SOLUTIONS
Spring 2025
The official magazine of The University of Utah’s College of Social and Behavioral Science
SCHOOLS, DEPARTMENTS, AND
Cover illustration by Mika Rane.
A Message from Dean Michelle M. Camacho
At the College of Social and Behavioral Science, we are dedicated to understanding the forces that shape our world—social, political, economic, and environmental—and equipping our students with the knowledge and skills to address the most pressing challenges of our time. This demands an interdisciplinary approach that bridges insights from across our collective disciplines. This approach strengthens our communities and equips our students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to become leaders in an increasingly complex world. This past year has been a testament to the power of our work.
Our faculty continue to lead groundbreaking research. Their work is shaping solutions for families, advancing environmental sustainability, expanding access to mental health care, and developing community-driven initiatives that strengthen our local economy and improve quality of life. We launched the School for Environment, Society, and Sustainability to deepen our commitment to interdisciplinary solutions for a changing climate and growing communities. We are establishing the School of Public Affairs, strengthening our ability to train leaders who will shape policy and governance for the public good. We have continued to grow with the highest retention and graduation rates at the U, with more students than ever choosing to study in our college—future changemakers eager to make a difference.
Our strategic priorities reflect our commitment to addressing the most pressing societal challenges through research, education, and community engagement. We are dedicated to fostering student success by equipping future leaders with the knowledge and civic engagement opportunities needed to create meaningful change. Our Social Science Data Initiative is expanding the ways we harness data to inform policy and drive innovation. We
are deepening our understanding of demography, family structures, health, and caregiving to shape solutions that support individuals, families, and communities. We continue to prioritize mental health and community impact, recognizing the critical role of well-being in a thriving society. Additionally, our focus on climate, environment, and sustainability underscores our responsibility to develop interdisciplinary solutions for a changing planet.
As we look ahead, we remain focused on educating the next generation of student leaders, shaping policies that improve lives, and expanding opportunities for all. Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we can build a more just, sustainable, and connected world.
CSBS and NEXUS Receive $2 Million NSF Grant to Support Graduate Students in Data-Driven Fields
The College of Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS), in partnership with the Interdisciplinary Exchange for Utah Science (NEXUS), has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (NSF S-STEM) program. This funding will directly support graduate students pursuing data-driven degrees by providing scholarships, mentorship, and a collaborative learning community.
Highlighting the increasing demand for data science professionals, Michelle Camacho, dean of CSBS, emphasizes, “The need for more capacity in data science is growing in Utah and the US. These careers require an advanced degree. This growth demonstrates the importance of advancing access and supporting students in programs that will lead to data science occupations.”
The NEXUS Scholars Program, made possible by this grant, is designed to support graduate students seeking to integrate data science into their research. Participants will receive tuition assistance of up to $20,000 per year, travel stipends, and access to resources such as the Wasatch Front Research Data Center.
Additionally, “The NEXUS Scholars
Program will offer a set of workshops and intensive short courses that focus on topics such as data visualization, research ethics related to data security and data management, and cutting-edge data analytic techniques, including machine learning and the use of AI. These trainings, coupled with individualized mentoring and applied projects/internships, will cultivate highly skilled and capable professionals,” noted Lori Kowaleski-Jones, director of NEXUS.
The program is open to domestic students pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees in Anthropology, Economics, Family and Consumer Studies,
Geography, Psychology (non-clinical), or Sociology.
“Providing additional interdisciplinary and applied training related to data analytics to the traditional graduate curricula will allow these students to become research leaders in academia, industry, and policy, where data-informed decision-making is so critical,” noted associate dean of graduate education Rebecca Utz.
With this NSF funding, CSBS and NEXUS are poised to empower the next generation of researchers, equipping them with the data science expertise needed to address pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Census Bureau Director Visits the U
BY LISA POTTER
“Dad, meeting Director Santos is a bigger deal than meeting Taylor Swift.”
President Taylor Randall chuckled along with attendees at the annual conference of the U.S. Census National Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDC), a national network of 33 centers that facilitate access to confidential data for scholarly research. As Taylor introduced keynote speaker Robert L. Santos, the 26th and first Latino director of the U.S. Census Bureau, he shared his daughter’s super-fandom of the rockstar of federal statistics.
“At the bottom of my daughter’s CV, it says, ‘I am a census enthusiast,’” Randall said. “I grew mightily in her eyes today for the fact that I get to actually introduce the census director.”
Santos spoke to a packed room at the S.J. Quinney School of Law’s moot courtroom that included representatives from every RDC in the country. The 2024 conference showcased the University of Utah-based Wasatch Front Research Data Center (WFRDC). Serving the Inter-mountain West since 2020, the WFRDC has become a pivotal hub for data-driven research vital to improving
our understanding of the nation’s population and economy. Santos shared how the WFRDC’s work fits into the Bureau’s community-of-the-whole, a massive engagement effort that has Santos and his team traveling the nation to connect with current and potential data users and to get feedback directly from local communities.
“We know the value and the importance of different perspectives, so we’re out there to go get them by actively including diverse thinkers both within our career staff and externally with stakeholders,” Santos said. “The Census Bureau’s transformation and modernization efforts require more than the latest technology or statistical methods. We must also transform how we think about data in a rapidly evolving society and how the needs of the public can be met.”
The NEXUS of data and people’s lives
An RDC is a boon for researchers who study the challenges facing contemporary Americans across all sectors, including health, business, demography, economics and sociology. RDC datasets are the gold standard for social science research due to their extreme detail. Throughout the conference, researchers shared their RDC-supported projects, including the injury risk associated with subcontracting in U.S. construction from Kevin Connor of the U’s Department of Economics and the effect of female directors on workplace gender diversity, women’s earnings and promotion outcomes from Elena Patel of the U’s David Eccles School of Business. The data have individual-level information gleaned from federal censuses, surveys of businesses and households, linked employer-employee data, and records from state and federal agencies and other sources.
To Michelle Camacho, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS), these datasets represent personal stories. She opened the conference by reflecting on her journey to becoming a social scientist specializing in the inequities in higher education. She grew up in Garden Grove, a working-class area in Orange
Robert Santos, director of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Photo by Elizabeth Johnson.
County, as a daughter of a Bolivian immigrant and was the first in her family to attend college.
“My own personal story can be reflected in some of the census data from my hometown,” she said.
The region used to be an agricultural community of orange groves. Now, it’s transformed into Latino and Vietnamese ethnic enclaves with manufacturing and the service industry as primary economic drivers, she continued.
“As an educator, I ask myself, ‘How can I help students use their own narratives to be curious about their social world?’ We hold a responsibility for championing the power that data provides to ourselves, to our students, and to our communities.”
Training a statistical data workforce
The U-based WFRDC is housed within the Interdisciplinary Exchange for Utah Science (NEXUS), a research center aimed to address society’s grand challenges by promoting interdisciplinary research and team science. NEXUS’s mission is to democratize data by expanding access to researchers and students to better understand issues in their communities. CSBS and NEXUS recently received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which will provide two-year scholarships to 31 graduate students. The program will adapt mentorship strategies to promote success, develop workshops to democratize data access and analysis and engage in industry partnerships to provide a pool of skilled professionals to fill the urgent need for a growing data-science workforce.
“NEXUS and the WFRDC are at the forefront of efforts to provide the data science skills needed to thrive in a changing workforce,” said Lori Kowaleski-Jones, director of NEXUS and the WFRDC who is co-principal investigator of the NSF grant, with Camacho as principal investigator. “Opportunities for high-impact analyses utilizing restricted-use confidential data that the Census Bureau and its partner agencies make available through the FSRDC
network are only available here at the University of Utah and serve researchers across the Mountain West researchers region.”
Kowaleski-Jones and campus leadership are also pursuing creative partnerships with the U.S. Census Bureau to support collaboration and expand opportunities for students to thrive in data science careers. The two are in talks to enter a memorandum of understanding with the goal of graduating students to be well-prepared to pursue data science-related and mission-critical positions with the Bureau and beyond.
