Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) are a growing field of research within the public administration context. These organizations provide a unique area of governance within their particular boundaries due to their amorphous nature interacting with all branches of government, providing a broad array of planning and policy options. Historical governance literature dictates that the role of…
Social Movement Perspective: Understanding Black Lives Matter and the #Tally19
This was first posted October 5th, 2020. Sociologists are interested in the interplay between structure and agency. While individuals theoretically have the agency to make the choices they want, these choices are constrained by factors out of their control, such as their social class, or social location. Social movements scholars, in particular, are interested in…
Black Women Business Owners’ Struggles and Survival Strategies
This was first posted on January 27, 2020. According to the 2018 Report on the State of Women Owned Businesses, Black women-owned businesses experienced the highest growth rate (164%) of all women-owned businesses from 2017 to 2018. An appealing alternative to the formal labor market, entrepreneurship provides Black women the opportunity to escape hostile working…
Social Science Scholar: Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Policy Scholars Program, and Public Service Weekend.
My initial project plan was to immerse myself in various educational systems in different countries around the world in order to formulate a wholistic and ground-level understanding of educational policy in different systems. To do so, I had planned on doing a project with three separate components. First, I would have traveled to a university…
Ph.D. Spotlight: Essays in Public Economics
The essays in this dissertation explore the intersection of public policy and personal decisions: attending college, adopting a child, or choosing the right neighborhood. These selections have an enduring effect on an individual’s life and are constantly influenced by government policy. In three essays, this dissertation examines policy-induced variation of personal decisions and the effects…
Florida State University’s Social Equity Lab
The Social Equity Lab is Florida State University’s new avenue for social change. The Lab will serve as a forum to meet bimonthly to engage in discussions of issues, developing project proposals, sharing presentations and critiques, and bringing together faculty and students who care about social justice and hold diverse perspectives from different disciplines about…
Like All Black Lives, All Black History Matters
This first posted on February 19, 2018. There’s something that needs to be said before we go any further: Black history is American history is the world’s history. That said, there’s no denying that some histories are told more often than others. Those narratives get told over and over again, changing just a bit with…
Policy Pub: Bouncing Back: What the Science of Resilience Can Teach Us
This post is based on a webinar sponsored by Florida State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. Resilience is defined by aspects, such as self-reliance, perseverance, and flexibility in difficult situations. While resilience is often thought of as being a psychological characteristic, or something innate, research tells us there are things that can be done…
Galentine’s Day has become a thing – why hasn’t Malentine’s Day?
This first posted on February 13, 2020. On Feb. 13, women will celebrate Galentine’s Day, a holiday trumpeting the joys of female friendships. The holiday can trace its origins to a 2010 episode of “Parks and Rec,” in which the main character, Leslie Knope, decides that the day before Valentine’s Day should be an opportunity to celebrate…
Honors Thesis Spotlight: Licensing the Undocumented: Traffic Safety and Auto Insurance Analysis
One of the most hotly debated domestic policies of the modern era has been determining the course of those living in the United States without proper legal documentation, a figure near 11 million people. At the core of the issue is a debate regarding whether the federal government ought to remove these people, provide them…
