CSDE-news Bulletin

May 1, 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR: CSDE Collaboration with Survey Research Division; A Colleague Is Looking for a Guest Speaker on Human Population Growth
CSDE WEEKLY SEMINAR: How Does the Gender of Parents Matter? - Tim Biblarz, University of Southern California
CSDE ANNOUNCEMENTS: Statistics Core Offers SAS Workshop
CAMPUS SEMINARS & EVENTS OF INTEREST: West Coast Poverty Center Seminar; Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences Seminar; Evans School International Gateway and International Health Program Lecture; UW Disability Studies Program and the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children's Hospital; Marc Lindenberg Center 5th Anniversary Lecture Series; Critical Medical Humanities Lectures; Labor and Development Brown Bag
RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS: New World Bank Publications
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES: Changes in NIH Definition of "New Investigator"; Child Care Dissertation Research; NIH to Support Behavioral and Social Science Research on Health Disparities; Global Health Fellowship
CALLS FOR PAPERS: Michigan Family Review
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: ICPSR Child Care and Early Education Data Summer Workshop; German Socio-Economic Panel and the Cross-National Equivalent Files Workshop; Population Reference Bureau Events & Training; Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex -- Full Professor, Quantitative Social Scientist; University of Manitoba--Assistant Professor, Department of Family Social Sciences
OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST: Population Reference Bureau has posted new content to its website

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR

CSDE Collaboration with Survey Research Division

CSDE is working with the University of Washington's Survey Research Division to support our affiliates in planning and implementing projects with primary data collection needs.

The Survey Research Division provides high quality survey services to health and social science researchers at the University of Washington and other institutions. They can provide you with any of the following survey research services at any stage in your project. They offer highly trained, specialized teams who have experience providing efficient and effective services in the following areas:

Data Collection: subject recruitment, locating and tracking; conducting in-person interviews, web surveys, phone surveys, mail surveys, and focus groups.

Data Management: data entry, data cleaning, merging of simple or complex data sets, record retrieval, descriptive analysis and reporting and scanning of paper documents.

Programming & IT Solutions: integrated programming technologies; web programming and hosting; computer-assisted interview programming and hosting, and the development of subject tracking databases.

Through these high quality services they achieve high response rates and high quality data.

Please consider them for your project or next grant application. For more information, please visit their website at www.sdrg.org/srd .

For a PDF flyer, click here.

Shelly Lundberg, Director, CSDE

A Colleague Is Looking for a Guest Speaker on Human Population Growth

A Program on the Environment instructor is looking for a one-time guest speaker on human population growth for ENVIR 100 (Introduction to Environmental Studies), an interdisciplinary class that will be offered in the fall and beyond. (In the fall the class will have 220 students and will meet MWF 9:30-10:20.) If interested, please contact yoram@u.washington.edu.

Shelly Lundberg, Director, CSDE

CSDE WEEKLY SEMINAR

How Does the Gender of Parents Matter?
Speaker: Tim Biblarz, University of Southern California

Friday, May 4
12:30-2:00 pm
Parrington Hall Commons

CSDE ANNOUNCEMENTS

CSDE Statistics Core is offering a beginning SAS workshop

May 10 & May 17
3:30 to 5:30 pm

To learn more and register, visit the CSDE training website for SAS.

CAMPUS SEMINARS & EVENTS OF INTEREST

West Coast Poverty Center

Native Americans and Health Effects of Historical Trauma
Speaker: Tessa Evans-Campbell, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, University of Washington

Monday, May 7
3:00-4:30 pm
Parrington Hall Commons

Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences Seminar

Overview of CSSS Graduate Program, Course Offerings, and Math Camp

Wednesday, May 2
12:30 pm
Savery 209

Abstract: This week's seminar will consist of an overview of various opportunities for graduate students offered through CSSS. We will provide a brief description of existing and planned tracks, a preview of CSSS course offerings for 2007-08, and a plug for CSSS Math Camp.

