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Filtered by: Rural Issues

Contemporary Land Transitions in the US: Critical Questions of Concentration and (Re)Distribution

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Madeleine Fairbairn

Co-authored by Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment, the article was published in Geography Compass.

January 22, 2026

Minkoff-Zern Speaks With Vermont Public About Her Book ‘Will Work for Food’

“So many small farmers across Vermont and New York and elsewhere, are competing in a really unequal, unfair system. You have this structure where the vast majority of the food dollar—the money we pay for the food—is not going to the farm, the farm level, at all. So small-scale farmers are really struggling today, not just the workers but the farmers and the farm owners,” says Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment.

December 17, 2025

Monnat Discusses Six Myths About Rural America in The Conversation Article

Rural communities are far more varied than people understand them to be, says Professor of Sociology Shannon Monnat and her co-author. “Getting these facts right matters because public debates, policies and resource—including money for programs—often rely on these assumptions, and misunderstandings can leave real needs neglected.”

December 12, 2025

See related: Rural Issues, United States

Monnat Featured in Newsweek Article on Rural America’s Optimism About the Country’s Future

Rural communities have “leaned increasingly conservative” for several decades, and support for Trump is “especially strong” among these communities, which could mean they feel the country's leadership reflects their priorities, particularly on cultural and social issues, says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health.

November 26, 2025

Minkoff-Zern Discusses Her Book, ‘Will Work For Food,’ on Human Restoration Project Podcast

The book, co-authored by Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment, captures the grim realities faced by food workers alongside the opportunities for solidarity at every point in the system while amplifying the successes and challenges faced by movements to make food work, good work.

September 27, 2025

What Municipalities Really Want: Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence

Nicholas Croce & Saba Siddiki

This September 2025 Research to Practice Brief summarizes "What Municipalities Really Want: Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence among New York State Municipal Leaders," co-authored by Nicholas Croce (Syracuse University) & Saba Siddiki (Syracuse University).

September 26, 2025

Minkoff-Zern Shares Insights With KPBS on Increased Deportations and the Food System Workforce

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment, tells KPBS, “Our entire food system is dependent on immigrants.”

August 7, 2025

Shannon Monnat Selected to Lead Rural Sociological Society

The Maxwell sociologist was also awarded the organization’s Frederick H. Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award for her recent co-authored book.

July 31, 2025

Monnat Cited in Forbes Article on Rural Health

According to Professor of Sociology Shannon Monnat, “The rural U.S. is sick, poor, and losing population. And the health and longevity gap between rural and urban America is growing wider every year.”

July 24, 2025

Do Small Towns Have Big Smart City Dreams?

Austin Zwick, Zachary Spicer, Chris Bezdedeanu

The article, co-authored by Austin Zwick, associate teaching professor of policy studies, was published in State and Local Government Review.

July 22, 2025

Will Work For Food: Labor across the Food Chain

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Teresa Mares

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment, has co-written a new book, Will Work For Food: Labor across the Food Chain (University of California Press, 2025). Minkoff-Zern and co-author Teresa Mares explore the often-overlooked role of labor in the food system, highlighting the exploitation faced by frontline workers from farms to restaurants.

July 16, 2025

Heflin Speaks to Reuters About Federal Pass-Through Grants

Today, pass-through funding allows federal agencies to tap into local expertise and knowledge as well as help the federal government keep its own staffing levels down, says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

April 3, 2025

London Discusses Co-Authored Study on Adult Self-Reported ADHD Diagnosis Status With PsyPost

“There were several reasons to believe that the percentage of working-age adults who have been diagnosed with ADHD by a health care provider has increased over time. However, there is limited population-representative data to test that idea,” says Andrew London, professor of sociology.

March 24, 2025

Minkoff-Zern Quoted in Stateline Piece on Impact of Federal Cuts, Data Removal on Bird Flu Outbreak

Helping dairy and poultry farmworkers get tested is important for public health response. But many farmworkers are immigrants with no sick leave and who may speak primarily Indigenous languages or Spanish. The Trump administration’s deportation efforts have caused further reticence to report symptoms, says Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of geography and the environment. 

March 3, 2025

Self-Reported ADHD Diagnosis Status Among Working-Age Adults in the United States

Andrew S. London, Shannon M. Monnat, Iliya Gutin

“Self-Reported ADHD Diagnosis Status Among Working-Age Adults in the United States: Evidence From the 2023 National Wellbeing Survey,” co-authored by Maxwell professors Andrew London, Shannon Monnat and Iliya Gutin, was published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

February 20, 2025

Institutional fit and policy design in water governance: Nebraska's Natural Resources Districts

Tomás Olivier, Sechindra Vallury
This September 2024 Research to Practice Brief provides a summary of "Institutional fit and policy design in water governance: Nebraska's Natural Resources Districts," co-authored by Tomás Olivier and Sechindra Vallury in the Policy Studies Journal.
September 24, 2024

NIA Awards $3.8 Million for Maxwell Sociologists’ Health and Longevity Research Networks

Research networks led by Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat will use two five-year grant renewals to study adult health and aging trends in the United States.

September 11, 2024

ML Platforms Can Contradict Dairy Scientists, Feed Firm Websites Regarding Dairy Cattle Performance

Siobhan O'Keefe, Rick Welsh, Mercy Oppong, Ryan Fitzgerald, David Conner, Michelle Tynan, Nichole Price, Charlotte Quigle

“Machine Learning (ML) Platforms Can Contradict Dairy Scientists and Feed Firm Websites Regarding Dairy Cattle Performance from Feeding Seaweed Supplements,” co-authored by Professor of Sociology Rick Welsh, was published in Choices.

September 3, 2024

Jackson Speaks With Bloomberg About Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Campaigning in Rural Georgia

“There is really a lot of interest right now in ensuring that folks who are not typically tapped into the mainstream of electoral politics, that they are getting excited about this election. …They're reaching out to folks who I believe that they think may come back into the fold with them,” says Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science.

August 30, 2024

Older Parents’ Perceptions of Children's Filial Piety in Rural China

Wencheng Zhang, Merril Silverstein, Ying Xu

“Older parents’ perceptions of children's filial piety in rural China: The roles of coresidence, geographic proximity, and intergenerational support,” co-authored by Professor and Chair of Sociology Merril Silverstein, was published in the Chinese Journal of Sociology.

August 27, 2024

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