This piece first appeared on Townhall Finance. My social entrepreneurship students are confronted with an unpleasant but hard reality toward the end of their semester. Helping the most vulnerable populations, they find, often means abandoning the naive simplicity behind the $15 minimum wage. In fact, the concept of a “living wage” becomes an abstraction with…
Envisioning St. George Island: A Graduate Planning Project at the Front Lines of Community Engagement and Sustainability
Florida is known worldwide for its beautiful beaches, warm climate, and top-ranked tourist destinations. Florida also has the distinction of being one of the nation’s fastest growing states. Balancing the desires and demands of our ever-growing population with the need to ensure the viability of our economic and natural resources has long been a challenge faced…
Honors Thesis Spotlight: Right-Wing Political Violence in Modern Colombia (1970-1990): The State Legitimacy
In Colombia, during the early 1960s, leftist guerrilla groups were created following the spread of socialism during the Cold War. Later in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first regional and local paramilitary groups were created to counter the spread of leftist insurgent groups. Nationalist and anti-communist sentiments fueled paramilitary ideology in Colombia as…
Meet a Social Scientist: Dr. Singh from Sociology
What is your name?Dr. Sourabh Singh. What kind of work do you do in the College?I am an assistant professor in the Sociology Department. I teach, do research and engage in service in the department, profession and community. Why did you decide to become an academic? I decided to become an academic because I have always…
Ph.D. Spotlight: Criminal Justice Institutions: Human Behavior in a System of Neutral Competence
Within the majority of courtrooms throughout the U.S. you will find statues of lady justice in all sizes. Generally, she is depicted as a woman wearing a toga in a powerful pose, holding a scale in one hand, sword in the other, and is blindfolded. Lady justice is said to stem from Greek and Roman…
FSU’s Institute of Politics: Policy Making in the 117th Congress
The post is based on a webinar sponsored by the Institute of Politics at Florida State University. The Institute of Politics at Florida State University presents Representative Neal Dunn (R-FL) and Representative Al Lawson (D-FL). Dunn and Lawson engage in discussions on the upcoming 117th Congress and how to best navigate lawmaking in these polarizing…
Meet A Social Scientist: Dr. Mackenzie Alston from Economics
What is your name?Dr. Mackenzie Alston What kind of work do you do in the College?I am an assistant professor in the Economics Department. I teach, do research and engage in service in the department, profession and community. Why did you decide to become an academic? A big part of it was because of my…
Social Science Scholar: Power of We and Independent Research
Due to COVID-19, my summer plans did not necessarily turn out the way I had initially intended. I had planned on helping my organization, Power of We, transition to a new director, finishing up my research, and interning. However, I was not able to do an internship due to to unforeseen complications brought by the…
Ph.D. Spotlight: Is State Safety Net Capacity Adequate to Meet Basic Needs?
The decentralization of welfare allows governments to experiment and create a variety of goods in response to differences in constituent pressures, institutional constraints, and resource constraints. An important measure of the performance of a state’s social safety net is how effective it is at protecting the less fortunate during a contracting economy. State governments influence…
Research Spotlight: Diversion and Deception: Dudley Clarke’s “A” Force and Allied Operation in World War II
Most British and Americans have some understanding of D-day, even if the extent of their knowledge is that the Allied invasion was a success. While history makes the Allied victory at Normandy seem like a foregone conclusion, Allied planners never enjoyed such confidence. In 1943 when Allied leadership began making their initial plans for the…
