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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Population Research Discovery Seminar: Robert Plotnick, Scott Allard, Marieka Klawitter, and Jennifer Romich

Population Dynamics, Poverty, and Policy

Co-Sponsor: West Coast Poverty Center

Please join CSDE and the WCPC for this special panel reflecting on the past, present and future of the field of population and poverty research. In honor of Professor Robert Plotnick’s long and distinguished career as a leader in this field, he and three esteemed UW poverty researchers will highlight the overarching issues that demographers have grappled with in poverty and policy research, as well as current research in the areas of poverty and geography, financial inclusion and asset building, and income supports for populations experiencing poverty.

Robert D. Plotnick is the Daniel J. Evans Professor of Public Policy and Governance. He joined the School in 1984, after previously serving on the faculties of Bates College (1975-77) and Dartmouth College (1977-84). Plotnick also holds appointments as Adjunct Professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Economics and as a Research Affiliate with UW’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and West Coast Poverty Center, and with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. He directed the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology from 1997 to 2002 and was Associate Dean of the School from 1990 to 1995 and 2011 to 2016.

Scott W. Allard is a Professor at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. His work focuses on issues of poverty, place, and safety net policy in the US. In addition to his faculty appointment at the University of Washington, Allard is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, co-primary investigator of the Family Self-Sufficiency Data Center at the University of Chicago, and a research affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Marieka M. Klawitter joined the Evans School faculty in 1990. Her research focuses on public policies that affect work and income, including studies of the effects of asset-building policies, welfare policies, intra-household bargaining, and anti-discrimination policies for sexual orientation. She teaches courses on public policy analysis, quantitative methods, program evaluation, asset-building for low income families, and sexual orientation and public policy. Klawitter holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, and a MPP and AB in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Jennifer Romich is an Associate Professor of Social Welfare at the UW School of Social Work and Director of the West Coast Poverty Center. Romich studies resources and economic in families with a particular emphasis on low income workers, household budgets and families’ interactions with public policy. Her current work focuses on the economic safety net for poor families, the child welfare system, and labor standards policies including the minimum wage and paid leave. She teaches policy and policy practice classes. Romich holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics and earned a doctorate in human development and social policy from Northwestern University.

CSSS Seminar: How Sudden Censorship Can Increase Access to Information

Abstract: Conventional wisdom assumes that increased censorship will strictly decrease access to information. We delineate circumstances when increases in censorship will expand access to information. When governments suddenly impose censorship on previously uncensored information, citizens accustomed to acquiring this information will be incentivized to learn methods of censorship evasion. These tools provide continued access to the newly blocked information and also extend users’ ability to access information that has long been censored. We illustrate this phenomenon using millions of individual-level actions of social media users in China before and after the block of Instagram. We show that the block inspired millions of Chinese users to acquire virtual private networks (VPNs) and join censored websites like Twitter and Facebook. Despite initially being apolitical, these new users began browsing blocked political pages on Wikipedia, following Chinese political activists on Twitter, and discussing highly politicized topics such protests in Hong Kong.

Center for Health Trends and Forecasts at PAA 2017

The Center for Health Trends and Forecasts will be well-represented at the Population Association of America annual meeting in Chicago, IL, April 26 – 29, 2017. You can catch up with CHTF Deputy Director and CSDE Affiliate Haidong Wang, Project Manager Faye Ziegeweid, and affiliates Joe Friedman and Nick Graetz at the following sessions:

  • Using the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) for Research, Wednesday, April 26, 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
    • This workshop will provide background in the GBD measurement philosophy and analytical principles, as well as metrics and mechanics of the study. Components of the training include instruction in the methods behind the GBD approach, key assessment factors for data, the principles underlying the analytic process, and how to interpret results.
  • Introduction to the Global Health Data Exchange and GBD Compare, Wednesday, April 26, 1:00–3:00 PM
    • This workshop will demonstrate how to employ GHDx and GBD Compare to use, critique, and manipulate GBD data and results as well as identify how GBD tools and results can be applied to research health from different perspectives.
  • Poster Session: The Relationship Between Educational Inequality and Health, Thursday, April 27
  • Poster Session: Improving the Comparability of Educational Attainment Estimates: Developing a Method to Reliably Crosswalk Binned Education Data to Single-Year Values, Thursday, April 27
  • Measuring the Geographic Distribution of Maternal Education in Africa, Friday, April 28, 10:55 AM

Or, stop by Exhibit Booth 310 to say hello!

Assistant Professor of Social Work

The Department of Social Work at the University of Michigan-Flint invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level with an interest in teaching any of the following:  substance abuse related courses, social welfare policy and research.  The Social Work program is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and is experiencing dynamic growth with approximately 300 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students and a vibrant on-line Substance Abuse Treatment (SAT) minor.  In the future we intend to extend a major in Substance Abuse Treatment and Interventions.  We seek a colleague whose innovative ideas support our mission of excellence in undergraduate education, who shares our commitment in social justice, and will be integral in growing both our BSW and Substance Abuse Treatment and Interventions curriculum.