“Our society is hungry for more data all the time, and it translates to increased and sometimes urgent stakeholder needs from the bureau,” said Santos. “Our 21st-century statistical universe features increasingly sophisticated data users, like the kinds that visit your federal statistical research data centers. They intensify our challenges in the collection, processing and curation of data, and in creating new data products that fit those newly sophisticated data-user needs.”
From left to right: Lori Kowaleski-Jones, director of NEXUS and the WFRDC, Robert Santos, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Michelle Camacho, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science. Photo by Elizabeth Johnson.
U Unveils School of Environment, Society & Sustainability
BY BRIAN MAFFLY
The University of Utah established the School of Environment, Society and Sustainability, or ESS, in the summer of 2024, the result of a merger between two successful programs within its College of Social and Behavioral Science.
Uniting the Department of Geography and the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program will help meet rapid growth in undergraduate demand for environmental education while fostering research collaborations that address urgent societal issues.
While the school represents a new name and academic structure, undergraduate and graduate degree offerings
remain unchanged, according to Phil Dennison, the new school’s director.
The move combines the complementary strengths of two established units into one with 25 tenure-line professors trained in 11 different fields. Faculty’s expertise includes the physical sciences (e.g. ecology, paleoecology, glaciology, geomorphology, snow hydrology); social and behavioral sciences (e.g. environmental justice, environment sociology, political ecology, economic geography); and data science (e.g. geographic information science, remote sensing, ecoinformatics).
“Working together and looking at problems from multiple perspectives is going to catalyze big societal impacts,” said Dennison, the former chair of geography.
The school’s applied, integrative and solutions-oriented approach is driven by faculty research. ESS faculty study a wide range of societally important questions: How has the threat from wildfire changed over time, and who is most vulnerable to fires? Why are citizens in lower-income neighborhoods exposed to more pollution, and what steps can be taken to reduce exposure? How are glaciers and winter snowpack changing, and what does that mean for
water resources? How are agriculture and climate-related to migration patterns? Through a collaborative, interdisciplinary lens, ESS is advancing research on the most important challenges at the intersection of environment and society.
“The School of Environment, Society and Sustainability provides more choices to students as they navigate their academic career paths,” CSBS Dean Michelle Camacho said. “The school also supports our highly ranked research programs. Our faculty engage in cutting-edge research that increasingly requires transdisciplinary approaches to address society’s most pressing environmental challenges.”
ESS courses are taught by former geography faculty members, as well as by professors from the sister CSBS departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Political Science.
The new school will continue to offer three STEM undergraduate degrees. Environmental and Sustainability Studies is the most popular major in the new school, providing interdisciplinary training on ecological systems, human societies, and the consequences of human-environment interactions while giving students maximum flexibility in taking courses from departments across the University of Utah. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geographic information science (GIS) focus on career skills development involving geospatial analysis, visualization, and modeling. The bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in geography explore human-environment interactions and global change across space and time.
The two programs that merged to create ESS have a long history at the U. Since its founding in 1947, the U’s geography department rapidly grew to include research in important areas like climate change, hazards, ecology, remote sensing, GIS, landscape dynamics, paleoecology, snow science, and urbanization. The geography department was recently ranked fourth nationally for research and has 56 graduate students. The program in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, or ENVST, was established in 1998 as a Qualified Interdisciplinary Teaching Program. It was designed “to foster an understanding of ecological systems and the consequences of human-environment interactions,” according to its mission statement.
“The curriculum is rooted in interdisciplinary approaches from earth systems science, humanities and social
and behavioral sciences,” the statement reads. “It stresses the importance of social responsibility, leadership, and a science-based focus on solutions and integrated problem-solving.”
ENVST had 488 majors in spring 2023 and recently experienced a 70% increase in majors over five years. While a sign of success, the growth in student demand brought challenges, such as wait lists for required courses, that a merged school can help solve and provide other benefits.
“The school will train the next generation of interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholars and elevate research around the environment and society,” said anthropology professor Brian Codding, former director of the ENVST program.
Additionally, associate professor Simon Brewer will represent CSBS on the executive committee of the university’s One-U Responsible AI Initiative, which aims to use advanced AI technology to address societal challenges.
Undergraduate Samantha Kight, uses a backpack-mounted LIDAR to map vegetation in Little Cottonwood.
Photo by Phil Dennison, University of Utah.
Dendrochronologist Justin DeRose shows University of Utah students how to take tree-ring cores in Range Creek Canyon in 2019 for a course called Paleoenvironmental Field Methods.
Photo by Larry Coats, University of Utah.
Students explore Hayden Fork, a glaciated valley in the Uinta Mountains in September 2022. Photo by Kathleen Nicoll.
Breathing New Life into Research: The HAPPIEST Project’s Impact on Students and Communities
For many residents of Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, winter isn’t just about snowflakes and scenic mountain views. It’s also the season of inversions—when cold air traps pollutants close to the ground, turning the valley into a bowl of stagnant, unhealthy air. For those who live and breathe in this environment, the effects aren’t just visible in hazy skies; they manifest in coughs, asthma attacks, and long-term health complications. But what if the very people most affected by these conditions held the key to finding solutions?
Enter the HAPPIEST Project—an acronym for Health, Air Pollution, and Population Initiative in Education and Science
Illustration by Ryan Perkins.
Training. Funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences under the R25 program, HAPPIEST provides faculty-mentored undergraduate research experiences with a focus on air pollution and health issues. As explained by Co-Director Tim Collins, “Our program focuses, as the title suggests, on air pollution and health issues. The faculty come from across campus, including Health Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Engineering, and City and Metropolitan Planning. We have a really wide array of scientists and faculty involved in the program.”
Research and Mentorship in Action
HAPPIEST provides a ten-week summer research program, set to run again from May 19 to August 1, 2025. Designed to enable students from communities most impacted by air pollution, the program offers hands-on experience in scientific research related to air quality and public health.
Pairs of undergraduate students work in small research teams under faculty and graduate student mentorship, fostering a collaborative learning environment. Faculty from disciplines such as psychiatry, engineering, political science, and environmental health provide students with interdisciplinary perspectives on air pollution research. Some faculty mentors focus on mental health and air quality, while others engage students in real-time air quality monitoring through electric buses and public transit systems.
One such student, Kevin Ramos, an undergraduate in the Department of Geography studying Geographic Information Science, has participated in HAPPIEST for three summers. “I had the honor to work with Dr. Sara Grineski, Dr. Tim Collins, and Roger Renteria on creating a dataset on present and historical US EPA Superfund sites dating back to the 1850s. These data can help future environmental health research by providing historical insight into the spatial distribution of hazardous environmental exposures,” says Ramos. He is continuing this research, investigating whether parents’ proximity to a Superfund site correlates with cases of intellectual disability in their children. Reflecting on his experience, Ramos shared, “My favorite summer memory was simply going into the workspace and problem-solving with my team. There were lots of laughs and good memories in our workspace. One of the most surprising things I learned as a researcher this summer is that the city of Murray was once home to the largest lead smelter.”
“During my research this summer, I was amazed by the pattern of suffering faced by Indigenous people all over the world. As a part of an Indigenous tribe in West Papua, I have also faced oppressions, such as the lack of education, marginalization, depopulation, discrimination, and many other issues. But as I am getting involved in this research, which required me to dig more into Native American cultures and history in North America, I found that we as indigenous people have lived a similar experience both in the past and present…While we may have faced similar patterns of discrimination in the past, we now have the knowledge and the ability to change this going forward.”
“My favorite memory of this experience was how much I learned. I regularly work with quantitative data and methods, but for our project I got my first insight into qualitative research methods, something truly new to me, and something I may consider for my future as a professional researcher.”
Michael Joyfull Komigi Cohort 3
Francisca Moreira Cohort 4
Kevin Ramon, student, 2023 HAPPIEST Project Cohort.
Tim Collins, professor, School of Environment, Society & Sustainability.
Funding Opportunities and Career Development
Each participant receives a $5,000 stipend (after taxes) and up to four students are provided on-campus housing for the summer. This financial support enables students to fully engage in research without financial strain.
