Jean Hardy and team awarded National Science Foundation grant
Jean Hardy and team awarded National Science Foundation grant
Jean Hardy, associate professor in the Department of Media and Information and associate director of the Quello Center in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University, was recently awarded a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “Understanding and Supporting Rural Community Adaptation to Workplace Automation.” Along with his co-PI Tara Behrend, Hardy will explore how rural communities in Michigan have adapted to decades of workplace automation in manufacturing and agriculture and how those experiences can help shape responses to future technological change.
David Peters, professor of sociology and Extension Rural Sociologist at Iowa State University, recently published a variety of articles through the Iowa Small Towns Project. The project is an integrated research and extension effort to better understand the conditions and issues facing small Midwestern communities in the 21st century. Over the past month, Peters has published a variety of articles for the project, including “Iowa Population Change by Components, 2000-2025,” “Hired Employment and Wage Trends in Iowa’s Livestock Sector, 1975-2025,” and “Iowa Population Change by Components, 2000-2025.” Peters is well-situated to write these pieces, as he has published in top-tier journals in rural sociology, public health, agricultural economics, and criminology, and his specific research topics include rural population and health, rural poverty and inequality, and rural crime.
Danielle Schmidt-Larios, PhD candidate in the joint departments of Sociology and Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently published a brief through the WIndicators project, a UW-Madison Extension project in Community Economic Development. Titled “WIndicators: Sharing Livability: Assessing the Link Between Rural and Urban Prosperity,” the brief discusses how local prosperity is influenced by neighboring regions, when communities work in partnership with their neighbors, they can collaborate on meeting the shared needs of residents, and while communities can leverage their proximity to one another, proximity alone cannot drive prosperity.
Florence Becot, Nationwide Insurance Early Career Professor and Agricultural Safety and Health Program Lead in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, recently published an article with her colleagues in the Journal of Agromedicine. Titled “Broadening Recruitment Paradigms to Increase Occupational Safety and Health Research Engagement,” the article is a brief that discusses how traditional randomized control trial methods are often ineffective and/or counterproductive for occupational research. The authors use a series of examples from previous research to propose new research paradigms to best study and serve communities such as farmers, commercial fishermen, and loggers.
Rebecca Schewe, associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University and part of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, recently published an analysis of recent USDA policies with her colleague Bernie Kluger. Titled “USDA Staffing Cuts Reduce Local Presence in Communities Nationwide,” the paper explains the depth and breadth of the ongoing USDA staffing crisis using previously unpublished data on Farm Service Agency (FSA) County employee cuts, as well as updates on previously reported nationwide cuts to staff across other USDA agencies. Federal personnel data from the US Office of Personnel Management confirms widespread headcount reductions across all USDA agencies, with the exception of staffing increases in the immediate office of the Agriculture Secretary.
Gene Theodori, Associate Provost for Academic & Research Administration at Lamar University, was recently selected for the American Association of State Colleges and University’s Becoming a Provost Academy. He was one of 37 people selected for this year’s cohort. The program provides participants with targeted preparation in the key areas that define effective academic leadership. It is geared toward experienced deans, associate and assistant provosts, and other academic administrators, and focuses on building the capacity required to succeed as a chief academic officer. Cohort members gain a deeper understanding of institutional priorities while also strengthening their ability to lead in a rapidly changing higher education landscape. Participants engage in peer learning, share perspectives, and build lasting relationships that extend beyond the yearlong program.
Tim Slack, professor of sociology at Louisiana State University, was recently quoted in a Newsweek article titled “Trump’s Approval Rating With Rural Voters Has Plunged by Double Digits—Poll.” Slack’s expertise was consulted on why the president’s approval rating has fallen in rural areas. In the article, he notes that the economy is central to Trump’s declining approval rating among rural Americans, who already tend to have lower incomes than urbanites. As prices have climbed, especially for fuel and food, rural residents have been at a disadvantage. As Slack says in the article, “Rural Americans are hurting economically and have been for decades. President Trump promised to lower prices on day one. Instead, prices have continued to climb.”
Edith-Marie Green, PhD candidate in Population Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was recently selected for a Fulbright Open Study/Research Award. She will be spending 10 months in Potsdam and Berlin, Germany conducting field research on the social networks of older adults and how cultural variations in loneliness and social connection influence dementia risk. Green will be working with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe during her time in Germany.
Erin Gaede, PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently published a commentary in The Conversation titled “When private equity firms buy mobile home parks, rent increases leave residents with few affordable options in rural area.” Gaede discusses the nuances of mobile homes and other manufactured homes and how they impact low-income residents, who are often priced out of their homes. Gaede draws on qualitative interview data in her commentary and also links the history of single-room occupancy units to the current crisis.
RSS President Lisa Pruitt, Brigitte Bodenheimer Research Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, recently published an article titled “Rurality and Redistricting: California’s Proposition 50, Rural Identity, and Democratic Legitimacy” in the Maine Law Review. The article offers a ruralist critique of the hyper-partisan redistricting phenomenon initiated in mid-2025. The article focuses more specifically on how this redistricting has impacted rural communities in northern California. Pruitt calls for greater attention to—and protection of—rural places as communities of interest in redistricting practice.