Evans School International Gateway and International Health Program Lecture

Health and Human Rights Consequences of Occupation and Violence on Palestineans and Israelis: Focusing on the West Bank
Speaker: Alice Rothchild

Wednesday, May 2
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Parrington Hall, Commons

Dr. Rothchild is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School and the author of "Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience". She worked with a health and human rights project, collaborating with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. In her book, she brings to life the voices of people mutually entwined in trauma and conflict, and explores individual examples of resilience and resistance.

In 1997, through her involvement in the Boston Workmen's Circle, a progressive secular Jewish organization, Dr. Rothchild turned much of her non-medical focus to understanding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and its relationship to US foreign policy and American Jewry. She co-founded and co-chairs Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston and co-organized the Jewish American Medical Project, now called the JVP Health and Human Rights Project.

UW Disability Studies Program and the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children's Hospital

The Ethical and Policy Implications of Limiting Growth in Children with Severe Disabilities

National Symposium
May 16
8:00am-4:30 pm
UW School of Law Magnuson-Jackson Moot Court Room

This might interest those of you who have followed news reports of "Ashley's Treatment."

For brochure and registration, click here.

Marc Lindenberg Center 5th Anniversary Lecture Series

Good Governance Against Poverty and Conflict in Africa: Turning Extractive Industries From a Curse into a Blessing?
Speaker: Peter Eigen

Wednesday, May 2
5:30-7:30 pm
Johnson Hall, Room 102

Peter Eigen is the founder of Transparency International (TI), a global civil society organization (CSO) combating corruption. Corruption lies at the root of poverty, conflict, violence and destruction -- locally and globally. Developing countries -- particularly in Africa -- are the main victims. It is difficult to control corruption, especially international grand corruption, because of poor governance in the globalized economy. Peter Eigen will present an example of a successful coalition between government, private sector and CSOs in fighting corruption -- where governments alone, and private enterprises alone have failed. He will explore the possibility of addressing other failures of global governance -- environment, climate change, human rights, slavery, exploitation of women and children -- with similar coalitions of state, business and civil society. Peter Eigen will also report about the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a new global multi stakeholder organization applying this approach to introduce more transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors. He is the chairman of EITI. As a member of Kofi Annan's new Africa Progress Panel (APP) he will focus particularly on the impact of these initiatives on Africa.

Champions and Revolutionaries: Critical Ingredients for Ending Global Poverty
Speaker: Sam Daley-Harris

Thursday, May 3
5:30-7:30 pm
Johnson Hall, Room 102

After organizing the Global Microcredit Summit last November with delegates from 112 countries, including the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the President of Honduras, and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, Sam Daley-Harris did something he has done before in his life-he made a radical change. Daley-Harris will discuss why he has gone back to organizing grassroots activists in church basements and community centers and why he believes that that's where the real power lies. "They're the ones who can build champions in Congress and in their communities to end global poverty," Daley-Harris says, "but you can't make that happen without a transformation from 'I don't make a difference' to 'I do,' from 'I can't fight City Hall' to 'I am City Hall.' “Daley-Harris will talk about the revolutionaries he has worked with who have broken countless rules in order to create tools that empower very poor women and their families, people like Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus. He will also discuss his views on the healing and empowerment that must take place in order for ordinary citizens to become and create champions for the end of poverty.

Whither Global Corporate Citizenship?: From the United States to China and Beyond
Speaker: Aron Cramer

Friday, May 4
5:30-7:30 pm
Kane Hall, Room 110

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has moved into the mainstream of business and public debate. With attention to climate change, poverty alleviation, and corporate accountability, attention to the role of business in society is accelerating. Aron Cramer, President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), will provide his perspective on current and emerging trends at the center of this debate. Cramer works with many of BSR's 250 member companies around the world, helping them to integrate social and environmental concerns into their strategies and operations, to achieve a more just and sustainable global economy. BSR works with companies from its headquarters in San Francisco, as well as its offices in Paris and Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Cramer will provide a view of emerging trends globally, and also a particular view of fast changing developments concerning sustainability in China.