In addition to research, students receive funding to present their findings at regional or national conferences within a year of their participation.
In April 2024, four undergraduate students and three graduate students presented their HAPPIEST research at the Southwest Social Science Association annual meeting in New Orleans. This April, six HAPPIEST undergraduate students have been accepted to present their projects at the same conference in Las Vegas. This opportunity helps them gain professional exposure and build confidence in scientific communication.
Addressing Real-World Air Quality Issues
HAPPIEST research projects aim to address the environmental health challenges that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. Notable faculty researchers have participated such as Scott Collingwood from Pediatrics. He collaborates with Salt Lake County on the “Healthy Homes” project, which examines how outdoor pollution affects indoor environments. Students in this program collected data from households and assessed the impact of indoor air quality interventions. Additionally, Kerry Kelly from Chemical Engineering leads efforts to expand low-cost air quality sensor networks to underserved areas. These sensors provide real-time air pollution data, helping researchers and residents alike understand air quality fluctuations throughout the valley. Through hands-on engagement, students contributed to community-focused solutions and environmental justice efforts.
Advancing Environmental Health Science
Since its launch in 2021, HAPPIEST has supported thirty-one undergraduate students, many of whom have continued into graduate programs, public health careers, and environmental advocacy roles. By providing mentorship, research opportunities, and professional development, HAPPIEST plays a crucial role in diversifying the environmental health sciences field while equipping students with the tools to address pressing air quality issues. As the program prepares for its 2025 cohort, it remains dedicated to fostering the next generation of environmental health scientists and changemakers. Through rigorous research, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration, HAPPIEST continues to make a meaningful impact on both students and the broader Salt Lake Valley community.
Deja Netahnin Gaston Cohort 1
“I’ve been fortunate to work on internships involving environmental law and land management policies while utilizing my GIS background to map climate anomalies. I hope to take this experience to the field and continue academic research in remote sensing of the environment.”
“My favorite memory from this summer was leading the development of one of the curricular modules, where I guided the team and saw my ideas and vision come to life….I learned about different education standards and teaching methods while creating content for students, which was a valuable and eye-opening experience.”
Valeria Rico Cohort 4
Is Ozone Pollution Harming Unborn Children?
Prenatal exposure to ozone pollution could be harming the cognitive development of unborn children, according to new interdisciplinary research from the University of Utah.
The peer-reviewed study found a strong link between pregnant mothers’ ozone exposures and increases in the chances the baby develops an intellectual disability.
“The body of evidence suggests that it is important that we never take our foot off the gas in terms of working to reduce the levels of air pollution that Utahns are breathing,” said research leader Sara Grineski, a professor of sociology. “We don’t want to neglect these issues related to ozone and cognitive health moving forward. Our findings here for Utah suggest a troubling association. This is just one study in a sea of papers documenting the harmful effects of air pollution on health.”
The study, published in the November 2024 edition of the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, is a collaboration between the College of Social and Behavioral Science and the School of Medicine. It is based on an analysis of public health and air quality data generated on the Wasatch Front, Utah’s largest metropolitan area which has long struggled with episodes high ozone in summer and high particulate matter in winter.
The findings offer fresh insights
into how environmental pollutants can influence neurodevelopmental outcomes during pregnancy.
“This research emphasizes that ozone exposure during pregnancy is a clear risk factor for intellectual disability,” Grineski said. “We were particularly struck by the consistency of the findings across all trimesters and the strength of the sibling-based analysis.”
Her team’s research utilized the Utah Population Database, a rich source of in-depth information maintained by the U’s Huntsman Cancer Institute to support research on genetics, epidemiology, demography, and public health, as well as raw ozone data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that enabled researchers to look at daily estimates of ozone concentrations for the nation’s counties.
The study focused on ozone exposure during pregnancy, using exposure data linked to children with intellectual disabilities born from 2003 to 2014, their siblings and population controls. The researchers were able to examine the dates in each child’s trimesters to calculate ozone exposure metrics specific to each child, based on when they were born, length of gestation, and where the mother lived at the time of birth.
“The study is unique in its use of both population controls and the sibling design, which is a really nice
complimentary design to use. Because this is an epidemiological study, it uses observational data, secondary data,” said co-author Amanda Bakian, a research associate professor of psychiatry with the U’s Huntsman Mental Health Institute. “Sibling designs allow us to control for some of these population factors that just would be really challenging to do. It just gives another layer of robustness of rigor to this study, and that would have very challenging on a population level to do without the Utah Population Database and their access to genealogical data.”
Ground-level ozone, a highly reactive oxygen molecule, is a growing summer-time pollution hazard in Utah, particularly as the climate warms. It is not directly emitted, but rather forms in the atmosphere when
Air pollution is trapped in the Salt Lake Valley by the inversion in January 2016.
fossil-fuel emissions interact in the presence of sunlight. Ozone’s negative impact on pulmonary function and other health outcomes has already been well documented.
The federal health standard for ambient ozone concentrations is 70 parts per billion (ppb), a threshold that is frequently breached on summer afternoons on the Wasatch Front and in the winter in the Uinta Basin.
What the Utah researchers discovered
The second trimester of pregnancy is the most critical period for ozone exposure, with a 10-ppb increase in average ozone levels associated with a 55.3% higher likelihood of intellectual disability compared to full siblings and a 22.8% increase compared to population controls.
Although the second trimester showed the strongest associations, exposures in all pregnancy stages correlated with elevated risk of intellectual disabilities.
Findings from sibling-comparison analyses demonstrated the validity of the results even when controlling for genetic and familial factors.
The research community has noted that current knowledge about ozone pollution’s impact on cognitive health is insufficient and that gaps with respect to ozone and cognition are perhaps the widest for children. During the second trimester, the fetal brain undergoes rapid growth, with neurons developing at a rate of 250,000 per minute. Ozone’s potential interference with these processes, along with its impact on placental
health, provides plausible mechanisms for the observed associations.
Utah’s Wasatch Front, which often experiences elevated ozone levels in summer, provided an ideal backdrop for the study. The findings underscore the potential impact of environmental pollutants on children’s health, especially given predictions that climate change will exacerbate ozone pollution.
“When it comes to intellectual disability, we have a prevalence estimate of about 1.3% or so, and that has been pretty consistent over time,” Bakian said. “That’s 1.3% of the kids that are born in any one year, and we still don’t have a great understanding of all the risk factors that are involved. What are the underlying mechanisms that drive this risk? Having intellectual disability has lifelong implications.”
Salt Lake and Davis counties as well as portions of Weber, Tooele, Utah, Uintah, and Duchesne counties are often out of compliance with federal ozone standards, according to Grineski.
“Salt Lake City ranks 10th for the most polluted cities in the U.S. in terms of ozone, and 2023 ozone levels were higher than 2022 levels,” she added. The study’s authors stress the importance of reducing ozone levels to protect vulnerable populations, particularly pregnant women and their unborn children. Public health measures such as implementing clean car standards, transitioning to electric vehicles, and updating manufacturing and agricultural processes are among the recommended strategies.
This study highlights the need for further research into ozone exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Grineski and her team hope their findings will encourage policymakers, public health officials and the public to prioritize air quality improvements.
The study was published online on Nov. 18 under the title, “Prenatal ozone exposure and risk of intellectual disability,” in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. The interdisciplinary team of co-authors includes Roger Renteria and Camden J. Alexander of the Department of Sociology; Deborah Bilder of the Department of Psychiatry; Timothy W. Collins of the School of Environment, Society & Sustainability; and James VanDerslice of the Department of Family & Preventative Medicine. Funding was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, with collaborative support from the University of Utah, Intermountain Healthcare, Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, and the Utah Population Database.
Sara Grineski, professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies.
Loss of Urban Trees Affects Education Outcomes
BY BRIAN MAFFLY
It’s well established that urban tree cover provides numerous environmental and psychological benefits to city dwellers. Urban trees may also bolster education outcomes and their loss could disproportionately affect students from low-income families, according to new research by University of Utah social scientists.