Sociology Instructor

Green River College seeks an Instructor of Sociology to teach SOC 215: Survey of Criminology and SOC 271: Sociology of Deviance. The successful candidate will also help to develop curriculum and create new courses in Sociology. Approximately two-thirds of teaching responsibilities will include Sociology survey courses (SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology).  We seek an Instructor who embraces the community and technical college mission and the faculty role of contributing to the general education of students who will apply learning to the world of work and/or transfer their education to a university. We also prioritize the recruitment of an instructor well-versed in the study of social and structural inequities and who can teach criminology and/or deviance from that critical perspective.
Position Responsibilities:

  • Teach transfer-level Sociology and Criminology and/or Deviance courses.
  • Create new curriculum and courses focused on Criminology, Deviance, and other critical sociological content areas.
  • Advise students, serve on committees, and perform other duties as outlined in the negotiated collective bargaining agreement.
  • Participate in college and division professional activities, including (but not limited to) meetings, planning, scheduling, and program assessment.
  • Maintain strong collegial and collaborative relationships within the Sociology Department, the Social Science Division, and the Green River College campus community.

Kam Wing Chan Talks of Immigration with That’s China

Kam Wing Chan, CSDE Affiliate and UW Professor of Geography, was recently interviewed by That’s China magazine for two articles on the hukou, China’s internal passport system. He discusses existing reform attempts, the impact of current policy, and predictions for future changes. You can read the first article below and the second article here.

 

Alexes Harris and Team Track Monetary Sanctions in Multiple States

Alexes Harris, CSDE Affiliate and Professor of Sociology at UW, recently published findings from a multi-state study on monetary sanctions. Harris’s team, which includes former CSDE postdoc Bryan Sykes and former CSDE Affiliate Becky Pettit, examined legal policy in nine states in hopes of better understanding how fiscal penalties can impact the (often already poor) recipients. Backed by funding from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the group aims to map these varied policies over the course of the next five years. You can read their first report and learn more about the group itself below.

25th Annual Principles of STD/HIV Research Course

The University of Washington Department of Global Health and the Center for AIDS and STD are accepting applications for the 25th Annual Principles of STD/HIV Research Course. The course will be held July 17-July 27, 2017 at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Please join us for 2 weeks of intensive cross-disciplinary training in STD and HIV research fundamentals. You will gain a practically-oriented overview of the latest in behavioral, clinical, epidemiologic, statistical, operational, and pathogenesis research in STD and HIV. This is a unique opportunity for graduate students, trainees, and early career STD/HIV researchers to learn from and network with expert faculty and colleagues from around the world through lectures, interactive learning sessions, social events, and field trips.

For detailed course information, online application and payment information, please visit the Principles of STD/HIV Research Course website.

The general course application deadline is May 1, 2017.

Scholarships are available on a limited basis. Please see the website for eligibility guidelines and scholarship application deadline.

Please contact pshr@uw.edu with any questions not answered on the course website.

Teaching Assistant Conference: Call for Facilitators

The CTL is currently looking for experienced TAs to faciltate workshops at this year’s TA Conference on Teaching and Learning (Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 19-20). Here is key information about the conference.

CONFERENCE DATES: All core conference workshops are on Tuesday, September 19th (10:45am to 4:00pm) and Wednesday, September 20th (9:00am to 4:00pm).

PLANNING SESSIONS: We expect all new and returning workshop facilitators to participate in the workshop planning sessions on Tuesday, September 12th (9:15am-3:30pm).

STIPEND: Facilitators receive $75 for the first time they lead a particular workshop and $50 for each subsequent time leading that same workshop.

TO APPLY:  For more information, visit:

http://www.washington.edu/teaching/programs/ta-conference/information-for-facilitators/

(You’ll see the link to the application at the bottom of the page.)

Graduate Research Assistant in Data and Democracy

The Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) is hiring a graduate research assistant to help develop and publish a data literacy curriculum for the Data and Democracy project. This position will entail working on curriculum development and informal learning instruction for novice individual and organization users of data. Candidates should be comfortable with vocabulary and concepts related to data literacy and/or data lifecycles, but a deep knowledge of data is not specifically required.

This position will work up to a maximum of 10 hours per week.

Responsibilities may include some or all of the following duties:

  • Helping to expand and translate an existing data literacy learning model into a deliverable workshop curriculum
    • Researching, adopting, or developing activities for novice data users
    • Exploring relevant data sources that can be used for activities
    • Writing clear and easy-to-follow directions
    • Helping research and develop a model for publishing the curriculum on the web

Requirements:

  • University of Washington Graduate Student enrolled for a minimum of 10 credits spring quarter 2017.
  • Basic understanding of data literacy
  • Writing for general audiences

Desired Qualifications:

  • Experience in writing educational material, or developing curriculum for informal learning
  • Experience teaching with data
  • Experience developing workshop and educational materials for novice learners, or ESL
  • Knowledge of data curation best practices

Pay:

Questions regarding salary and benefits should be directed to iSchool Human Resources at ihrhelp@uw.edu

Application Materials

  • Cover Letter
  • Resume

All applicants will be contacted two weeks after the position closes.