Critical Medical Humanities Lectures
Speaker: Adriana Petryna

Offshored Clinical Trials: Pharmaceutical Evidence-making and Hidden Harms
Thursday, May 3
7:00 pm
Communications 120
...reception immediately following in the Simpson Humanities Center

Global Outsourcing of Clinical Trials: Ethical Challenges
Friday, May 4
12:00 noon
Turner Auditorium, D-209
Health Sciences Building

Adriana Petryna is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Petryna’s ethnographic research explores science and medicine in Eastern Europe and in the United States. Her earlier work had focused on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and this led her to an investigation of U.S.-based pharmaceutical research. She is interested in the ways that cultural values and political and economic practices affect scientific production, and the concomitant effect of this production on governance and citizenship claims. Her first book, /Life Exposed: Biological Citizens after Chernobyl/ (Princeton 2002), is an ethnographic examination of the vexed scientific and political circumstances that followed the nuclear disaster in then Soviet Ukraine. It was awarded the 2003 Sharon Stephens First Book Prize of the American Ethnological Society, as well as the 2006 New Millenium Book Prize of the Society for Medical Anthropology. Her current research focuses on commercialized clinical trials and their ethical and regulatory environments as they contribute to an expansion of human subjects involvement in research. She is co-editor, with Andrew Lakoff and Arthur Kleinman, of /Global Pharmaceuticals: Ethics, Markets, Practices/ (Duke 2006), and is completing an ethnography of the evolving clinical trials industry.

For a PDF flyer, click here.

Labor and Development Brown Bag

Native American Gaming: Effects on Poverty and Income
Speaker: Robin Anderson

Thursday, May 3
12:30 pm
Savery 302

Abstract
Few papers have addressed the distributional effects of Indian gaming. Changes in per capita income measure of changes in overall well being. By looking at how gaming affects poverty, this will tell us roughly how gaming affects the bottom of the distribution. I examine how gaming affects both poverty and per capita income using difference in differences technique on 1990 and 2000 US Census Aggregate Reservation level data.

Gaming increases per capita income and poverty rates and this results holds across both least squares and fixed effects specification. However, I find the relative magnitude of its affects poverty rates and income after differ across reservations with different characteristics. Gaming significantly raises income of both small and large reservations but affects small reservations the most. It only significantly decreases poverty rates of the largest tribes. I also find suggestive evidence that older gaming facilities increase income more than newer facilities but new facilities decrease poverty more. This may mean that impacts on poverty decline overtime. Finally, after controlling for casino size, gaming itself has no effect on poverty or income.

However, there are significant problems that I would like to discuss in this brownbag. First, 17 reservations had gaming facilities prior to 1990. Second, there may be some simultaneity between time varying component of unobservables and the tribe's decision to open a gaming facility. This will matter more when I stratify gaming's impact by age and size facility. Third, there are measurement error in my measures on opening dates and gaming facility size.

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

New World Bank Publications

Public Ends, Private Means: Strategic Purchasing of Health Services
Edited by Alexander S. Preker, Xingzhu Liu, and Edit V. Velenyi
Public Ends, Private Means: Strategic Purchasing of Health Services is part of a series of World Bank publications on ways to make public spending on health care more efficient and equitable in developing countries. It reviews the underlying economics in terms of agency theory, behavioral science, contract theory, transaction costs, and public choice theory. It provides a synthesis of the institutional environment needed for countries to shift to strategic purchasing, organizational incentives that need to be in place, and management capacity that needs to be strengthened. The volume is supplemented with a CD that presents six regional reviews of current resource allocation and purchasing (RAP) arrangements. April 2007.

Developing the Domestic Government Debt Market: From Diagnostics to Reform Implementation draws insights from a joint pilot program set up by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to design relevant reform and capacity-building programs in twelve countries. The experiences of these geographically and economically diverse countries – Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Zambia – illustrate the challenges, obstacles, and progress in applying principles of market development. April 2007.

Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2004, Europe: Economic Integration and Social Responsibility
Edited by Boris Pleskovic, Pierre Jacquet, and Francois Bourguignon
The Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) provides a forum for the world's leading development thinkers to share new knowledge and ideas. In 1999, in recognition of Europe's pivotal role in the provision of development assistance and in order to bring the World Bank's research on development into close contact with European perspectives, the World Bank created a distinctively European platform for debate on development issues. Topics covered in this volume include the impact of globalization and the effect of the policies of rich countries on developing ones, the protection of intellectual property, and the roles and responsibilities of the private sector. April 2007.

