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Center for Policy Research News

Maxwell School Announces Faculty Promotions for 2025-26

Eight faculty members have received tenure in their promotion to associate professor.
August 22, 2025

Why Are Food System Workers Excluded from Local Food Policy Councils?

Frank Sarfo, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and Jonnell A Robinson
This brief summarizes findings from a study that examined the challenges and barriers that have limited FPCs’ engagement with labor issues. The authors find that internal tensions, limited capacity, and weak ties to labor groups hinder FPC engagement in food labor advocacy.
August 20, 2025

See related: United States

Evaluating Conflict, Interest Advancement, and Representation in Collaborative Governance

Graham Ambrose, Siwei Li, Ali Mohamed Ali Salman Yusuf, Saba Siddiki

"Evaluating Conflict, Interest Advancement, and Representation in Collaborative Governance," co-authored by CPDG Faculty Affiliate Graham Ambrose, Siwei Li, Ali Mohamed Ali Salman Yusuf, and CPDG Director Saba Siddiki, was published in Public Administration on July 31, 2025.

August 18, 2025

Renowned Health Economist Joins Maxwell as Moynihan Chair

John Cawley specializes in the economics of risky health behaviors and has been widely published in journals and covered by the media.  

August 15, 2025

Khalil Discusses Israel’s Plans for the Future of Gaza With CBS News

“This is not post-war planning. This is a continuation of Netanyahu's war,” says Osamah Khalil, chair of the International Relations Undergraduate Program. “This is what experts like I and many others have warned about for 22 months All of this was about expanding, annexing Gaza and the West Bank and expelling Palestinians.”

August 14, 2025

Trends in Breast Cancer Screening between Medicare Beneficiaries with and without Food Insecurity

Yeunkyung Kim, Jihye Kim, Sungchul Park, Colleen Heflin, Hyunjee Kim, Yue Li

Published in AJPM Focus, the study was co-authored by Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

August 13, 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

Harrington Meyer Talks to The Wall Street Journal About Today's Working Grandmothers

University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer interviewed 48 working grandmothers; all but four “said they were doing much more care for the grandchildren than they expected—and much more than their own parents did for them,” she says.

August 4, 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

Yoonseok Lee and Junko Takeda Named Department Chairs

Lee succeeds Devashish Mitra as chair of the Economics Department, while Takeda follows Susan Branson as chair of the History Department.

July 24, 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

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

Testing for Spatial Lag Dependence and Homoskedasticity in a Random Effects Panel Data Model

Badi H. Baltagi, Long Liu
The paper, co-authored by Distinguished Professor of Economics Badi Baltagi, was published in Economics Letters.
July 16, 2025

Four Maxwell Professors Named O’Hanley Faculty Scholars

Brian Brege, Sarah Hamersma, Yüksel Sezgin and Ying Shi will hold the title for three years. 

July 11, 2025

Yingyi Ma Talks to South China Morning Post About Trump’s Crackdown on International Students

“Chinese students, for many, many years have been full-pay students, if not more,” says Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology. “Some places charge additional fees for international students…and so the tuition is provide a very important buffer for American universities. Many of them are really cash-strapped, especially the state universities.”

June 18, 2025

Not in My Backyard? The Local Impact of Wind and Solar Parks in Brazil

Fabian Scheifele, David Popp

The study, authored by David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in Energy Economics.

June 11, 2025

Yingyi Ma Weighs In on Trump Admin’s Move to Revoke Chinese Students’ Visas in NPR, WSJ Articles

“The economic costs are apparent,” says Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology. “The talent cost has even graver consequences.”

June 2, 2025

Colleen Heflin - Studying Hunger in America

Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs, is a leading authority on food insecurity, which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), negatively impacts more than 47 million Americans.

June 2, 2025

Can Studying in the US Survive Geopolitics? Yingyi Ma Discusses in Brookings Institution Article

“What’s at risk is not just enrollment numbers or university budgets—it’s the future of American innovation and the country’s standing in the world,” says Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology.

May 6, 2025

Lopoo Article on Trump Plan to Create Pronatalist Policies Published in Wall Street Journal

“Officials are soliciting advice from experts on pronatalist options. Some involve subsidies for births. This would be a mistake. The better idea is to make in vitro fertilization affordable and accessible,” says Leonard Lopoo, associate dean, chair and professor of public administration and international affairs.

May 5, 2025

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