“Intergenerational Relationships and Family Support: Implications for Health and Wellbeing” (The Gerontologist, January 9, 2025)

Merril Silverstein, professor and chair of sociology, co-authors a review of National Institute on Aging–supported research that explores how intergenerational relationships support older adults, often before and alongside intensive caregiving, and how these ties vary across family roles, life events, and demographic groups.

“Mothering in the Time of Coronavirus” (University of Massachusetts Press, January 1, 2025)

Amy Lutz, professor of sociology, co-authors a book examining how the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the demands of motherhood, especially for remote and essential workers. Drawing on research supported by the National Science Foundation, the authors explore how race, class, and public policy shaped mothers’ experiences balancing work, caregiving, and their children's education.

“Childhood Speech Impairment and Dementia Risks Among US Older Adults” (Innovation in Aging, December 31, 2024)

“Sibling and Parental Military Service and Suicidality Among Adolescents in the United States” (Military Medicine, December 17, 2024)

“Local Government Environmental Policy Innovation: Emerging Regulation of GHG Emissions in the Transportation-for-Hire Industry” (Sustainability, November 20, 2024)

“Reforming the Shadow Carceral State” (Theoretical Criminology, November 18, 2024)

“Grandparents Are Reaching Their Limit” (The Atlantic, April 13, 2025)

Economic pressures, shifting parenting norms and limited social support systems are placing increasing demands on U.S. grandparents, many of whom are stepping in as full-time caregivers. “[Many grandparents] want to be involved and are trying desperately to set limits on that involvement,” says Madonna Harrington Meyer, University Professor of sociology. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our grandmothers, but I think there’s plenty wrong with our welfare state.”

Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies, notes that in Sweden—where child care is heavily subsidized—he found kin relationships to be warmer than in the U.S., despite initially expecting the opposite. “Once you take the burden of care away from the family,” he told me, “people can engage in a much more emotionally satisfying way.”

“Trump's Budget Bill Moves Forward in the House” (LiveNOW from FOX, April 12, 2025)

As Republican lawmakers advance a budget framework centered on tax cuts and reduced federal spending, Grant Reeher, professor of political science, outlines the political balancing act needed to secure passage. “The strategy is going to be walking a tightrope,” he says, pointing to tensions between hardline conservatives demanding deeper cuts and moderates concerned about slashing safety net programs.

“Elon Musk Has Key Advantage to Deal with Donald Trump Tariffs” (Newsweek,The New York Post)

(Newsweek, Apr 3)
“Tesla is not unaffected by the tariffs, but they kind of have a head start on a number of their competitors, especially in the EV sector, in terms of locating their supply chain and getting their inputs from products in the U.S.,” says Ryan Monarch, assistant professor of economics. “Elon Musk's involvement in the government puts his company in a good position to ask for exemptions or to look for a way around these tariffs,” he adds.

“Do Americans Want a Mar-a-Lago Accord?” (Atlantic Council, April 2, 2025)

Daniel McDowell, professor of political science, co-writes an op-ed examining public opinion on the proposed Mar-a-Lago Accord—a Trump administration plan to weaken the dollar to boost exports and revive U.S. manufacturing. McDowell and co-author find that Americans broadly support the dollar’s global dominance but show little enthusiasm for devaluation or the use of economic coercion to sustain it. “Americans of all political persuasions like their dollar to be strong and value its prominence in the world.”

“Who Is Salva Kiir, the Former Rebel Leading Fractured South Sudan?” (Geeska Afrika,Reuters, March 28, 2025)

Salva Kiir became leader of southern Sudanese rebels in 2005 and has led South Sudan since its independence in 2011. Jok Madut Jok, professor of anthropology, describes Kiir as “very taken with tribalism,” telling Reuters that “he believes in promoting his tribe first.” Jok adds, “This is a weakness for a national leader of a diverse country.”

“Europe Should Dust Off Multilateral Nuclear Plans” (Foreign Policy, March 26, 2025)

“Although U.S. extended deterrence theoretically still covers NATO allies, European countries would be foolish not to develop a pan-European nuclear alternative,” writes Michael J. Williams, associate professor of international affairs. “Doing so manages the security dilemma in Europe, will deter aggression, and will put the EU in a stronger position to push for nuclear arms control agreements.”

“Hegseth, Top Officials Violated 'Basic Operational Security' with Signal Chat on Yemen War Plans” (Military Times,The Associated Press,USA Today, March 25, 2025)

(Military.com, Mar. 25) As officials face scrutiny for using a private messaging app to discuss military operations in Yemen, Michael J. Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, underscores the stakes of poor information security: “There are people whose lives are literally on the line, whether that’s service personnel, whether that’s intelligence personnel.” He adds, “These guys are supposed to be leaders of the free world, the responsible leaders of the military, the greatest country in the world, and they can’t perform basic operational security.”

“The Stark Divide between What Putin Said and What He Meant (CNN, Mar 14)” (CBS News,CNN)

“Putin’s answer seems carefully crafted to sound like a ‘yes’ to Trump but be a ‘no’ in practice, unless Ukraine is forced to submit to Russia’s demands,” explains Brian Taylor, professor of political science and director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

Taylor also spoke with CBS News, Trump Speaking with Zelensky after Tuesday Call with Putin (Mar 19)

“Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Tariff Mess” (The New York Times, February 14, 2025)

Mary Lovely, emeritus professor of economics, says Congress’s retreat from the postwar trade consensus—built on promoting open markets and shared international rules—has created space for unilateral actions by the president. “What Mr. Trump is doing with tariffs is a result of a lost consensus about how the United States should interact with other countries in the global economy,” says Lovely. "The executive branch alone now sets American trade policy, under the guise of national security, as Congress watches from the sidelines.”

“Chicago Housing Development Shrinks Itself by 80% in Face of Trump Tariffs” (Newsweek, February 12, 2025)

Amid concerns that tariffs may affect new construction, Ryan Monarch, professor of economics, says, “It is clear tariffs on products like steel and aluminum will increase the cost of building housing and developments and, therefore, drive up the prices of housing in the U.S.”

“Team Trump Threatens to Ignore Court Orders” (HuffPost, February 11, 2025)

“Lots of the fights that they have picked—especially Musk’s out-of-control, rampant destruction of federal agencies from within—a lot of those fights they are not going to win in court,” says Thomas Keck, professor of political science. “So, either they’re delusional about what judges will approve, or I think they have been planning from the beginning to try to get away with ignoring court decisions that go against them.”

“What Google’s Return to Defense AI Means” (Defense One, February 6, 2025)

“Military and surveillance tech aren’t bad or unethical as such. Instead, supporting national security and doing so in the right way is incredibly important. And supporting national security is, in fact, arguably the ethical thing to do," says Johannes Himmelreich, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs. 

“How the U.S. has used tariffs throughout history — and why Trump is different, economists say” (CNBC, February 6, 2025)

“Trump to Use 'Alien Enemies Act' to Rapidly Remove Immigrants—What We Know” (Newsweek,Stateline, February 3, 2025)

"Although the Alien Enemies Act does not authorize military participation in law enforcement, if other laws (reviewed below) permit their use, Trump could enable the military to implement summary detention and deportation of immigrants lawfully in the United States, says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

"Drug cartels are hardly de facto governments or foreign nations. The infamous reliance on the Act to intern innocent migrants based on nothing more than their ancestry during World War II was until now the last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked.

"There is no doubt that the Alien Enemies Act confers broad powers on the president. Such expansive authorities are not uncommon for wartime "exigencies. However, a reading of the Act to support migrant deportation is at odds with centuries of legislative, presidential, and judicial practice, all of which confirm that the Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority."