Spring 2009
I am writing after today’s graduation ceremonies. ISERP was well represented at the convocation honoring masters’ degree candidates as our Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) students received their degrees. In addition, the first cohort of students in the Oral History Masters of Arts Program (OHMA) graduated as well – a year earlier than we had expected when the program was launched. This is a tribute to the quality of the students the program has attracted and to the program’s directors and faculty. QMSS student Jason Ferguson was given the honor of speaking for the degree candidates. I had the privilege of reading the citation of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement that was given to fellow political scientist Sybil S. Schainwald (M.A., 1972) for her outstanding legal work advancing women’s health and women’s rights. It is this kind of work that many of the New York City leaders in our Revson Fellowship program have engaged in and that ISERP’s new Working Group on Activism and Politics will examine as it brings together scholars and students in the fall.
One recurring issue worldwide related to such activism and politics is migration, broadly defined. Immigration has been a major issue in the United States, provoking racial and ethnic conflict. Rodolfo de la Garza has expanded his research at ISERP beyond the United States in his current study of the impact of parental migration on children in several developing countries. Kimuli Kasara’s study of conflict and land rights in Kenya delves into interethnic violence and resulting displacement there. Such forced displacement occurred in civil war-torn Darfur, the subject of Mahmood Mamdani’s recent book, and it is something that the international community must deal with through effective intervention efforts in such conflicts, which is one of Macartan Humphreys’s concerns in his program impact assessment project in Eastern Congo.
Yao Lu’s lead essay in this newsletter focuses on the China’s “floating population” as China’s more than 150 million internal migrants are known. Her research examines the plight of this group and the problems they face, including discrimination and especially health care. While they can do better economically than those left behind in poor rural villages, their low levels of education and confinement to, at best, blue-collar jobs limit how much they can benefit from China’s expanding economy. At the same time, they have been among the most vulnerable to the current worldwide economic downturn.
The global economic crisis and the decline in exports affecting such job losses takes front and center in Sharyn O’Halloran’s research, highlighted in her essay. Presenting some striking data, she is concerned with how these economic trends have put pressure on countries to protect jobs, leading to tariffs and the undermining of free trade. Governments must find alternatives, and she suggests some options.
Here at home, at ISERP, we are waiting to see how much further our budget will be affected by economic conditions. The prospects of new National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding has led to a significant increase in grant proposals and funding requests submitted by ISERP Faculty Fellows and others through ISERP. This is a tribute to the creativity and intellectual engagement and motivation of our faculty, and the vibrancy of the research environment that ISERP has tried to maintain and enhance. Our staff has moved into high gear in its efforts to provide information about available funding sources in the areas of researchers’ interests. In this respect, ISERP has worked hard toward fulfilling one of its primary missions when it was established under Peter Bearman’s directorship, and this will surely continue under the next director, who will be announced and appointed very shortly.
ISERP will have more to report later on the next academic year’s doings. Despite tighter budget constraints, it will be welcoming new faculty and initiatives next year. Please continue to provide your ideas and thoughts as ISERP moves ahead into the pleasant summer months. It has been a great honor and pleasure to serve as Acting Director for the 2008-2009 academic year.
Robert Shapiro, Director
Institute of Social and Economic
Research and Policy