Economics professor Alberto Garcia looked at changes in school attendance and standardized test scores at schools in the Chicago metropolitan region over the decade after a non-native beetle called the emerald ash borer appeared in North America, eventually killing millions of ash trees along the streets and yards of Midwestern cities. His results are both alarming and insightful, revealing a complex interplay between environmental degradation and social inequities.
Linking Tree Loss To Education
The study analyzes how the loss of tree cover influenced education outcomes in the Chicago metropolitan region, which was hit hard by the infestation. Ash had been the region’s most common non-invasive tree species, accounting for 18% of its street trees, or about 85,000 trees. Between 2010 and 2020 Chicago lost half its standing ash, with the remaining half already dead or in decline, according to the Morton Arboretum.
The study tracked changes in student performance on a standardized test administered to 3rd- through 8th-graders in Illinois, from 2003 to 2012.
“We found that test scores in areas with ash borer infestations were reduced after the onset of those infestations relative to unaffected areas that were similar,” Garcia said.
“We also looked at heterogeneity in the income distribution, and we found that schools with more low-income students were less likely to experience infestations. These
These photos show the same street in Chicago, before (top) and after a nonnative beetle infestation killed the city’s ash trees. Photos courtesy of the North River Commission.
neighborhoods have less tree cover, so there is less likelihood that ash borer is going to establish,” he continued. “We don’t think that the low-income students in unaffected areas are impacted, but the low-income students at these impacted schools seem to be affected more than better-off students at these same schools.”
The results were reported this month in the journal Global Environmental Change. The study was co-authored by ecologist Michelle Lee, who recently joined the School of Environment, Society and Sustainability as a professor in the U’s College of Social and Behavioral Science after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Penn State.
Prior research shows students in neighborhoods with greater tree cover see better test scores. A recent study by U sociologists and geographers, for example, demonstrated how low-income Utah neighborhoods have less tree canopy near their schools. Meanwhile, schools with greater tree cover had fewer students testing below proficient on yearend math and language arts exams.
Generally speaking, better education outcomes could simply be a function of these leafy neighborhoods’ higher incomes, Garcia noted.
“Our study is trying to come a little closer to establishing a causal link,” Garcia said. “We used this natural experiment of the emerald ash borer beetle being introduced and then idiosyncratically spreading around the different neighborhoods in the Chicago metropolitan area.”
To conduct the study, Garcia and Lee built a novel dataset, combining satellite imagery with Illinois’ standardized testing data and emerald ash borer survey efforts.
“We got kind of lucky that the state of Illinois was administering this standardized test in that same window when the ash borer first arrived in the area,” Garcia explained. “Every school in Illinois was taking the same test, so we had consistent data across schools and through time.”
Disparate Impacts On Students
Instead of merely reaffirming the tree cover-test score correlation, Garcia and Lee were able to track changes in school attendance and scores on standardized tests as the beetle infestation ran its course, laying waste to Chicago’s ash trees over the span of a decade.
The study identified a 1.22 percent reduction in the number of students meeting or exceeding Illinois’ standardized testing benchmarks in areas hit by the ash borer. This seemingly modest drop carries significant implications when scaled across the entire student population.
“We found that schools with more low-income students were less likely to experience infestations because these neighborhoods have less tree cover,” Garcia noted. “But the low-income students at wealthier schools, where infestations were more common, seemed to bear the brunt of the impacts.”
Speculating on the mechanisms driving these effects, Garcia noted loss of tree cover could exacerbate urban heat islands, increase air pollution, and diminish the psychological and physiological benefits that greenery provides.
“Some possible explanations are just that those students don’t have the same resources to go home and recover from, for example, extreme temperatures or pollution-induced headaches the same way that higher-income students at the same schools might have,” Garcia said.
Low-income students may also spend more time outdoors in their neighborhoods or remain longer near the school, increasing their exposure to degraded environmental conditions. Conversely, wealthier students might commute from more distant areas or have access to climate-controlled environments that mitigate these impacts.
Environmental Justice Implications
The findings highlight how environmental changes disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. While low-income neighborhoods were less likely to lose tree cover, low-income students—particularly those attending wealthier schools—suffered setbacks when infestations occurred.
“It’s not just about access to environmental amenities,” Garcia said. “It’s about understanding how their absence can create inequities that ripple through critical aspects of life, like education.”
The study underscores the importance of urban forestry initiatives and invasive species management. Efforts to maintain and restore tree cover could play a vital role in mitigating environmental and social disparities. Garcia’s work also opens the door for further exploration into how ecosystem changes shape human outcomes, particularly in urban settings where environmental inequities are stark.
The study, “Unequally distributed education impacts of ecosystem degradation: Evidence from an invasive species,” appears in the December 2024 edition of Global Environmental Change.
Alberto Garcia, left, and Michelle Lee.
Photo by Brian Maffly.
Burning Questions: Discovering the roles of fire, fuel, and fauna
BY COSETTE REEVES, Natural History Museum of Utah
Every summer, wildfire smoke blankets Salt Lake Valley, clouding Utah’s iconic mountains. While it may be easy to view fire as an enemy, it has been an essential part of Earth’s ecosystems for millions of years, playing a vital role in maintaining the health of forests and grasslands. Scientists around the globe are uncovering the complex interplay between wildfire, climate change, loss of plant-eating wildlife, and human activity to illuminate how we can help better foster the health and resilience of the natural world.
The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) is showcasing this story in its rotating News from Our Scientists exhibit, exploring the pivotal roles wildfire and herbivores play in shaping certain landscapes. This exhibit highlights the work of Chief Curator, Curator of Paleontology Tyler Faith, Curator of Botany and Mitchell Power, and University of Utah undergraduate intern Eliana Massey. Based on research led by Faith, a U associate professor of anthropology, and funded by the National Science Foundation, the exhibit offers an engaging look at one of the world’s most critical natural forces.
“In the absence of fire, if you start suppressing fire and preventing some of these fire adaptive species from completing their lifecycle, they will cease to exist,” Faith says in the exhibit’s video feature. “In addition to
being very beneficial to some of the plant communities. Wildfire is also beneficial to large herbivores.”
Covering a large portion of the planet, grasslands are among the most flammable ecosystems. Grasses not only serve as fuel but also regenerate quickly after a fire, allowing the same areas to burn annually. Grazing herbivores such as wild ungulates can reduce available fuels and, therefore, help moderate wildfire activity. While it is well understood that grazers influence fire frequency on small spatial scales, Faith and his collaborators are exploring these native animals’ impact on continental scales. After gathering an extensive paleontological record of fossil and environmental data across the globe, they discovered a strong correlation between herbivore extinction and increased wildfire activity, demonstrating the critical role grazers play in regulating wildfires across entire continents.
Building on this discovery, the team dug deeper and analyzed records spanning the past 12,000 years in Africa to better understand how climate change influences wildfire patterns. This relationship proved to be more complex than it might initially seem. In arid environments where the amount of fuel is a limiting factor, long-term increases in rainfall due to climate change promote plant growth,
enhancing fuel loads and leading to greater fire activity. Yet, in wetter environments, the limiting factor shifts to fuel moisture, and increased rainfall leaves fuels too wet to burn. This means the potential of fire is not simply determined by changes in fuel load alone but by the delicate balance between fuel availability and fuel moisture. After refining this model, the team applied it to wildfire records across Africa and documented a relationship between climate change and the frequency of wildfires.
With these insights in hand, the team shifted their focus to quantifying how much available fuel grazers consumed and, consequently, the extent to which herbivore extinction— driven by climate change and human activity—affects wildfire patterns today. Throughout the last year, they have combed through literature from the past century to find observations on vegetation consumed by grazers, using this data to develop a more reliable model for such calculations. While other scientists’ efforts have heavily relied on both experimental and theoretical work, neither approach has proven to be entirely adequate for large-scale generalizations.
While this project remained underway, Faith began collaborating with others at NHMU to share his findings with the public. After taking Faith’s Intro
to Museum Collections class, Eliana Massey was offered an internship to help design the new exhibit.
