Maxwell School News and Commentary
Filtered by: Rural Issues
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.
See related: Agriculture, Federal, Labor, Rural Issues, United States
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.”
See related: Agriculture, Federal, Labor, Rural Issues, United States
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.
See related: Awards & Honors, Promotions & Appointments, Rural Issues, United States
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.”
See related: Education, Food Security, Infrastructure, Labor, Longevity, Rural Issues, United States
Do Small Towns Have Big Smart City Dreams?
The article, co-authored by Austin Zwick, associate teaching professor of policy studies, was published in State and Local Government Review.
See related: Canada, Rural Issues, State & Local, Urban Issues
Will Work For Food: Labor Across the Food Chain
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.
See related: Agriculture, Federal, Labor, Rural Issues, United States
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.
See related: Agriculture, Federal, Food Security, Rural Issues, State & Local, United States
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.
See related: Education, Gender and Sex, Mental Health, Race & Ethnicity, Rural Issues, United States, Urban Issues
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.
See related: Agriculture, Federal, Labor, Rural Issues, U.S. Immigration, United States
Self-Reported ADHD Diagnosis Status Among Working-Age Adults in the United States
“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.
See related: Education, Gender and Sex, Mental Health, Race & Ethnicity, Rural Issues, United States, Urban Issues