Growth and Poverty Reduction: Case Studies from West Africa
Edited by Quentin Wodon
Growth and Poverty Reduction provides a set of six case studies from West Africa. These assess the benefits of growth (or the costs of a lack of growth) in terms of poverty reduction in those countries. The first part of this book describes the experience of two countries (Ghana and Senegal) that achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, and that also experienced important reductions in poverty, even though growth was not strictly pro-poor. The second part describes the experience of two other countries (Burkina Faso and Cape Verde) that also achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, but where there was an initial perception that growth did not lead to much poverty reduction. The more detailed analysis of poverty presented here suggests however that these two countries did witness a sharp reduction in their population share in poverty, as would have been expected given their growth record. Finally, in the third part, the authors argue that a lack of growth in the 1990s in Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria has been a key reason for their persistently high levels of poverty. World Bank Working Paper April 2007.

To Order: www.worldbank.org/publications

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Changes in NIH definition of "New Investigator."

The new definition can be found on page 21 of the PHS 398 instructions.

Check Yes in the New Investigator box /only/ if the principal investigator has not previously competed successfully as such on any NIH-supported research project other than a small grant (R03), an Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15), an exploratory/developmental grant (R21), a Shannon Award (R55), an NIH High Priority, Short-Term Project Award (R56), or mentored career development awards for persons at the beginning of their research career (K01, K08, K22, K23, K25, K99/R00).

Check No if the principal investigator/program director is not a new investigator. Current or past recipients of Independent Scientist and other non-mentored career awards (K02, K05, K24, and K26) are not considered new investigators.

When Multiple Principal Investigators are proposed, *all* PIs must meet the definition of New Investigator for this box to be checked.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Visit our web site: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/cpr/dbs/

Child Care Dissertation Research

The US Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) has funding available for Child Care Research Scholars to support dissertation research on child care policy issues in partnership with State Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) lead agencies.

Funding Opportunity Number: HHS-2007-ACF-OPRE-YE-0010
Due Date For Letter of Intent: 05/23/2007
Due Date for Applications: 06/22/2007

The specific goals of the Child Care Research Scholars grants are:

To directly support graduate students as a way of encouraging the conduct of child care policy research.

To foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and graduate students who are pursuing doctoral- level research in the child care field.

To encourage active communication, networking, and collaboration among graduate students, their mentors, and policymakers.

To ensure that research is responsive to the changing needs of low-income families, partnerships between the graduate student, their mentor and the State CCDF lead agency are essential. Applicants must work with a State CCDF administrator to select a research question from one of the three research questions above. The contact list for State child care program offices may be found by clicking here. ACF intends to support projects that improve the capacity to respond to questions of immediate concern to policymakers, particularly those of State CCDF administrators.

Details at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2007-ACF-OPRE-YE-0010.html

NIH Notice of Intent to Publish Program Announcements with Review to Support Behavioral and Social Science Research on Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities

Notice Number: NOT-OD-07-063
Release Date: April 26

Issued by Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), Office of the Director, NIH

The NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, in collaboration with several NIH Institutes/Centers and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), plans to issue two Program Announcements with Review (PARs) using R01 and R21 funding mechanisms in early June 2007 and with an earliest start date in July 2008. The announcements will remain active for three years with receipts in September of 2007, 2008, and 2009. The purpose of these announcements is to encourage behavioral and social science research on the causes and solutions to health disparities in the U. S. population. Health disparities between, on the one hand, racial/ethnic populations, lower socioeconomic classes, and rural residents and, on the other hand, the overall U.S. population are major public health concerns. Emphasis is placed on research in and among three broad areas of action: 1) public policy, 2) health care, and 3) disease/disability prevention. Particular attention is given to reducing "health gaps" among groups. Proposals that utilize an interdisciplinary approach, investigate multiple levels of analysis, incorporate a life-course perspective, and/or employ innovative methods such as system science or community-based participatory research are particularly encouraged.

These Funding Opportunity Announcements are a direct outgrowth of NIH's Health Disparities Research Plans and the NIH Conference on Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities: The Contributions of the Behavioral and Social Sciences, October 2006

http://obssr.od.nih.gov/HealthDisparities/index.html.

