Recent News
As eviction moratoriums, unemployment benefits come to an end, and ordinary people struggle to obtain their basic needs, the crowdfunding business is expected to see an increase in activity. While there are a number of people who feel a sense of tech optimism filling in the gaps for people in need, Mark Igra's research on crowdfunding during the pandemic has received attention for its clear and... Read more
"As researchers of policing and homelessness, we have seen an unmistakable rise in homeless sweeps and encampment crackdowns since the late 1990s. This response to visible poverty results from a collision of forces, both in Canada and the United States: the decline of affordable housing and mental-health services, and local governments’ desires to revitalize business districts, boost tourism and... Read more
A new study led by Michael Pearce and Adrian Raftery calculates the probability of living to at least age 110. These “supercentenarians” are rare, but their numbers may grow by the end of the century.
Featured in UW News
PhD student Mark Igra co-authored a paper on charitable giving and fundraising efforts during the pandemic. The paper, titled "Crowdfunding as a response to COVID-19: Increasing inequities at a time of crisis" shares evidence that most donation campaigns fail to raise much money (if any... Read more
Mark Igra, graduate student in sociology, explains the results of his new study on digital fund-raising equality.
Featured on The New York Times
The Simpson Center for the Humanities recently granted funding to the department’s Gender and Sexuality Graduate Research Cluster. Working groups play a critical role in cultivating community among graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. The working group, originally established in 2014, includes students... Read more
Washington has enacted a number of police reforms since George Floyd was murdered one year ago. Among them is a mandatory 8-hour course, broken up into sessions, for police recruits on the history of racism and policing. Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the UW, is mentioned.
Featured on WBUR
When Zack Almquist joined our faculty last spring, he realized a cherished ambition: rejoining the academy while solving the so-called “two-body problem.” As an interdisciplinary scholar grounded in mathematics, statistics, and sociology, Zack combines modern social network analysis with demography to investigate how populations interact, often in novel... Read more
This course will be offered in the summer and taught by Michele Cadigan. Read on for the description of the course:
Poor communities of color, particularly Black communities have been devastated by the phenomenon called mass incarceration as individuals are being removed from their families and within these communities at a disproportionate rate. Even more, others return from jail and prison... Read more
Seven courageous students started our graduate program last fall, at the height of the pandemic. From virtual orientations to remote classes, online TA duties and Zoom stats study session, their first year experiences have been like no other. Most still haven’t set foot on campus or inside Savery Hall, let alone met their colleagues in person. How have they navigated the challenges of... Read more