50th Anniversary Celebration
Breaking New Ground in the Population Sciences
November 4-5, 2010
Etter-Harbin Alumni Center
Welcome to the 50th Anniversary of the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin! Today, we celebrate an outstanding legacy of scientific research and training accomplishments. Although important in their own right, the PRC’s legacy of accomplishments also provides the bedrock to look toward the future. Yes, we are 50 years old – an amazing accomplishment in a field as young as ours. But, we also have 50 years of experience in understanding the importance of opening up new avenues of research, being nimble in our theoretical frameworks and methodologies, and being innovative in the training and mentoring of our graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and new faculty.
Today, we explore what that future might look like. Four major population issues are highlighted in scientific forums throughout the day. The forums are led by some of the PRC’s “best and brightest” young alumni, researchers who have become national leaders and innovators in the population sciences. I hope you enjoy what promises to be an exciting day of scientific debate.
Tonight, we celebrate another core feature of UT’s Population Research Center – its spirit. What would an anniversary celebration be without a Texas-style party? Kick up your heels, enjoy old and new friends, and realize that the PRC spirit is the glue that has brought so many of us together today.
Mark D. Hayward, Director Population Research Center
50th Anniversary Celebration
Breaking New Ground in the Population Sciences
Population Research Center The University of Texas at Austin
November 4-5, 2010
Etter-Harbin Alumni Center
Population Research Center 50th Anniversary
Friday, November 5, 2010
Forums on Future Innovative Research in the Population Sciences Connolly Ballroom
9:00-9:30 a.m. Introductions Mark Hayward, Director, Population Research Center Randy Diehl, Dean, College of Liberal Arts Steven Leslie, Executive Vice-President and Provost
9:30-10:45 a.m. Session 1 “Integrating Biological Perspectives with Demography” Jason Boardman, University of Colorado at Boulder Brian Finch, San Diego State University
10:45-11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Session 2 “Global Population Problems” Jenny Trinitapoli, Pennsylvania State University Paula Miranda-Ribeiro, Federal University of Minas Gerais
12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch – Nowotony and Schmidt Room
1:30-2:45 p.m. Session 3 “Immigration, Assimilation and Public Policy” Jennifer Glick, Arizona State University Jenny Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University
2:45-3:00 p.m. Break
3:00-4:15 p.m. Session 4 “Family Structure, Family Relationships, and Health over the Life Course” Michelle Frisco, Pennsylvania State University Kristi Williams, Ohio State University
Dinner and Party
7:00-10:00 p.m. Welcome and Dinner
Entertainment provided by Jeff Hughes & Chaparral
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Guest Speakers
Jason Boardman, University of Colorado at Boulder Jason Boardman received his Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 2002. He is currently Associate Professor of Sociology and Research Associate in the Population Program of the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research focuses on the social determinants of health with an emphasis on the gene-environment interactions related to health behaviors. He is currently the PI of an NICHD funded study to genotype the full sibling and fraternal twin pairs of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (NIH/NICHD 1R01HD060726) and he is Co- PI on several large genetic association studies that are linking biological information from respondents with existing longitudinal data collection efforts. He teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in statistics, social demography, and the sociology of race and ethnicity. He lives in Boulder with his wife Alison and their two children, Anya and Izak. For more information please visit his website at: http://www.colorado.edu/ibs/pop/boardman/
Brian Karl Finch, San Diego State University Brian Karl Finch received his Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 2000. He is Professor of Sociology & Public Health at San Diego State University, a Health Disparities Scholar with the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), and Director of the Center for Health Equity Research and Policy (CHERP). Prior to joining the faculty at SDSU, Professor Finch was a Sociologist and Professor of Public Policy at RAND and the RAND Graduate School. Before joining RAND, Professor Finch was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Scholar in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. His work crosses the disciplinary boundaries of social demography, social epidemiology, and medical sociology to investigate the causes and correlates of population health disparities—specifically socioeconomic and race/ethnic disparities in health outcomes and behaviors among adults and biological/social interactions across the early life-course. A central thrust of much of his research relates to immigrant health in general and the epidemiological paradox in particular. His research also addresses the effect of neighborhood context on health and health behaviors using multiple statistical methodologies.
Michelle Frisco, Pennsylvania State University Michelle Frisco received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 2001. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar before moving to her current position as Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State University. Her research draws from and bridges family sociology and demography, sociology of education, and population health research to examine factors that (dis)advantage adolescents and young adults with respect to key aspects of well- being such as academic attainment, mental health, and health risk behaviors. Her most recent research examines obesity as a physical and social status that stratifies young people into different positions for mental health and family formation during adolescence and early adulthood. She is also the co- investigator on a new project examining how families, neighborhoods, and schools contribute to Mexican immigrant children’s likelihood of becoming obese.