Inquiries

For further information regarding these potential PARs, please contact:

Ronald P. Abeles, Ph.D.
Special Assistant to the Director
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Office of the Director
National Institutes of Health
31 Center Drive MSC 2027
Bldg. 31, Rm. B1C19
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027
Phone: 301.496.7859
Fax: 301.435-8779
E-mail: abeles@nih.gov

ASPH/CDC Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellowship

In recognition of a career dedicated to improving the health of the world?s most vulnerable populations, ASPH, with support from the CDC, established a fellowship in honor of Dean Allan Rosenfield, dean of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellowship provides Global Health training opportunities for recent graduates of ASPH member accredited schools of public health (MPH and Doctoral level). Early career professionals with graduate degrees from ASPH member schools of public health are also eligible to apply. The purpose of the fellowship program is to enhance the training of graduates of the schools of public health with an interest in global health to experience and participate in aspects of global surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, epidemiology, strategic information, and program management and accelerate their careers as leaders in global public health.

The students selected as the Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellows are expected to involve themselves, as Dean Rosenfield has done throughout his career, in all aspects of international public health. The fellowship is a unique training opportunity to learn from leading CDC experts in CDC headquarters in Atlanta as well as various international posts. ASPH is currently soliciting applications to fill several fellowship positions based in Atlanta as well as in international settings. Fellowship positions are full-time opportunities for a duration of one to two years, with an expected start date of early fall of 2007. The fellowship features an intensive orientation, arranged by ASPH in consultation with CDC. The orientation is held in Atlanta prior to the start of the fellowship. At the end of their assignments, all fellows will be asked to prepare and formally present a report on their individual projects.

To be eligible, students must have received an MPH or Doctorate degree prior to the beginning of the fellowship (no later than July 2007). Early career professionals with MPH or Doctorate degrees (within 5 years of graduation) may also apply for the fellowship program. Applicants must receive their degree(s) from an ASPH member accredited school of public health (a list of accredited schools with full ASPH membership can be accessed via the ASPH Web site) and be a U.S. citizen or hold a visa permitting permanent residence in the U.S. to be eligible for the fellowship program.

Detailed program information and an application can be accessed on the ASPH Web site at www.asph.org

Complete applications must be received in the ASPH offices by 5:00 pm (Eastern) on Friday, June 1, 2007. Please direct all questions about the program to Ms.Jennifer Champagne at jchampagne@asph.org or 202.296.1099.

CALLS FOR PAPERS

Michigan Family Review

The Michigan Council on Family Relations announces a call for papers in the Michigan Family Review journal. Articles and reviews are encouraged on all topics related to the interface of families and work. Topics can include families coping with unemployment, family stress resulting from work, mechanisms families use to manage work and family obligations, and how work influences instrumental and affective family tasks.

Manuscript deadline is June 1, 2007.
For more information, please visit our website.

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

ICPSR Summer Workshop -- The Social and Economic Contexts of Child Care and Early Education Data

August 6-9
Ann Arbor, MI
Applications are due by Friday, May 25, 2007

ICPSR and its Child Care and Early Education /Research Connections/ project would like to announce a new workshop being offered as part of the 2007 Summer Program. The workshop will feature data that can be used in the analysis of working families, their self-sufficiency, the economics of child care and early education, including subsidy use, as well as the impacts on family and child outcomes. There is no fee for the workshop and stipends are available to defray travel costs. Please share this course announcement with your campus community. In particular, faculty and graduate students in the following areas might find the course of particular interest: early education, economics, child development, family studies, sociology, social work, psychology and pediatrics.

This workshop is sponsored by /Research Connections/, with support from the Child Care Bureau, Office of Family Assistance and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is designed as an introduction to key datasets that can be used in the analysis of working families, their self-sufficiency, the economics of child care and early education, including subsidy use, as well as the impacts on family and child outcomes. The workshop will feature the following datasets:

American Community Survey (ACS)

Child Care and Development Fund Administrative Data

Current Population Survey (CPS)

National Household Education Survey (NHES)

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)

Enrollment in this workshop is limited. Admitted graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and junior faculty/researchers will also be considered for one of a limited number of monetary awards to offset travel expenses.