“It was a unique and cool internship—it’s not very often that you get to see a project from the beginning to the end, especially at such a large museum,” Massey explained. She played a key role in nearly every aspect of this exhibit, including the process of extracting a lake sediment core—a valuable paleoenvironmental proxy—for display.
Sediment cores provide an extraordinary window into the past, preserving a wealth of information about the natural history of the surrounding area. Within the cores, we can find layers of charcoal derived from wildfire, pollen from vegetation, and spores from fungi found only in herbivore dung to give a detailed view of what the local landscape looked like and how it changed over time. Scientists can build an age-depth model, dating the sediment layers by every five to ten centimeters of core to construct a detailed timeline of environmental history, resulting in an invaluable tool.
Power led a research field trip to Tony Grove Lake in Logan Canyon. The team used specialized equipment to extract two cores with thousands of years’ worth of sediment records.
While Power is well versed in extracting sediment cores, preparing them for display presented a new, yet crucial challenge—how do you showcase a meter-long column of mud? Asked by colleagues on several occasions to find a way, Power developed a method to stabilize the cores and safeguard them from mold and other environmental damage. This
effort involved close collaboration with NHMU’s Exhibits Team, particularly Assistant Exhibit Developer Casey Clifford, who conducted extensive research on potential display methods. The team ultimately chose an epoxy substrate, carefully piping in a mixture of acetone and Paraloid (a thermoplastic resin) in a series of steps to solidify and reinforce the core. This method marks the first time the scientific community has successfully prepared a sediment core for display, and it’s now featured at the museum
“We are the leading edge of embedding mud with epoxy,” Faith said.
Cosette Reeves is NHMU’s interdepartmental administrative and project coordinator, where she collaborates on projects across all departments at the museum. The new exhibit, which includes an interactive video feature, can be found on the museum’s second floor. The research described here is funded by the National Science Foundation.
NHMU’s News from Our Scientists exhibit features a new story every six months highlighting the work of Museum scientists.
Photo by Brian Maffly.
NHMU staff led by Mitchell Power, curator of botany, extract sediment cores from Tony Grove Lake.
NHMU Chief Curator Tyler Faith describes his research on the exhibit’s video display.
Honoring Heroes: 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Rice-Eccles Stadium
On September 11, 2024, participants gathered at Rice-Eccles Stadium to honor the heroes and first responders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb challenged attendees to run, walk, and climb the equivalent of 110 stories, symbolizing the journey taken by firefighters and rescue workers at the World Trade Center. Refreshments were generously donated by Alpha Coffee and by Joni and Rob Dahle—Rob is a U alum, Army veteran, and the current mayor of Holladay, Utah.
Organized by University of Utah’s Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC programs, this event served as both a tribute and a testament to the during spirit of service. Military personnel, first responders, students, and community members participated, reflecting on the significance of that tragic day and its lasting impact. Lieutenant Colonel Trek
C. Potter, Commander of Air Force Detachment 850, and professor and department chair of Aerospace Studies shares his perspective:
“I was 23 years old when this happened... I had just joined the military and was trying to figure out why I was serving. This event changed the world, changed America, and changed my thoughts about my role. Seeing cadets here today, many of whom weren’t even born at the time, taking ownership of what this event represents—to me it means ‘Service before self’, like we say in the Air Force.
We are here not for ourselves, but to honor and prevent tragedies like this from happening again.”
The event was a powerful reminder of the resilience, unity, and sacrifice that defines the American spirit.
School of Public Affairs—Message from Director David Carter
“On August 18th, 2025, with the support of Dean Camacho and the CSBS Dean’s Office, we are thrilled to launch the School of Public Affairs – a new academic unit at the University of Utah devoted to the interrelated fields of public policy, public and nonprofit administration, and international affairs. We are an inclusive collection of scholars and staff in pursuit of both scholarly contributions to - and the real-world impacts of - public service research, teaching, and praxis. Our faculty’s disciplinary backgrounds are varied, and include public policy, public administration, nonprofit management, international relations, and comparative politics. The substantive expertise of our scholarship is similarly diverse, covering topics such as environmental and energy policy, human resource management, local government, homelessness services, global trade and finance, and the Middle East. We are fortunate to work with an impressive cadre of adjunct faculty, whose day jobs range from District Court Judge to nonprofit Policy Director.
At the time of this writing, we offer three graduate programs. In its almost 50 years, our Master of Public Administration (MPA) has graduated alumni that serve in every level and branch of government, and prominent nonprofit organizations across Utah and beyond. Our Master of Public Policy (MPP) is the only program of its kind in the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). And our M.S. of International Affairs and Global Enterprise (MIAGE) is a truly unique degree that combines public, nonprofit, and private-sector matters from an international perspective.
We’re optimistic about the future of public affairs research, teaching, and impact at the University of Utah. As the subjects that we study and teach undergo dramatic challenges and transformation at the federal level, the subsequent impacts are reverberating equally to the local and global levels. We’re busy trying to understand the implications for both theory and practice, while helping our students and stakeholders do the same. This work promises to be intensely relevant for all of the CSBS’s disciplines and communities, now and in the foreseeable future.”
5Years Later... a Journey of Impact Through Carolyn and Kem Gardner Commons
The doors of Carolyn and Kem Gardner Commons never stay still for long. They open to prospective students curious about what the University of Utah offers and seeking to find their place. They close behind a group of budding scientists making their way to the fifth floor to study zooarchaeology. Or to pack on layers of winter gear before entering an arctic freezer to research the science of snow and what it suggests about our planet’s changing climate. Students seeking advice on changing their major, making the most of their U experience, or how to complete their degree come in to meet with advisors in the Student Success Center. Changemakers eager to
connect with the world around them through global studies or civic engagement opportunities visit the Hinckley Institute of Politics. The sound of footsteps reverberates in the foyer as hungry students head to Carolyn’s Kitchen, eager to find sustenance, comfort, and belonging. Students from around the world stream in, looking to find community, a job, or study abroad opportunities. In the five years since its doors opened, Gardner Commons has established itself as a place that inspires possibility. It is a place to learn. To find community. To grow. To see in oneself the potential of what could be. To pursue big dreams.
Hallways enlivened by inspirational quotes and colors that reflect Utah’s landscapes bathe in natural light and lead to classrooms, conference rooms, offices, and study spaces. Students gather in cozy nooks or gaze out on the Wasatch Front or the Oquirrh Mountains through floor-to-ceiling windows. Each level of Gardner Commons evokes exploration— and with that comes an invitation to dream big. To think about the possibilities that lie within oneself—the pathways waiting to be forged. Programs and centers welcome students with opportunities to nurture their curiosity: one step, one connection, one ambition at a time. Opportunity awaits.
Student Profile – Kiki Hudson
Kiki Hudson grew up in Ogden, but her U journey has taken her around the world—and only whet her thirst to explore more. A graduate student in the Master of Science in International Affairs and Global Enterprise (MIAGE) program, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and the Hinckley Institute also played central roles in her campus experience.
As an undergraduate, Kiki interned three times through the Hinckley Institute—in state, local, and international politics. After interning for Utah State Senator Derek Kitchen, she worked in the office of Congressman Adriano Espaillat of New York in Washington, DC. Immediately after graduating with her undergraduate degree in political science and a minor in business, Kiki spent the summer working for the Rt. Hon. Craig Williams, Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire in the United Kingdom Parliament. That experience cemented Kiki’s drive to one day serve in an international affairs post. To reach that goal, she applied for and was accepted into the MIAGE program. Kiki’s MIAGE candidacy opened the door for a fellowship with the Gardner Institute. As a member of the survey research team, she’s worked on projects as diverse as Utah’s tourism industry and suicide prevention. She’s led focus groups in communities statewide and delved into policy areas that affect Utahns and our region.
Kiki credits her experiences with the Gardner and Hinckley Institutes for giving her real-world exposure in applying what she’s learning in the classroom to her future in public service.
