Research Office News

Associate Professor Terri Friedline spoke with MarketWatch about the stress many Americans are facing in light of both rising costs and the threat of a predicted recession. “When things are not going well financially, it feels embarrassing and shameful,” she said. “Many, many people have financial difficulties, have struggled to pay their bills, or have over-drafted their accounts.”

Professors Andy Grogan-Kaylor and Shawna Lee’s research on the relationship between gender inequity and child abuse is featured in Michigan News. Garret Pace, PhD ‘22, and Kaitlin Paxton Ward, PhD ‘22 are also co-authors on the study, which found that gender inequality at the adult level perpetuates women’s economic insecurity that contributes to higher levels of child abuse.

Professor Luke Shaefer was quoted in a New York Times article describing the short-term surge in federal per child spending during the pandemic. “In my career, I’ve never seen anything so dramatic as the shift in resources to families with kids during the pandemic,” said Shaefer “Now we have much more evidence that these types of provisions can really work, and almost all of it is going away.”

Luke Shaefer explains in Vox how federal government support during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted child poverty to fall sharply. “It was, indeed, a triumph of policy.”

Nick Espitia, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology, has successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Our Existence is a Political Issue: Examining the Political Participation of Undocumented Latinx Immigrants in the Midwest.” Katie Richards-Schuster served on his committee.

Espitia has accepted a tenure-track faculty position in the department of social work at Oakland University.

Professor Emerita Edith Lewis has been named the 2022 Alexis J. Walker Lifetime Achievement awardee. The award recognizes her decades of contributions to feminist scholarship, teaching and service and is sponsored by the Feminism and Family Science Section of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). Lewis will give a plenary address at the 2023 NCFR conference.

Professor Andrew Grogan-Kaylor’s review of 50 years of research on corporal punishment was cited in a Chicago Tribune article about the return of corporal punishment to a Missouri school district. The review was also cited in an editorial in the Washington Post.

Associate Professor Robert Ortega’s profile of Professor Emerita Charles Garvin is featured in the latest issue of Social Work with Groups. PhD students Ronke Olawale and Andrea Shanon Mora are co-authors. The profile showcases Garvin’s lifelong contribution to social justice and social work with groups.