Jennifer Glick, Arizona State University Jennifer Glick received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 1997. She is an associate professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Center for Population Dynamics in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on immigration, adaptation and family dynamics. Dr. Glick’s recent research examines the role of family migration experiences and generation status on life course trajectories from childhood into young adulthood. Dr. Glick also continues to collaborate with Dr. Jennifer Van Hook, fellow PRC alum, to understand the family and household dynamics among immigrants from diverse origins. And, Dr. Glick is leading an NSF funded study based in Phoenix, Arizona on the importance of the shifting policy and
4 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary perceptions of immigration for the access to resources at the local level. Recent publications include the book, Achieving Anew: How New Immigrants Do in School, Work and Neighborhoods, co-authored with Dr. Michael White, Brown University.
Paula Miranda-Ribeiro, Federal University of Minas Gerais Paula Miranda-Ribeiro received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 1997. Paula Miranda-Ribeiro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Demography at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. Dr. Miranda-Ribeiro is currently on the board of directors of the Latin American Population Association and was recently elected Associate Director of the UFMG Faculty of Economic Sciences; previously she was General Secretary of the Brazilian Population Association (2007-08) and chair of the Department of Demography at UFMG (2003-07). Her research interests are in reproductive health, race, youth, religion and qualitative methods.
Jenny Trinitapoli, Pennsylvania State University Jenny Trinitapoli received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 2007. She is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Religious Studies at Penn State University, where she is also an affiliate of the Population Research Institute. Her research centers on examining the role of religion in shaping demographic processes and outcomes. One current project focuses on the relationship between religion and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Another examines on how patterns of marriage and family formation in Malawi have changed in response to the AIDS epidemic. In addition to pursuing substantive interests in the areas of religion, health, and HIV/AIDS, her work involves integrating survey and ethnographic methods in both data collection and data analysis strategies.
Jennifer Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University Jennifer Van Hook received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 1996. She is Professor of Sociology and Demography and faculty affiliate of the Population Research Institute at the Pennsylvania State University. She conducts demographic research on the settlement and incorporation of U.S. immigrants. One strand of her work focuses on unauthorized immigration. She and her colleagues are developing new data and methodologies to estimate the size, characteristics, and incorporation patterns of the unauthorized foreign-born population residing in the United States. Another strand of her work focuses on the social, economic and health assimilation of immigrants and their descendents. This research examines the challenges facing many new immigrants and their children, including low wages, poverty, food insecurity, segregated schools, and food environments that promote obesity. Dr. Van Hook has held positions at the Urban Institute and Bowling Green State University before joining the faculty at Penn State.
Kristi Williams, The Ohio State University Kristi Williams received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas in 2000. She is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Ohio State University. She joined the faculty at Ohio State in 2002 following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. Her research program is characterized by intersecting interests in family sociology/demography, psychosocial stress, population health, and the life course. More specifically, she studies the influence of family and other personal relationships on health and well-being with particular attention to the way in which these patterns are shaped by social structural factors, including gender, race/ethnicity, and life course position. Dr. Williams’ research challenges long held assumptions about the links between marriage and health by demonstrating that the often cited benefits of marriage and the costs of marital dissolution are highly dependent on a range of individual and contextual factors, including marital quality. Her recent work includes an NICHD funded project examining the consequences of single mothers’ subsequent union histories for their own health in mid-life and for the health and well-being of their offspring when they reach young adulthood.
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Posters
Sarah Blanchard, The University of Texas at Austin
Stratified Access to Science and Math Enrollment: The Effect of Geographic Proximity to Higher Education
To support the demands of a changing economy, researchers and policymakers must understand how individuals prepare for employment in the growing health-care sector, applied technology fields, and future scientific roles. However, postsecondary training for these fields is increasingly stratified by race, ethnicity, rurality, and socioeconomic status (SES) in ways that have consequences for individuals, communities, and society. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study, this work builds on previous work on the geography of opportunity that finds that disadvantaged students' postsecondary enrollment is especially constrained by the concentration of colleges in proximity to the home. Findings of logistic regression analysis indicate that geographic proximity affects odds of enrollment into postsecondary math and science and that this effect is moderated by student characteristics, notably race and ethnicity. This study contributes to disentangling the complex of constraining factors which limit access to crucial areas of the workforce.