“I’m going to be working hard every day,” Kiki notes, “And I want it to be for something meaningful. Faith in Amer ican and global institutions is fading rapidly. I want to ensure there are compassionate people in public service making decisions that affect the web of our society.”
The Costs and Benefits of Hosting The Olympics...Again
Give us an overview of your research on the Olympics and the main themes you explore.
University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank’s research explores why cities pursue hosting Olympic Games despite the high costs and uncertain economic returns, as well as the opposition to these bids. His expertise offers valuable insights into how Salt Lake City has preserved its Olympic legacy, making it a prime candidate for the 2034 Winter Games and how these elements fit into the broader Olympics trends of successful bids. As was the case for the 2002 Winter Games, the U campus may once again host the Olympic Village and the Opening and Closing ceremonies in 2034.
Here Burbank shares his expertise in the dynamics of hosting the Olympics as Utah gears up to welcome the Winter Games for the second time.
My research on the Olympics has focused primarily on two questions. First, why do American cities seek to host an Olympic games given that it is a costly undertaking with uncertain economic benefits? The answer that my co-authors and I developed was that cities pursue the Olympics as way to rebuild and redefine the city’s image as part of what we termed a “mega-event strategy,” using the games as a way to attract attention and visitors as part of a consumption-oriented development of some American cities. The second question is: who opposes the Olympics in American cities and why? Our answer to this question was that opposition was not part of a broader anti-growth effort, but was aimed primarily at preventing very specific harms, such as an unwanted sports facility in a neighborhood or taxpayer money being used to build venues. Our more recent research has focused on the ways in which opposition to the Olympics in American cities has become more sophisticated and more transnational, e.g., sharing resources with other Olympic opponents in cities in other states or countries.
Historically what are some of the social and political issues that have fueled opposition to the Olympics in the past?
In our early research on the nature of opposition, we found that nearly all opposition was based on avoiding or mitigating specific harms that residents expected due to proposed Olympics-related development. For example, prior to the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, environmental activists were strongly opposed to the Olympics being used to further development in Big or Little Cottonwood canyons. Once Olympics promoters agreed to add “no-development in the Cottonwood Canyons” language to the ballot proposal, environmentalists largely muted their opposition. In more recent research on the nature of opposition to the Olympics in American cities (Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles), we found that opposition groups had become more sophisticated in their organizational efforts, use of social media, and work with other groups includ ing opponents in other cities.
How do you see the selection of Salt Lake City for the 2034 Winter Olympics fitting into the broader trends you’ve observed in Olympic bids and opposition?
Given the increase in opposition to hosting the Olympics in a number of cities around the world, the IOC appears to be adapting by negotiating with low-risk cities to serve as future hosts. Salt Lake City fits this pattern because the city has held the games before, did so successfully, and has remained engaged with the USOPC, IOC and various national and international sports organizations over the years. Because Salt Lake City had hosted the games in 2002 and maintained a number of Olympic venues—ski jumping, speedskating, cross-country skiing—and had an active Olympic bid committee lead and staffed by people with Olympic experience, it was an easy choice for the IOC to return in 2034.
What potential benefits and challenges do you foresee for Salt Lake City as it prepares to host the 2034 Winter Olympics?
The benefits/risks to hosting an Olympics are usually considered in two categories: One, economic gains/ losses; and two, intangible benefits/ risks. For Salt Lake City, there are potential economic benefits to be generated by hosting another Olympics. Money will be spent on venues and transportation, visitors will come to Utah, and people will be hired to work in hotels, restaurants, etc. Of course, along with this spending are opportunity costs, which is to say that
taxpayer money used to help hold the games could have been used for other public purposes that might have produced more valuable outcomes, such as reducing homelessness or providing childcare for low-income workers. The Gardner Policy Institute has issued a report on the economic benefits of hosting the 2034 games claiming a net economic output of $6.6 billion from $2.6 billion in direct spending. As any objective economist would note, this estimate is an exaggeration of the overall economic impact based on an extremely favorable set of assumptions. The reality is that any estimate of eco nomic benefit at this point is extremely speculative because conditions, economic and political, may change. Consider for example the Tokyo 2020 summer games. Tokyo was another city that had hosted the Olympics before – it should have been an easy, low-risk event. Except, of course, for the global pandemic which meant that the games were delayed for a year and then held under circumstances where visitors were not allowed into the country and spectators were not at the games. Whatever economic benefit the city of Tokyo anticipated was certainly not realized.
The intangible benefits are usually associated with image. In 2002, the Salt Lake Games were regarded as a way to put Utah or Salt Lake City “on the map.” While the games did go well, there is no evidence that hosting the games changed the views of people in Europe or Asia about Utah or Salt Lake City. Hosting the event for a second time may mean that any intangible
benefits are harder to achieve. In sum, it is hard to know whether being a city that has hosted a Winter Olympics twice carries any real tangible or intangible benefits. The most likely benefit is that by hosting the games in 2034, Salt Lake may be positioned to be one of several rotating locations if the IOC moves to a model of having only a few host cities and using them on a rotating basis.
“ Student Spotlight: Iragi Nshangalume
My family came to Utah as refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When you are a refugee and move to a new country, your community provides critical support as you work to build a better life for yourself.
Growing up as a person of color and immigrant in Utah, I experienced a lot of things that I wanted to change. These experiences encouraged me to pursue a career in public service to help my community and make the world better for people like me.
During my first year of college, I did a civic engagement research fellowship which helped me better understand the struggles people my age face growing up during this interesting political environment in our country. Through this fellowship, I realized we need people on the ground working to create a positive future. I knew I needed to be a part of that.
I am excited about the unique opportunity the Voyager Scholarship will provide me to connect with people from a variety of different backgrounds who are also interested in public service.
Throughout my journey in public service, I know that I will face all sorts of challenges. I am grateful that through the scholarship, I will have people rooting for me, guiding me and going through the process with me. I’m excited to build all kinds of relationships that will be critical to my success as a public servant.
Since coming to the U.S. as a child, I have not traveled outside of the country. The Voyager Scholarship will provide me with ongoing funding for 10 years and I am excited to use that to broaden my perspective and develop community-building and bridge-making skills. I am certain learning more about the world and stepping out of my comfort zone will make me a better public servant.
I am unsure exactly what I want to do when I graduate, but I am interested in public policy and graduate school. The support of the Voyager Scholarship will allow me to dedicate myself to succeeding in my classes and preparing me for whatever I choose to pursue next.”
Iragi Nshangalume, 2024-2026 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service Recipient. Junior from Magna, Utah, studying political science and economics and minoring in philosophy.
CSBS Graduating Class of 2024
Undergraduate Degrees: 1382
Average GPA: 3.51
17% of all university majors are in CSBS
Undergraduates by department
Master’s Degrees: 131
Doctoral Degrees: 29
#1 Psychology #10 Economics
Graduates by program
27% of CSBS students are first generation
Top 5 schools/ colleges alumni graduate from: CSBS is #1
University of Utah Receives First Ever Commonwealth Fund Grant
Utah is in dire need of expanded access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment. 33% of adults in the state report symptoms of anxiety or depression and Utah had the 7th-highest age-adjusted suicide rate in 2022. Improving Utah’s mental health requires expanding access to services and Utah’s mental health workforce.
To address these issues, the Commonwealth Fund awarded a first-ever grant to the University of Utah to examine barriers to sustaining mental health care for low-income populations. Researchers and medical providers from the University of Utah Health South Main Clinic, the College of Social and Behavioral Science, and the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute will evaluate ways to sustain clinics that provide both mental and physical health services by reducing barriers to reimbursement and expanding access
to graduate student trainees and psychiatry residents and fellows. Project lead Dr. Brian Baucom, PhD, serves as the director of clinical training for the department of psychology and co-director of the Behavioral Health Innovation and Dissemination Center alongside Dr. Feea Leifker, research associate professor for the department of psychology. “I am excited to lead this cross-disciplinary team to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment in Utah. The findings from the South Main Clinic can lead to improvements across the University of Utah Health system, the state, and the country.”
