Fall 2020 books from our college community.
Population Research Center
Why Do People in Hawaii Live 7 Years Longer than People in Mississippi?
Add living a longer life to the list of reasons to move to Hawaii, which tops the list in a national study on average life expectancy. The study showed that living somewhere with more economic regulations and policy protections for marginalized groups may be the key for a clean bill of health. “We run the […]
Grading Brain Health: How Educational Experiences Impact Cognitive Functioning Later in Life
High school experiences follow you long after you’ve graduated, shaping your professional success and even your health. Now, researchers are investigating how it could contribute to your future brain health and maybe even impact your likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s Disease. University of Texas at Austin sociologist Chandra Muller researches how educational experiences shape life course […]
UT Austin Launches Texas Aging & Longevity Center
Not all people experience their twilight years in the same way. Some will be hearty triathletes traveling the world and writing novels, while others will be hobbled by chronic illness and dementia. Fifteen percent of Texans — nearly four million people — are aged 65 and older, and that number is growing. By 2040, older […]
Smile, You’re on Camera: Behind the Lens of 24/7 Surveillance
“Even a strutting exhibitionist has something to hide: certain diary entries, genetic predispositions, financial mistakes, medical crises, teenage embarrassments, antisocial compulsions, sexual fantasies, radical dreams,” writes Randolph Lewis. “We all have something that we want to shield from public view. The real question is: Who gets to pull the curtains? And increasingly: How will we […]
An Educated Decision
Voter turnout in the U.S. is below turnout in most other advanced democracies, with only about 60 percent of eligible voters participating in the past four presidential elections and about 40 percent participating in midterm elections. While prior research indicates that those with higher levels of education are more likely to vote, new research shows […]
Your Turn to Do the Dishes
Most young women – and men – prefer shared household responsibilities There’s no shortage of advice for women these days about how to balance work and family — everything from becoming a supermom who can “lean in” at the workplace and do it all, to embracing the role of a full-time homemaker. But when given […]
Depression: Making Treatment Personal
For the estimated 350 million people worldwide who suffer from depression, the health consequences go far beyond “feeling down.” In fact, it is a leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people with symptoms of depression will never receive treatment, and for those diagnosed with major […]
Borderline: The Politics, Law and Identity of Immigration
Temperatures hovered around the triple digits in deep South Texas when the children arrived on the U.S.-Mexico border. They traveled alone, without parents. They traveled from the faraway mountains of Guatemala and El Salvador and the depths of the world’s most violent city — San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Their numbers grew over months until […]
The Benefits to Paid Family Leave That Nobody is Talking About
This month marks 22 years since the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA was an important first step toward improving the lives of American workers by helping them secure unpaid leave from their jobs for a variety of family issues, while protecting their employment security. But the FMLA left much to […]
Early Poverty Linked to Obesity in Women
Adolescent girls who grow up in poor households are more likely than their male counterparts to become overweight or obese, according to a new study by Tetyana Pudrovska, assistant professor of sociology. The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, shows long-lasting consequences of economic hardship in childhood for the risk of […]
Keeping A Pulse On Population Health
A few years ago, a Plan II Honors student in Marc Musick’s sociology lecture came to him with a question. Musick had been talking about the shortage of doctors in rural and inner city areas. The student had grown up in the Rio Grande Valley and hoped to go on to medical school. Why, he […]
Making the Grade
Strategies for Improving Education in America Few dispute the value of education, but discussions about how our nation should improve it are becoming more intense and polarized. Of all the competing arguments—more technology, smaller classrooms, improved teacher training, universal pre-kindergarten—most people would agree that America’s education system needs to improve, and soon. According to recent […]
Regents Honor Outstanding Teaching
Five faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts received the 2013 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the UT System Board of Regents’ highest teaching honor. The awards program is one of the nation’s largest monetary teaching recognition programs in higher education, honoring outstanding performance in the classroom and dedication to innovation in undergraduate instruction. The […]
High School and Beyond
University of Texas at Austin sociologist and Population Research Center affiliate Chandra Muller and economist Sandra Black have received a $3.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to study the effects of cognition on health, mortality, education and employment from high school and beyond. The three-year grant will support a Muller-led study that […]
Restore Rundberg
Sociologist Works to Reduce Crime in Austin Neighborhood Struggles in the Rundberg neighborhood of Austin are evident at deteriorating apartments and trash-strewn vacant lots. But pride and hope are plentiful too, as many residents spruce up their homes, pitch in at community parks and enjoy new recreation centers. Alarming police statistics reveal another layer of […]
A Space to Call Home
Take a walk through the new College of Liberal Arts Building, and the building feels as fresh and modern as it feels warm and lived-in—an impressive feat for a place that just opened in January. “This is our shot at greatness,” says Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This building ensures that […]
How Long Will You Live? Chances Are…
How long will you live? And how does that compare to your fellow longhorns based on your race and gender? Graduate researchers are striving to eliminate health barriers and extend life expectancy for one and all. Life expectancy in the United States is on the rise – but not for everyone. Although many older Americans […]
Early Earners
Economist looks at the long-term effects of school starting age and family background “Redshirting” is a popular term among parents of the pre-K set, and it has a lot of parents asking a familiar question: Is my child ready to start kindergarten, or would she or he benefit from delaying this debut into the world […]
Research Briefs: Spring 2012
College of Liberal Arts: Not Even Past Brings History to the Public The Web has many sites devoted to history, but only one brings together such a diverse group of historians with expertise in every major field and time period. For the past year, Not Even Past has drawn on the expertise of faculty and […]
What Makes People Give?
Researchers investigate the science of generosity AMERICANS DONATED NEARLY $300 billion in 2011, surpassing the gross domestic product of all but 33 countries in the world, according to a 2010 report by the Giving USA Foundation. And in 2010, 62.8 million people volunteered almost 8.1 billion hours in the United States, according to the Corporation […]
Riding High on Good Looks
Beauty impacts hiring, salaries and profits, economist finds The best looking people earn an extra $250,000, on average, during their careers than the least attractive people and are more likely to remain employed, get promoted and even secure loans, according to a new book by University of Texas at Austin economist Daniel Hamermesh. The most […]
No Pain No Gain
Training professors to write grant proposals, win research dollars Like many young faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin, psychologist Paige Harden has big, cutting-edge research ideas. Also like many young faculty, Harden needs federal grants to get started. But she realizes that the average age of scholars who receive certain National Institutes […]
Population Research Center Draws from Many Fields
When it opened its doors in 1960, the Population Research Center (PRC) was the exclusive domain of sociologists. Who else, after all, was qualified to research demographics, migration issues and population trends? The answer, it turns out a half-century later, includes the likes of psychologists, economists, anthropologists, geographers and political scientists, all of whom are […]
Awards & Honors: Spring 2010
The Silver Spurs, the student service organization that cares for Bevo, gave out its 21st annual Endowed Teaching Fellowship awards to four liberal arts professors, who each receive a $6,000 prize. The group surprises each recipient with an unannounced presentation. They are: Kirsten Belgum (Germanic Studies) Robert Moser (Government) Elizabeth Engelhardt (American Studies) Lisa Moore […]