Dustin Brown and Jennifer Montez, The University of Texas at Austin
The Significance of Education for Mortality Compression in the United States Authors: Dustin C. Brown, Mark D. Hayward, Jennifer Karas Montez, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Robert A. Hummer, Mira M. Hidajat
Studies of old-age mortality often assume that compression is linked to socioeconomic resources in a population over time or between nations. However, empirical evidence about the association between socioeconomic resources and mortality compression is sparse. Here, we shed light on this association by investigating education differentials in mortality compression among older men and women in the United States. We hypothesize that mortality compression increases with higher levels of education and that women with the highest levels of education will exhibit the greatest degree of mortality compression. Drawing on the Health and Retirement Study and the National Health Interview Survey Longitudinal Mortality File, our results show higher modal ages of death and a greater degree of mortality compression among groups with higher levels of education. We also find that mortality is more compressed among women than men within educational groups. Socioeconomic resources in the United States appear to optimize life chances by extending life and compressing mortality.
Why is the Educational Gradient of Mortality Steeper for Men? Authors: Jennifer Karas Montez, Mark D. Hayward, Dustin C. Brown, Robert A. Hummer
It is often documented that the educational gradient of mortality is steeper for men than for women, yet the explanation remains a matter of debate. We examine gender differences in the gradients within the context of marriage to determine whether overall differences reflect gender differences in health behaviors or a greater influence of men’s education on spousal health. We used data from the 1986 through 1996 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files for non-Hispanic white adults 55 to 84 years at time of survey, and estimated Cox proportional hazards models to examine the gradients (N = 180,208). Our results revealed that the educational gradient of mortality is marginally steeper for men than women when aggregating across marital statuses, yet this reflects a steeper gradient among unmarried men, with low educated never married men exhibiting high levels of mortality. The gradient among unmarried men was steeper than unmarried women for causes that share smoking as a major
6 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary risk factor, supporting a behavioral explanation for differences in the gradient. No gender difference in the gradient was observed for married adults. Thus, low education and unmarried status exert a synergistic effect on men’s mortality in part because they may lack social supports that encourage positive health behaviors.
Kate Chambers, The University of Texas at Austin
Pre-Retirement Age Women and the New Health Care Law: How Will Minority Women Fare?
This study explores the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care (PPAC) Act for pre-retirement age women. Using data from the 2008 American Community Survey, the study estimates the number of pre-retirement age women who may benefit from the expansion of the Medicaid program and the establishment of premium credits and cost-sharing subsidies through the Health Insurance Exchanges, set to be enacted by 2014. The findings show that pre-retirement age women are likely to experience much greater access to health insurance after the enactment of the health care law. In particular, minority women, who had lower insurance coverage rates than their Non- Hispanic White counterparts and are more likely to be poor, will benefit from the expansion of the Medicaid program. Finally, while access to insurance will increase, many aging women will still not be able to afford health insurance, with Hispanic women still overrepresented in the pool of uninsured women.
Juanita Chinn and Andrea Henderson, The University of Texas at Austin
The Effects of Non-Resident Father’s Involvement on Single Mother’s Mental Health
There has been a substantial increase in nonmarital fertility in the U.S. over the last 50 years. With 90% of women serving as the resident parent in single family households, a growing body of work has begun to explore the effects of nonmarital birth on mother’s health. These results suggest that single mothers are at greater risk for psychological distress. However, few empirical studies have examined the role of father’s involvement on mother’s mental health. We will contribute to the gap in this literature by examining several distinct aspects of father’s involvement and its effects on single mother’s mental health using data from the Welfare, Children and Families: A Three City Study. Additionally, we will analyze these data to explore the effects of father’s involvement using both the mother’s reports of father involvement and father’s self reports. We will conclude with implications for family policy and directions for future research.
Molly Dondero, The University of Texas at Austin
Schools and Academic Achievement in New Latino Destinations
The size, growth, and increasing geographic diversification of the school-age Latino population in the U.S. carry implications for the public education system and for the educational outcomes of Latino students. This study describes the educational landscape in new Latino destinations in the United States and compares students’ achievement in new and established Latino destinations. We conduct a two- part analysis in which we first use data from the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey to assess how the characteristics of public high schools and educators in new Latino destinations compare to those of public high schools and educators in established Latino destinations. We then follow with a complementary analysis that uses data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey 2002 to examine variation in students’ academic achievement outcomes by Latino destination type.
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Jane Ebot, The University of Texas at Austin
There's no place like home: Urban-rural differentials in nutritional status among children in Ethiopia
Children under 5 years of age in Ethiopia experience one of the highest rates of malnourishment in the world. Though there is a growing body of literature outlining determinants of children’s nutritional status, little attention has been given to the nutritional status of the rapidly increasing urban population of children. In this study, I contribute to this gap by asking, “What is the relationship between household residential location, feeding practices of children under 5 years of age and nutritional status?” Using data from the 2000 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, I find that rural children continue to have worse nutritional status outcomes than urban children. I also find that liquid foods, mother’s occupation and household characteristics all are significant externalities associated with household residential location, that impact urban-rural differences in nutritional intake among young Ethiopian children.
