Perspectives  






Rare reward: IU anthropologist's research influences policy in Latin American country

Aguacate boys Throughout Latin America, structural adjustments are under way as governments work to pay down national debt and expand economies. In many cases, the adjustments are coming at a cost to populations invested with customary, but not formal, land tenure rights. Such has been the case for the Maya community of Southern Belize, where IU anthropologist Richard Wilk has studied and observed indigenous residents for more than three decades.  Full Story

IU professor's book examines immigration and racial politics

Newcomers, Outsiders, and Insiders

The United States is often called a nation of immigrants, a "melting pot" where people from across the globe can pursue their dreams. But waves of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa have strained that image, raising questions about the resilience of American democracy. In Newcomers, Outsiders and Insiders: Immigrants and American Racial Politics in the Early Twenty-first Century, Indiana University professor Yvette Alex-Assensoh and three co-authors examine how changes in immigration have affected the efforts of long-standing U.S. minority groups to gain full democratic inclusion in American society.

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State commission led by IU dean starts work on recommendations to lower child-poverty rate

Child Poverty

Indiana University School of Social Work Dean Michael Patchner told members of the Commission on Childhood Poverty in Indiana they have 13 months to come up with recommendations on how to cut the state's childhood poverty rate in half by 2020. The commission, which Patchner chairs, held its first meeting July 22 at the Indiana Statehouse and began planning how to achieve its goal.

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SPEA's Vietnam Young Leader students are getting accustomed to Bloomington

Participants in the Vietnam Young Leader Awards program at Indiana University have been getting a strong dose of cultural immersion along with the intensive English classes designed to prepare them for the start of the school year. Within two weeks after arriving at Bloomington, they had taken in a demolition derby and a country music show at the Monroe County fair and sampled some Hoosier delicacies: funnel cakes at the fair and pizza from Mother Bear's.

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IU family helps clean oil from Gulf Coast

Gulf Oil Booms

IU students Katherine and Matt McDaniel did not want to stand idly by while the oil from the BP oil spill seeped into the Magnolia River and onto Orange Beach, their family's longtime vacation spot. Their cousin owns a business that makes biodegradable booms to help soak up spilled oil. To help keep the oil out of the water and rid the water of oil, Matt and Kathleen tied booms with rope to create anchors over the course of several days in mid-June.

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Study: Tools that assess bias in standardized tests are flawed

Standardized Test

Overturning more than 40 years of accepted practice, new research from IU's Kelley School of Business proves that the tools used to check tests of "general mental ability" for bias are themselves flawed. This key finding challenges reliance on such exams to make objective decisions for employment or academic admissions.

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Social work students from IU Northwest travel to Guatemala on service-learning mission

Guatemalan Mother's Day

Ten individuals from Indiana University Northwest's Division of Social Work traveled nearly 2,000 miles this spring to bring aid and a glimmer of Hoosier hospitality to a rural and impoverished region of Guatemala. Chris Cotten, an assistant professor of social work, was inspired to organize the trip after meeting the founder and executive director of Hearts in Motion (HIM), a Highland, Ind., organization that sends volunteer groups to Central America.

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Previous issue

Georgia seminar

The July 13, 2010, issue of Perspectives on Policy features a story about IU's support for an environmental policy center in the republic of Georgia. Also featured are stories on a new financial lab at IU Southeast, an IU study of Indianapolis park facilities, a report on Indiana school funding elections, a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, new census data for Indiana cities, and a study that debunks the myth that child abuse increases at the holidays.

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