Additional questions may be directed to contact@researchconnections.org

Workshop for Users of the German Socio-Economic Panel and the Cross-National Equivalent Files

September 7-8
Cornell University

The Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University will hold a workshop to introduce researchers to the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and the Cross-National Equivalent Files (CNEF). Twenty-two waves of GSOEP data are available to researchers interested in using this rich panel study. The CNEF currently includes data from five country’s panel studies: the GSOEP, the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), the Canadian Survey of Income and Labour Dynamics (SLID), the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), and the United States Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID).

The purpose of the workshop is to introduce and familiarize new users with the file structure and potential of the GSOEP and CNEF data. Current users will also benefit from sessions with highly trained researchers who will explain more subtle issues involved in analyses that use the GSOEP sample of residents of the former East Germany.

GSOEP CNEF User Workshop 2007 Announcement
Application

Population Reference Bureau Events & Training

PRB Symposium: Confronting Chronic Diseases: Are We Prepared?

Presenters:
Walter Willet, Harvard University, "The Global Epidemic of Chronic Disease: Prevention by Diet and Lifestyle";
Rachel Nugent, Center for Global Development, "The Economic Impacts of Chronic Diseases"; and
Denise Stevens, Matrix Public Health Associates, "The Future of Interventions in the Fight Against Chronic Diseases."

The symposium will be taped and archived as a webcast on the PRB website.

Hopkins Population Center/PRB, May 31: Long-Term Consequences of Low Birth Weight

To be held at the National Press Club, Washington, DC, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. In a surprising debate about the consequences of low birth weight, social scientists argue that it may affect high school graduation or wage levels, while clinical scientists argue that it does not directly affect long-term outcomes. The social scientists point to statistical evidence from surveys or from studies of twins while the clinical scientists argue that no biological mechanism exists that would support the idea of direct later-life consequences. The discussion has important implications for public policy. The symposium will bring together three distinguished individuals to explore this topic.

Speakers:
Dalton Conley, University Professor of the Social Sciences and Chair of Sociology at New York University;
Marie McCormick, the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Discussant: Woodie Kessel, Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS, (Ret.), who served as the Senior Child Health Science Adviser in the Office of the Secretary.

This symposium will be taped and archived as a webcast on the PRB website.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex (UK) has a vacancy at the full professor level for a quantitative social scientist.

We seek a person who will consolidate and extend ISER's world-class reputation in quantitative analysis of social science research issues. We seek a social scientist with the capabilities and vision to address developing research agendas in an innovative manner and in a multidisciplinary context. (Disciplinary affiliation per se of the post-holder is less important.) The candidate is expected to undertake a programme of research and to lead a team of researchers, to secure funding for new projects, and to supervise research students and teach occasional courses. There are no undergraduate teaching duties currently associated with the post.

Further details are at http://www.essex.ac.uk/personnel/Jobs/details/PR327W.htm.

Application Deadline: May 17, 2007.

If you wish to discuss the post informally, please contact ISER Director, Stephen Jenkins, email: stephenj@essex.ac.uk.

University of Manitoba--Assistant Professor, Department of Family Social Sciences

The Department of Family Social Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology at the University of Manitoba invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of Family, Housing and Community Development. A specialist with a strong background in family, housing and community issues and expertise in program development and evaluation is needed to continue to provide policy-relevant research and teaching. The successful applicant will be expected to teach and supervise students, conduct research, and provide service to the university and community. Doctorate required.

Application deadline is June 6, 2007 or until the position is filled.
For more information, please vist our website.

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

The Population Reference Bureau has posted new content to its website www.prb.org

HIV/AIDS

Understanding How HIV/AIDS, Agricultural Systems, and Food Security Are Linked

While the links between HIV/AIDS, agricultural production, and food security are strong and complex, the evidence presented in this article offers a guide for attacking the problem, and ultimately severing these links between disease, poverty, and hunger. Lori M. Hunter, a Bixby Visiting Scholar at the Population Reference Bureau and associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder, wrote the article. She argues that the key to success is to examine food security through an "HIV/AIDS lens."

