Graduate Student News

Woman stands in an interior space with beige walls looking away from the camera. She wears a white shirt and white face mask elaborately embroidered with Oaxacan designs in bright colors, especially reds and pinks. Embroidery on her shirt includes large panels of floral motifs with ribbons and a small band of embroidered human figures line the edge of the embroidered sections. Face mask features a large red butterfly with floral wings.

SoHE News: Oct 16–22

| October 22, 2020

SoHE and CommNS win 3 WPP grants, Addo featured in Newsweek on pandemic economic relief, Duncan publishes on postpartum wellbeing, Community Altar Project goes virtual for 2020, and more.

alvin thomas headshot

SoHE and CommNS to Partner on 3 New Wisconsin Partnership Program Grants

| October 19, 2020

The School of Human Ecology and the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies will partner on three of six new grants announced Friday by the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The grants, each of $1 million over five years, support community-academic partnerships designed to improve health outcomes by addressing the social determinants that influence health and well-being over the course of a lifetime.

Yellow paper shopping bag lying on its side

SoHE News: Oct 2–8

| October 8, 2020

Collins in Reuters on pandemic spending, Kerr on WPR on parent well-being, Raison in a new film on narrative-based healing, CommNS annual event next week, and more.

Two people hold a protest sign about student debt

SoHE News: Sep 11–17

| September 17, 2020

Addo featured in MarketWatch, Raison on psychedelics’ “narrative intervention” therapeutic promise, Hartley on autism and bullying, CommNS’ Washington Mandela fellows event today, and more.

Mom and daughter in car viewed through driver window, both wearing masks to protect against COVID-19

New Research: The Highs and Lows of Parenting in a Pandemic

| August 28, 2020

Newly published research briefs from the Kerr Parent Lab in the School of Human Ecology detail the challenges and opportunities to mental health and well-being that parents have found as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic with their families.

Dr. Majid Sarmadi testing masks under microscope. Photo courtesy of Ellie Sarmadi, used with permission.

SoHE News: Aug 21–27

| August 27, 2020

Sarmadi and Kurutz featured in UW News for cross-campus mask development project, new Angus show featured in Art & Object, Sarmadi discusses neck gaiters’ filtration against COVID-19, Gaddis featured in Edge Effects podcast, and more.

Colorful Madison mural, by Jim Escalante, cc

SoHE Grad Students Publish Crisis Response Guide

| August 25, 2020

As another school year begins, the guide sums up Madison-area resources to equip the SoHE community with alternatives to calling the police in crisis situations.

Scenes from the municipal market in Tucuru, Guatemala. Indigenous women of Guatemala’s Polochic valley are feeding their families, growing their businesses and saving more money than ever before. With the help of a joint UN programme that’s empowering rural women, women's groups in the area have learned to produce shampoo in bigger batches and in different varieties—such as aloe, cacao, avocado and honey—and sell them in local markets. The Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women by FAO, WFP, IFAD and UN Women is working to advance advance gender equality and economic empowerment of women in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Rwanda. In Guatemala, the programme started in 2015, with funding from Norway and Sweden, supporting rural women to develop a range of skills, from sustainable agricultural practices to marketing organic shampoo and learning solar engineering. With better knowledge of their own rights and access to skills, credit and income, women participants can make more decisions within their homes and participate in municipal spaces.

SoHE News: Aug 14–20

| August 20, 2020

Angus opens a new show in Pittsburgh, Huambachano discusses Indigenous food sovereignty, Litzelman on the cancer caregiver burden, Whelan on back-to-school shopping changes, highlights from Human Ecology MS 2020 grads, and more.

Children playing at daycare

Human Ecology MS Grads Assess Mindfulness App, COVID-19 Adaptations

| August 19, 2020

Three Human Ecology Applied Master’s students graduated this summer, their capstone projects investigating childcare and child services COVID-19 adaptations and the effectiveness of a meditation app for young people.

Headshot of Jessica Fischer

Human Ecology Master’s & CNPL Graduate Jessica Fischer Joins GlobalGiving This Summer

| August 18, 2020

The newly minted SoHE MS alum was hired last month by the DC-based global crowdfunding organization for her skills and experience in transformative nonprofit operations.

apples, vegetables, and salad for a school lunch

SoHE News: Jul 24–30

| July 30, 2020

Nancy Nicholas Hall Fall 2020 opening plan announced, advising staff member receives award, SoHE hand papermakers featured in international quarterly magazine, Raison presents on mental health and meditation for tough times, Angus work on display in Wisconsin, food, activism, and more.

man in patterned mask staring into camera

SoHE News: July 17–23

| July 23, 2020

Addo named to Lumina Foundation’s student borrowers of color working group, Bea publishes on gendered earnings differences after parenthood, Duncan offers mindfulness strategies for patient parenting, and more.

Headshot of Dean Shim

SoHE Solidarity with Our International Students

Dean Soyeon Shim | Published by | July 10, 2020

A message from Dean Shim, a fellow international scholar at UW–Madison.

Grandmother on a couch reading Sesame Workshop materials to grandson

SoHE News: June 12-18

| June 18, 2020

Poehlmann-Tynan research with Sesame Workshop featured by university, Thomas talks mental health with alumni for UW Now, CFS RDRC hosts its second annual Junior Scholars in Training program, and more.

Graduate student Troy Williams

SoHE Insights: Fostering Real Corporate Commitment to Black Lives Matter

Troy Malcolm Williams | Published by | June 17, 2020

Civil Society and Community Research PhD student Troy Malcolm Williams shares research-based recommendations grounded in a human ecology framework for corporate entities seeking to honor their anti-racist values statements.

Photo of street in Chicago with taxi cab looking at Chicago Board of Trade Building

SoHE News: June 5-11

| June 11, 2020

• Addo on the racial wealth disparity in the stock market rebound
• Remembering Mark Anthony Rolo
• Awards to SoHE faculty from Global Health Institute and Baldwin Wisconsin Idea
• Personal finance online degree written up in On Wisconsin magazine, and more.

Milwaukee skyline

SoHE News: May 22-28

| May 28, 2020

Design History PhD student wins major research award, McInnes describes the “wau” in Wisconsin place names, incoming undergrad wins Summit Credit Union scholarship, Whelan remembers an unorthodox self-help author, and more.

Natalie Wright headshot

Design Studies PhD Student Natalie Wright Wins Prestigious Scholarship

| May 27, 2020

Natalie Wright, who just completed her first year of PhD coursework in Design Studies, has won the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Recognized as a top applicant, Wright will research histories of making and disability under the mentorship of Professors Marina Moskowitz and Sarah Anne Carter.

Commencement

SoHE News: May 1-7

| May 7, 2020

Student accomplishments to celebrate, Collins joins Crossroads of Ideas COVID-19 discussion, Addo on financial impacts for millennials, and more.

A graduation tassel with a pendant of the W crest is pictured with a University of Wisconsin-Madison diploma cover on May 1, 2014. The picture was created to promote UW-Madison's upcoming commencement ceremony.

Human Ecology MS students give virtual symposium on capstone projects

| May 6, 2020

Congratulations to the 2020 class of graduates from SoHE’s applied master’s degree in Human Ecology! View their virtual symposium of a wide-ranging series of capstone projects, covering topics from Hmong-American women’s mental health to supporting children of deployed military members.

Mariela Quesada Centeno

HDFS Grad Student Connects Families in Need with Local Farms’ Produce

| April 16, 2020

Mariela Quesada Centeno is linking area Latinx and Indigenous families struggling financially due to COVID-19 with “resilience boxes” of purchased and donated produce from southwest Wisconsin farms.