Social Sciences News

GLOBAL STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY - Japan's energy shift after the Fukushima disaster saw a surge in fossil fuel use. How does this impact their long-term sustainability goals? Recent research by Yvonne Braun of global studies and Michael Dreiling of sociology is featured.

SOCIOLOGY - Department of Sociology Professor Claire Herbert and Sociology graduate employee Amanda Ricketts’ collaboration was accepted at Social Problems peer-reviewed journal. This research was funded by a Marquina Award from the Department of Sociology and a research grant from the Center for the Study of Women in Society.

HISTORY - A historian and a linguist have received National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) awards, a prestigious honor that goes to only 16% of applicants in a given year. The grants were awarded to Gabriela Pérez Báez, associate professor of linguistics and director of the Language Revitalization Lab, and Arafaat Valiani, an associate professor in the Department of History and affiliated faculty in the Global Health program.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Assistant Professor Neil O’Brian is among 28 academics and researchers across the United States to be selected as a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, which comes with a $200,000 grant. O'Brian's newest book, “The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars,” will be available August, 2024.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - Meet Keyen Singer, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Her Indian name is Wáašaša qmɨmsalí ptínits, Dancing Hummingbird Girl. Singer is Miss Indigenous UO and her major is environmental studies. Singer endeavors to embrace the interconnectedness of tradition and modernity, while committed to her cultural legacy and the sanctity of first foods.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Todd Braje's (PhD, anthropology, '07) newest book, Understanding Imperiled Earth: How Archeology and Human History Can Inform Our Planet’s Future, looks back in history to find solutions for the climate crisis. Braje is also the Museum of Natural and Cultural History executive director.

HISTORY - From debating the removal of public monuments to writing amicus briefs for the US Supreme Court, public historians in the College of Arts and Sciences are putting their expertise to work by helping communities engage with history.

INDIGENOUS, RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES - Associate Professor Lynn Fujiwara is one of three winners of the Tykeson Teaching Award, an annual prize given to one outstanding faculty member in each division of the College of Arts and Sciences who goes above and beyond in the classroom.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES, POLITICAL SCIENCE - Success at the University of Oregon looks different for each student, from academic achievement to personal growth to career readiness.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - Alex Staben, a senior majoring in Spanish and environmental studies, took second place and a $500 prize. Her presentation – “Active Travel to School: Analyzing Barriers and Finding Solutions for Students of River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary in Eugene” – focused on the disparities faced by some schools in finding safe walking and biking pathways to school.

Faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences were among the 15 University of Oregon scholars to receive award money from the Faculty Research Awards, provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.

ANTHROPOLOGY - James L. Flexner, an associate professor of historical archeology and heritage at the University of Sydney, Australia, will discuss the archeology of mission sites in the Mangareva Islands of Polynesia. The lecture is 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History Galleria.

SOCIOLOGY - Jamie Yang (Wenyi), a sociology PhD student, has been recommended for the CSWS Jane Grant Award for "A Queer Quantitative Inquiry: Sexual Injustices and Social Contexts." The prestigious Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship, honoring Jane Grant—early feminist and wife of CSWS’s benefactor William Harris—is given annually to an outstanding scholar writing a dissertation on women and gender.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, GEOGRAPHY - Fire is a dynamic process and requires a multidisciplinary approach to appreciate its complexities. Researchers in the College of Arts and Sciences are combining their unique perspectives to gain a comprehensive understanding of fire and its impacts on West Coast communities.