provide research-based guidance on young children and screentime—just in time for summer under COVID-19.
Ponto on emerging tech trends with Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Next Wednesday, Hyper Innovation and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery‘s Emerging Tech Hub, will host a free, virtual report-out and Q&A on emerging trends in technology. Dr. Kevin Ponto, Associate Professor in Design Studies at SoHE and Director of the Emerging Tech Hub at WID, will open the discussion.