HIV/AIDS in Vietnam

Vietnam is at a crossroads in its efforts to curb the spread of HIV. More than 260,000 people are living with HIV and an estimated 100 people become infected every day. With increasing numbers of men and women affected, the epidemic is no longer confined to high-risk groups. In this report, PRB, in collaboration with the Vietnam Commission for Population, Family, and Children, presents an overview of the latest HIV/AIDS estimates and trends. The report details the national picture, showing how HIV prevalence has increased over time.

Guidelines for Mitigating the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Coastal Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management

To combat the threats of HIV/AIDS and ecological decline, this report describes the problems that lie at the intersection between AIDS, gender, population, and coastal biodiversity conservation and resource management. The report then recommends ways to reduce HIV prevalence and help mitigate AIDS’s negative impact on the environment. The report was made possible by funding from USAID and represents a collaboration between USAID, the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center, the Population Reference Bureau, and the World Conservation Union.

YOUTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Youth in the Middle East and North Africa: Demographic Opportunity or Challenge?

Despite oil resources and major improvements in health and education, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is not meeting the changing needs of its rapidly growing young population. This policy brief gives an overview of demographic trends among MENA youth and the implications of these trends for the region's human and economic development. This policy brief was written by Ragui Assaad, regional director for West Asia and North Africa at the Population Council, and Farzaneh (Nazy) Roudi-Fahimi, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Population Reference Bureau.

Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa

In the Middle East and North Africa, the risks associated with sexual relationships, both married and unmarried, are heightened by young people's lack of access to information and services related to sexual and reproductive health. Programs that provide such information and services would benefit young people whether they are sexually active now or not, preparing them to make more informed decisions about marriage, sexual relationships, and childbearing. This policy brief was written by Jocelyn DeJong, of the American University of Beirut; Bonnie Shepard, of Social Sectors Development Strategies, Inc.; and Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Lori Ashford of the Population Reference Bureau.

POPULATION BASICS

Objections Surface Over Nigerian Census Results

Provisional results of the 2006 census in Nigeria show that Kano in the north is Nigeria's most populous state (9.4 million), followed by Lagos (9.0 million) in the south. Northern states account for 75 million people, while the southern states are home to 65 million. The total population was 140 million. Since December, when these provisional results were released, some Nigerians have rejected the numbers, while others have stood by them. Sandra Yin, PRB’s associate editor, is following this story.

Is Fertility Rising in Countries With Low Birth Rates?

PRB is launching a project that will monitor fertility trends in low-fertility countries. We have posted a table with national total fertility rates (TFRs) that shows TFRs from 1995 to the most recent year available for 53 countries. The table will be updated as we have new information. Carl Haub, PRB’s senior demographer, and Mary Kent, editor of the Population Bulletin, will monitor and update the data.

PopWire: New U.S. Census Bureau Metropolitan Population Estimates

The U.S. Census Bureau has released new population estimates for the nation's metropolitan areas, building on its county estimates published in March. The Atlanta region, which added about 890,000 people from 2000 to 2006, was ranked first in numerical growth, writes D’Vera Cohn, PRB senior editor.

Population & Economic Development Linkages 2007 Data Sheet

This data sheet provides up-to-date data on population, inequalities within developing countries, and economic opportunities. Data covered include the percent of married women using modern contraception by wealth group, number of working-age adults per dependent child, and percent of females enrolled in secondary school. The data sheet was compiled and written by Donna Clifton, Toshiko Kaneda, Rachel Nugent, and Erin Sines.

TEACHER RESOURCES

Making Population Real: Training of Trainers Manual

This manual provides a set of training materials selected from PRB's award-winning lesson plans "Making Population Real." The materials are designed for 45-minute or three-hour workshop lessons and include PowerPoint presentations and handouts on methods for teaching about population. The manual includes background information that would be useful to teachers developing lesson plans on population topics for their classrooms.

NUTRITION

PRB to Resume Publication of “New and Noteworthy in Nutrition” Newsletter

PRB will resume publication of a well-regarded and widely circulated newsletter on nutrition, previously published by Alan Berg of the World Bank and later by the International Food Policy Research Institute. "New and Noteworthy in Nutrition" will be distributed electronically via the PRB website and a "New and Noteworthy in Nutrition" e-mail list.