This research aligns with the Commonwealth Fund’s initiative to address challenges in accessing mental health and substance use disorder services, treatments, and supports. The Commonwealth Fund supports
independent research on health care issues and make grants to promote equitable, accessible, affordable health care for everyone, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including people of color, people with low income, and those who are uninsured.
Brian Baucom, co-director, Behavioral Health Innovation and Dissemination Center.
Economics of Single Motherhood
In their new book, Thanks for Nothing: The Economics of Single Motherhood Since 1980, Dr. Nicholas H. Wolfinger, professor of family and consumer studies and adjunct professor of sociology at the University of Utah, and Matthew McKeever, professor of sociology and department chair at Haverford College, provide an in-depth exploration of the persistent economic challenges faced by single mothers in the United States over the past four decades. The book, drawing on nearly 40 years of data, offers the most comprehensive statistical portrait of single motherhood to date and explores why, despite significant gains in education and employment for American women, single mothers continue to experience disproportionately high rates of poverty.
In 1980, single mother families were five times more likely to live in poverty than two-parent families. Forty years later, this ratio remains unchanged. The book seeks to unravel the paradox of why single mothers’ economic situations have remained stagnant, even as women’s participation in the workforce and educational attainment have dramatically increased.
“This book carefully tracks the economic realities of single motherhood across multiple generations, revealing the structural and historical forces that have led to persistent inequality,” said Dr. Wolfinger. “We found that the key factor driving this stagnation is the shift in the demographic makeup of single mothers. Forty years ago, most single mothers were divorced women, who on paper, resemble their married counterparts but with only one income. Today, the majority of single mothers are never-married, and they face very different economic challenges.”
Thanks for Nothing offers new insights into the intersection of family structure and economic disadvantage, highlighting the disparities between divorced mothers and never-married mothers. The book draws on data from two large national surveys—the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—and examines factors like education, employment, and family background that influence economic outcomes for single mothers.
Despite significant policy efforts over the past few decades, including the landmark 1996 federal welfare reform that aimed to move single mothers from welfare to work, many single mothers remain economically disadvantaged. Dr. Wolfinger and McKeever argue that without targeted changes in U.S. social and economic policy, this state of affairs is likely to persist, with millions of children trapped in poverty.
The authors also highlight key recommendations for policymakers on both sides of the political spectrum, making a bipartisan case for how to better support single mothers in order to reduce economic inequality and improve outcomes for children. The book is a crucial resource for academics, policymakers, and anyone concerned about the economic future of single-parent families.
Nicholas Wolfinger, professor, Family & Consumer Studies; adjuct professor, Sociology.
Understanding Utah’s Child Care Market
Economic shifts and challenges often create ripple effects across the nation’s economy. Supply chains fluctuate, labor markets experience volatility, and costs surge as demand outpaces supply. The intricate web of our economy continuously tests the financial resilience of American families. One of the most pressing economic challenges in recent years has been the rising cost of childcare—a burden that affects both individual households and the broader workforce.
Many argue that the economic viability of our society depends on our ability to invest in our children. Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman (University of Chicago) found that investing in early childhood development for children ages 0-5 yields nearly a 14% annual return per child through better educational, economic, health, and social outcomes. These benefits reduce long-term societal costs related to healthcare and criminal justice expenditures.
However, the cost of childcare has risen sharply in recent years due to growing operational expenses, staffing shortages, and increased demand from families. As childcare costs continue to rise, many parents face a difficult choice: pay a significant portion of their family income for childcare or leave the workforce to care for their children at home. Either choice has substantial downstream effects on the nation’s economic outlook.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services Office of Child Care exists to address the childcare needs of Utah residents. Part of its responsibility is to provide reporting data to the federal government, which informs Utah’s childcare subsidy rate-setting process. Recognizing a lack of internal resources to manage this report, the Office of Child Care partnered with the University of Utah’s Economic Evaluation Unit (EEU) in 2019 to conduct a full analysis of Utah’s childcare markets.
The Economic Evaluation Unit (EEU) is a team of policy-focused faculty from the University of Utah’s Department of Economics dedicated to providing independent, rigorous, and transparent research that serves the community. One of its guiding principles is to take on research projects where there is a clear need, often contracting with state government and local agencies to provide insights on various issues.
Founded in 2018, the EEU has collaborated with local government agencies on multiple projects. “We have really gained momentum with our work,” notes economics assistant professor Dr. Catherine Ruetschlin. “We’ve made it possible to bring the Economics Department’s research to the public while also creating paid research opportunities for our graduate students. These students work on
policy-driven projects that contribute to their dissertations and help them transition into impactful careers in community-focused roles.”
Led by Dr. Ruetschlin, with support from graduate student Yazgi Genc, the EEU recently completed the first of three research reports exploring Utah’s childcare landscape. The initial report, the Utah 2021 Child Care Market Rate Study, examines childcare access and affordability at the state and regional levels, detailing price variations by region and child age group. Although published in 2021, subsequent labor shortages, resource constraints, and supply-chain disruptions have further escalated childcare costs for families.
“There are multiple dimensions of market failure in the childcare sector—not just in Utah, but nationwide,” Dr. Ruetschlin explains. “When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, childcare became a central issue for families, and it remains so today. Because of our partnership with the Office of Child Care, the EEU has been at the forefront of research on childcare markets as these challenges evolve.”
Recent Research
Building on the Utah 2021 Child Care Market Rate Study, the EEU has continued to analyze childcare accessibility and affordability in Utah. Three additional reports have been published to assess and address challenges within the childcare system:
• Utah 2023 Child Care Cost Model Report (April 2023) –This study examines the operational expenses childcare providers face across Utah, identifying key cost drivers such as wages, rent, and supply costs. By outlining these financial pressures, the report provides insights into the factors contributing to rising childcare prices and explores potential strategies for stabilizing the market.
• Utah 2023 Workforce Retention and Compensation Report (November 2023) – Acknowledging persistent staffing shortages in the childcare sector, this report evaluates workforce retention trends, wage structures, and employment conditions. The findings highlight the challenges providers face in attracting and retaining qualified staff, emphasizing the need for policy interventions to support a sustainable workforce. Accompanying
this report is a free spreadsheet-based tool that providers and policymakers can use to assess the impact of wage changes, investments, enrollment shifts, or childcare policies on the cost of care.
• Utah 2024 Child Care Market Rate Study (May 2024) –An update to the 2021 report, this study revisits childcare affordability and accessibility, incorporating new data on market rates across the state. It provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape, helping policymakers adjust subsidy programs and other support mechanisms in response to ongoing economic pressures.
Collectively, the research led by Dr. Ruetschlin and her team at the Economic Evaluation Unit provides critical data for agencies and researchers seeking to understand the economic stress points within Utah’s childcare system—for both families and providers. Dr. Ruetschlin emphasizes that solving the childcare affordability crisis requires investment.
“There isn’t a market mechanism that will naturally resolve the cost issue,” she explains. “The only way to address this type of market failure is through intervention, such as expanding subsidy programs—whether on the provider side or the family side. The childcare market has significant inefficiencies on both the supply and demand sides, but the societal benefits of high-quality childcare are undeniable. When children receive quality care, they perform better in school, develop healthier habits, and grow into more productive adults. When those supports are lacking, parents are forced out of the workforce, and labor shortages drive up costs across the entire economy.”
Economics.
Yazgi Genc, EEU research fellow.
Catherine Ruetschlin, associate director, EEU; assistant professor, department of
2024 CSBS Distinguished Alumni
On Friday, November 8, 2024, the University of Utah’s College of Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) held its annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration, recognizing five alumni for their remarkable accomplishments, dedication to community, and embodiment of the college’s core values. The award recipients represent a spectrum of impactful work, spanning law, nonprofit leadership, public service, community advocacy, and philanthropy.
“This year, we honor five exceptional individuals whose achievements and contributions embody the values of our college,” said Michelle M. Camacho, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science. “Our distinguished alumni honorees represent the best of social and behavioral science leaders who are dedicated to understanding, serving, and transforming the world around them.”
