News: Faculty

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers appointed UW–Madison Professor J. Michael Collins as a public member of the Governor’s Task Force on Retirement Security. The task force will study issues facing the growing number of retired people in Wisconsin, particularly the amount of money they have saved.

La Follette School Professor Greg Nemet will receive one of the first two World Citizen Prizes in Environmental Performance during APPAM’s 2019 Fall Research Conference next month in Denver.

Twelve scholars from across the United States participated in a week-long intensive workshop in June hosted by UW–Madison’s Center for Financial Security Retirement and Disability Research Center with support from Howard University’s Center on Race and Wealth.

The Center for Financial Security Retirement and Disability Research Center (CFS RDRC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison received a second year of funding from the US Social Security Administration (SSA). One of just four RDRCs in the country supported by SSA, UW–Madison’s is the only one focusing on the financial well-being of economically vulnerable families, older people, people with disabilities, low-wealth households, and children.

The Fall 2019 issue of On Wisconsin magazine featured a study by La Follette School Associate Professor Yang Wang (MIPA ’03) and a colleague at Lehigh University. The study found that pregnant women who travel long distances to work face increased risks of adverse birth outcomes.

The La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW–Madison is recruiting candidates for six tenure-track faculty positions. Two of the positions – Economic Development and Public Management – are funded by the Kohl Initiative, and two others are part of UW–Madison’s Cluster Hiring Initiatives.

For most complex traits or behaviors like educational attainment, smoking, or body mass index, our genes are not are destiny; they are working through the environment around us, and in many cases, healthy environments are compensatory. As a result, salutary health and social policy can lift all boats, regardless of the DNA we were dealt.

The Wisconsin Federal Statistical Research Data Center (WiscRDC) is hosting the annual RDC conference September 5 and 6 at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street. La Follette School Professor Jason Fletcher is executive director of WiscRDC.

Wisconsin Women in Government (WWIG) welcomed 26 women into its ranks after a leadership seminar in May led by La Follette School Director and Professor Susan Webb Yackee and Dennis Dresang, emeritus professor of public affairs and political science.