This piece first appeared on the Tallahassee Democrat. A national firestorm has erupted over a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal over Jill Biden’s use of “Dr.” as a prefix to her name. I now use the honorific, which is common in higher education, but I largely ignored it prior to coming to Florida State University…
Making Sense of January 6th: What We Know About Why Mobs Emerge
Editor Note: Over the coming weeks, The College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University will work to provide experiential and academic faculty perspectives on the causes and consequences of the events surrounding January 6, 2021. This means that some posts will offer academic analyses of the events, other posts will mix…
Making Sense of January 6th: Trump’s Capitol Offense
Editor Note: Over the coming weeks, The College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University will work to provide experiential and academic faculty perspectives on the causes and consequences of the events surrounding January 6, 2021. This means that some posts will offer academic analyses of the events, other posts will mix…
Ph.D. Spotlight: Income Inequality and Mass Support for Redistribution
The United States stands out as the most economically unequal industrialized democracy. The wealthiest Americans hold nearly as much income today as they did prior to the Great Depression. Despite decades of rising inequality, public support for redistribution has not increased in a meaningful way. This is puzzling because it runs counter to canonical models…
How Social Isolation Effects the Academic Achievement of Students with Learning Disabilities.
Students with disabilities comprise a large, diverse portion of students in the United States. The National Center for Education Statistics found that in the 2015-16 school year, about 6.7 million students ages 3-21 (13%) received special education services in the U.S. public education system. My work is focused on a specific group. Students with learning disabilities, who…
Teaching Spotlight: Silver Lining and Online Teaching
‘Tis the season for good cheer. So, as we turn the page on 2020, I want to highlight silver liningsfor education moving forward into 2021 and beyond. First, we have some experience with theonline format and this is crucial for our student’s learning. Second, we have been thoughtful inour development of content and pedagogy during…
Policy Pub: Campaigns in a New Environment: A Retrospective into Political Campaigns in 2020
To learn about these topics in more depth, please navigate here to watch the full Policy Pub and Q&A from Dr. Hassell, presented by FSU’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. This policy pub discusses politics in a time of crisis and change and other new realities that have made this year’s national elections unlike any…
Gun Sales, Well-being, and COVID-19
Gun sales have reached record highs since the spring of 2020. Current estimates suggest that 2020’s year-to-date gun sales exceed all of 2019’s sales by one million units (Grant 2020). Even August, which saw the smallest growth in gun sales so far in 2020, had a 57.8% year-over-year increase in gun sales (Grant 2020). Breaking August’s numbers…
Social Science Scholar: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
This summer I participated in the FSU Center for Intensive English Studies Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program and began conducting research for my undergraduate thesis in Economics. The TEFL program was designed to prepare students for English teaching positions around the world post-graduation. Through this program, I was trained in teaching and…
Ph.D. Spotlight: Managing Midlife: How Gender and Sexuality Influence Midlife Perceptions of Decline and Progress
This dissertation investigates how gender and sexuality shape people’s perceptions of aging in midlife. The study draws on two prominent narratives about aging discussed by aging studies scholars. The first narrative, decline, is a predominant aging narrative that constructs aging as an accumulation of irreversible losses. A second, less prevalent narrative constructs aging as progress—emphasizing the…
