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Pralle Quoted in Seattle Times Article on Outdated Skagit County Flood Maps

The maps are a tool to communicate more realistic flood risks to vulnerable groups, says Sarah Pralle, associate professor of political science. You can plug your address into a FEMA webpage and it will tell you your property’s flood risk. “But,” Pralle says, “if you don’t know where the risky areas are, none of that works.”

December 23, 2025

Murrett Discusses Trump's Order to Blockade Sanctioned Venezuela Oil Tankers With AP News, CBS News

While the strikes on alleged drug boats have raised questions about the use of military force, Trump’s seizure of the tanker and other actions against sanctioned entities are consistent with past American policy, says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

December 22, 2025

Harrington Meyer Discusses What’s Driving the Rise in Grandparent Childcare on WBUR's ‘On Point’

If parents had more guaranteed welfare state program available to them, “it would be easier for them to juggle jobs and children and they might not need to rely on grandparents quite as extensively,” says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer.

December 19, 2025

Contesting the Munich Beer Halls: Violence and Spatial Practices in the Early Nazi Movement

Robert Shea Terrell, William Henry Johnson

The article, co-authored by Associate Professor of History Robert Terrell and William Henry Johnson ’25 B.A. (Hist), was published in Central European History.

December 18, 2025

See related: Europe

Maxwell Honors Dean Emeritus John Palmer with Cramer Horizon Award

The school’s highest award was presented to the former dean, University Professor and senior statesman who “embodies Maxwell’s mission.” 

December 18, 2025

See related: Awards & Honors, Giving

Advance Britannia: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1942-1945

Alan Allport

Alan Allport, professor of history, has written Advance Britannia: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1942-1945 (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2026). The book is a sequel to Allport’s 2020 work Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941 (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2020).

December 18, 2025

See related: Conflict, Europe

Brockway Speaks With Agence France Presse About Trump’s Hard-Line Rhetoric Against Immigrants

For Trump, it doesn't matter whether an immigrant obeys the law, or owns a business, or has been here for decades, says Mark Brockway, assistant teaching professor of political science. “They are caught in the middle of Trump's fight against an invented evil enemy,” Brockway says.

December 18, 2025

Repairing Epistemic Injustice and Loss in the Era of Climate Coloniality

Farhana Sultana

The study, written by Professor of Geography and the Environment Farhana Sultana, was published in GEO: Geography and Environment.

December 17, 2025

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

O’Keefe and Lambright Weigh In on Trump’s Pick to Lead NASA in The Observer and Scientific American

“The job is a leadership role, where your task is to motivate people from wide-ranging, different disciplines to come together to define the problem as the same and then go about trying to solve it through multiple avenues. Everything I’ve heard about him certainly suggests that he’s got a lot of talent and capability to make him the ideal person,” says University Professor Emeritus Sean O'Keefe.

December 16, 2025

Is AI Replacing Human Mental Health Professionals?

Michiko Ueda
An increasing number of Americans are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for mental health support. A new survey of U.S. adults found that nearly 35% use AI tools more than once a week to manage mental health concerns. The findings raise important questions about whether AI is supplementing or replacing traditional mental health care.
December 16, 2025

See related: United States

Taylor Quoted in LA Times Article on Europe’s Alarm Over Trump’s Approach to Ukraine

“If the U.S. stops even doing that—and it would be quite a radical policy change if the U.S. is unwilling even to sell weapons to European countries—then Europe will have to continue on the path it is already on, which is to bolster its own defense production capacity,” says Brian Taylor, director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

December 15, 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

Palmer Article on Reforming and Protecting Social Security Published in The Hill

“It is time to wake up, break the gridlock, and take steps to address a range of large and growing challenges that threaten our collective future—including the need to make the Social Security system both solvent and sustainable,” says University Professor and Dean Emeritus John Palmer and his co-authors.

December 11, 2025

From the Dean: A Steadfast Commitment to Free Inquiry and Expression

Dean David M. Van Slyke writes to alumni about Maxwell's commitment to free inquiry and expression.

December 11, 2025

From the Alumni Director: A Warm Welcome

Director of Alumni Relations Jess Murray's fall 2025 letter to alumni and friends.

December 11, 2025

Estévez-Abe Discusses Japan’s Economic Issues and PM Sanae Takaichi With Agence France Presse, DW

“I don't think Takaichi's budget, or anything she has stated so far, addresses any of the core underlying factors,” says Margarita Estévez-Abe, associate professor of political science.

December 10, 2025

Birthplace, Perinatal Loss, and the Parity—Post-Reproductive Mortality Relationship

Cheryl Elman, Andrew S. London, Angela M. O'Rand

The study, co-authored by Professor of Sociology Andrew London, was published in Social Science & Medicine.

December 10, 2025

Can Schools Sustain the Rising Cost of Retiree Health Care?

Robert Bifulco and Iuliia Shybalkina
New York State school districts face mounting budget pressures from retiree health care benefits. Without policy changes, these costs could grow from 4.5 percent of district revenues today to over 13 percent by 2075, creating significant budget pressures for districts. 
December 10, 2025

See related: United States

McCormick Weighs In on Who Could Replace Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in The Telegraph

“She [Vice President Delcy Rodriguez] strikes me as somebody who has known how to accommodate to Maduro, which is part of the reason why she’s there, but she doesn’t sort of strike me as somebody who would sort of step into that political vacuum and take control,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

December 9, 2025
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