Eduardo Reyes Chávez
HBA ’12, Political Science Rising Star Award
Each of these honorees demonstrates the transformative impact that social and behavioral sciences have on communities, and their work continues to inspire future students, faculty, and society at large.
Eduardo Reyes Chávez’s journey from an undocumented immigrant who knew three words of English at age 11 to a highly respected labor and employment attorney is an inspiring testament to resilience and determination. Today, he represents clients in complex discrimination and labor cases for the multinational law firm Littler Mendelson P.C. Previously, he served as an attorney and Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps and recently earned a promotion to Lieutenant Commander in the Individual Ready Reserve. An advocate for mentorship, Eduardo has a lasting impact on first-generation students and students of color. A Cum Laude graduate of the University of Utah, he went on to earn his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, achieving his lifelong goal of U.S. citizenship along the way.
Erin Trenbeath-Murray BS ’91, MS ’94, Family & Consumer Studies Change-Maker Award
With a 33-year career in nonprofits, Erin Trenbeath-Murray is a powerful force for positive change in Utah. As Vice President of Philanthropy for Ken Garff Enterprises, she spearheaded the NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) initiative for Utah Athletics and co-founded Women Who Succeed, which provides mentorship and educational opportunities to young women.
Erin’s leadership at Utah Community Action (UCA) was transformative; she grew the organization from a staff of three to over 600, supporting 80,000 Utahns annually with innovative family and poverty assistance services. Her legacy of service was sparked during her time at the U, and her career has since been recognized with numerous accolades, including Utah Business’s Women of the Year and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
Gina Cornia
BS ’92, Family & Consumer Studies Community Leadership Award
As the executive director of Utahns Against Hunger, Gina Cornia has dedicated more than 25 years to combating hunger and poverty in Utah. She advocates for food security and connects vulnerable populations—including seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families—to essential resources. Gina played a pivotal role in establishing the Salt Lake City Food Policy Council and chairs Utah’s Food Security Council, which promotes equitable access to healthy foods. Her work has garnered awards from organizations such as the Food Research and Action Center and Slow Food USA, and her commitment to community service is rooted in her volunteer work at the U’s Bennion Center during her years as a student.
Dennis W. Monson
BS ’68, Political Science, MBA ’70 Outstanding Engagement Award
Dennis Monson credits his liberal arts education from the University of Utah as the foundation for his 35-year career at KPMG, where he gained international recognition as an expert in financing large-scale transactions. In gratitude for his formative experience, Dennis has endowed faculty awards honoring three of his favorite professors, contributing to future generations’ academic growth. Dennis’s life journey reflects a strong commitment to both community and professional excellence. He and his wife Donna now divide their time between Greenwich, Connecticut, St. George, Utah, and Berlin, Germany, supporting educational and philanthropic initiatives wherever they reside.
Jill Remington Love
BS ’84, Mass Communication, MPA ’93 Lifetime Achievement Award
With 30 years of public service, Jill Remington Love has made a lasting impact on Salt Lake City and the State of Utah. Recently appointed Chief Administrative Officer under Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Jill previously led efforts to build homeless shelters and revitalize Main Street during her service on the City Council. Her tenure as the executive director of the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement was marked by her work to establish a new state history museum. A lifelong advocate for community well-being, Jill attributes her success to the education and skills she honed at the U, where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Donor Spotlight: Remembering Kate Kirkham
BY APRIL GODDARD, College of Social and Behavioral Science
Dr. Kate Kirkham (BS ‘66, sociology) dedicated her 40+ year career as a professional and academic to helping organizations eliminate discrimination from the workplace. As a testament to her lifelong commitment to change, she generously established The Kate L. Kirkham Graduate Student Finish Line Endowed Fund in the university’s Department of Sociology.
Decades before the study of institutional racism became widespread, Kate and a small group of colleagues in the late 1960s developed innovative ideas about the systematic underpinnings of discrimination and how organizations can address it.
Dr. Kirkham decided to establish a scholarship endowment for graduate students in sociology because she has “a special place in her heart for the University of Utah and for sociology because that’s where her ideas began to gestate,” explained former colleague and friend, Dr. Marie Cornwall.
Kate’s endowment supports sociology Ph.D. candidates who have demonstrated academic merit but exhausted their graduate funding. This is a crucial, yet often unrecognized need, as Sociology Department Chair Wade Cole explains, “Students in our Ph.D. program receive, at best, only five years of financial support, even though half of all doctoral students in sociology nationwide require more than eight years to complete their degrees.”
At first glance, Kate seemed an unlikely person to be at the forefront of what we recognize today as equity, diversity and inclusion. A third-generation U alumna, she was born and raised in Salt Lake City, grew up in the Avenues, and attended East High.
As a student at the U, she served as an ASUU leader and chair of the Union Program Council, was vice president of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and inducted into the prestigious Beehive Honor Society.
After graduating from the U, Kate ended up in Washington, D.C. at age 20, thanks to the flip of a coin. She got a job with the National Education Association (NEA) as a facilitator, and quickly built a bond with a small, diverse group of colleagues. She was especially influenced by Elsie Cross, who the Los Angeles Times called in 1992 “one of the most persuasive and potent ‘diversity consultants’ in this country.”
Dr. Kirkham’s association with these colleagues led to years of innovative diversity work for the NEA and through her consulting firm, Resources for Change. Kate and her associates helped organizations of all sizes address power imbalances and inequities, including the Girl Scouts of America, Corning Incorporated, and Bell Helicopter.
Kate’s curiosity and commitment led to her completing her masters at George Washington University and doctoral degree in organizational behavior at the Union Graduate School. In 1978, she joined Brigham Young University‘s Marriott School of Business as an associate professor of organizational leadership and strategy.
“Kate was always an original thinker. She had a rich academic background, but she paid attention to group processes and how people behaved in certain circumstances. She was always reflecting on the situation and what you could learn from it,” said Dr. Cornwall.
leaders.
Kate’s time at BYU was not without challenges. When she joined the faculty, Kate came with a wealth of practical experience but was new to academia. She also was one of the business school’s first female faculty. And her research centered around racism, “a potentially controversial subject for any academic community, including BYU,” explained Kate. This meant she often felt out of step with her colleagues.
Perhaps because she faced many barriers herself, Kate wanted to help the next generation of scholars and professionals. Initially, she planned to make a legacy gift through her will to establish a scholarship. But thanks to the guidance of her financial advisor, she realized she could see the impact of the gift during her lifetime by making a qualified charitable distribution from her individual retirement account in addition to a gift from her estate. Last fall, Kate was able to meet the first recipient of her endowment, Ph.D. candidate Xuan Zhang, who goes by Karen. Kate and Karen discussed their shared interest in addressing social inequality, as well as the determination to overcome personal challenges.
As Karen explained, “As a student, I am hardworking and dedicated to my studies. I love to learn new skills and things. I am also a determined person who tries hard to overcome difficulties and challenges in my life.”
When asked why she wanted to make this gift, Dr. Kirkham responded, “It’s important to have in your life places of joy.” Sadly, Kate passed away just shortly after meeting Karen. Yet, by giving both during her lifetime and through her estate, Kate’s legacy of joy will benefit sociology students for years to come. She will be greatly missed and always remembered.
Kate Kirkham (back row, right) with ASUU 1966
Xuan (Karen) Zhang, inaugural recipient of the Kate L. Kirkham Graduate Finish Line Fellowship.
CONTRIBUTORS
Dean
Michelle M. Camacho
Concept and Planning
Andrew DeQuiroz
Elizabeth Johnson
Writers
Brian Maffly
Lisa Potter
April Goddard
David Carter
Andrew DeQuiroz
Elizabeth Johnson
Joanna Trujillo
Cosette Reeves
Autumn Thatcher
Additional Editors
Claudia Geist
Amy Engar
Art Direction
University Marketing & Communications
Photography
Harriet Richardson
Elizabeth Johnson
Brian Maffly
Derek Carlisle
csbs.utah.edu
@UofUcsbs