Baochang Gu, Center for Population and Development Studies, Renmin University of China
A Journey of Eight Years: A Study of China's Fertility Policy
At the turn of the century, a number of Chinese scholars and former government officials in charge of birth control came to the recognition that it was time to put phasing out China’s then two-decade long one-child policy on the research agenda. The research group began its work by arguing the necessity and feasibility of revising the current fertility policy in China. Between 2001 and 2004 they formulated a proposal on policy change and submitted it to the Chinese government in early 2004. That proposal faced many challenges, mainly questions about the relationships between fertility policy and fertility level, between fertility policy and sex ratio at birth, and between fertility policy and the family planning program. To respond to these challenges, the research group carried out field investigations in some areas with a two-child policy since the mid-1980s, as well as the field surveys in selected locales in Jiangsu and Hubei provinces. With these studies, the group drafted and submitted another policy change proposal to the government in early 2009 to argue for the urgency and possibility of policy change. This paper introduces the work by the research group in the eight years. The research group’s call for policy change has encountered much resistance not only from the governmental agencies but also the society at large. Such a resistance reveals that the debate on the policy reflects a lack of understanding of the newly arrived low fertility in China, and requires work to engage the public in recognizing the new demographics of China, and of the world.
Tod Hamiliton, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University
Labor Market Differences between Black Immigrants and Black Natives in the United States: The Impact of Selective Internal and International Migration
This paper uses data on black men from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2001 to 2007 American Community Survey to estimate wage, employment, and self-employment models to determine if black immigrants have outcomes that resemble those of native blacks (collectively) or native black internal migrants. Results show that both groups of native blacks earn more than most black immigrants and have higher payoffs to education than black immigrants (particularly at high education levels). In contrast, results suggest that black immigrants have a substantial self-employment advantage and a slight employment advantage over black natives (collectively). However, when black immigrants are compared to native black internal migrants, their employment advantage diminishes and the magnitude
8 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary of their earnings deficit increases. Results show that black immigrants have a persistent self- employment advantage over native blacks (collectively) and native black movers.
Erin Hofmann, The University of Texas at Austin
Does Nativity Matter? Correlates of Immigrant Health by Generation in the Russian Federation Authors: Cynthia J. Buckley, Erin Trouth Hofmann, and Yuka Minagawa
Nativity is an important correlate of health in many migrant-receiving countries, but the migration- health link has not been studied in Russia. Our paper asks whether the foreign-born experience better health than the native-born, and whether any health advantage among first generation migrants extends to the second generation. We find evidence of better health among first generation migrants from outside the former USSR, and among first and second generation migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia. First generation migrants from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova experience worse health than the native-born. When we control for sociodemographic characteristics, the health status of migrants is similar to that of the native population. In the Russian context, the fact that we found no relationship between migration and health in multivariate analyses is notable, because it challenges prevalent beliefs that migrants, particularly those from the Caucasus and Central Asia, are less healthy than the native population.
Kristine Hopkins, The University of Texas at Austin
Obtaining Oral Contraceptive Pills in U.S. Clinics or Mexican Pharmacies: A Qualitative Study of Mexican Origin Women in El Paso, Texas
Using in-depth interviews with a sample of Mexican origin women living in El Paso, Texas, I explore their narratives to uncover the relationship between what and who a woman knows with how and where she chooses to get oral contraceptives. Approximately half the sample obtained their pills from subsidized family planning clinics in El Paso while the other half obtained them over-the-counter (OTC) from pharmacies in Mexico. Thirty-five Mexican origin women living in El Paso, Texas were interviewed in- depth. Each woman was interviewed twice, about 1 year apart; 28 of the 35 subjects (80%) completed the second interview. Many women who got their pills OTC in Mexico were not aware of the low-cost or free services available to them in El Paso. Also, El Paso clinic users typically were not aware of services available at other clinics in El Paso. Women whose family planning needs were being met with low-cost services, whether in El Paso clinics or OTC from Mexican pharmacies, were satisfied with their source of pills. Only those current or former clinic users who strongly felt cost or time pressures were willing to consider getting pills OTC in Mexico.
Jinwoo Lee and Yujin Kim, The University of Texas at Austin
Bridal Pregnancy and Women’s Educational Attainment in South Korea
We examine the link between marriage and fertility in South Korea by looking at the change of bridal pregnancy (marriage preceded by pregnancy) over the past three decades. We first demonstrate the trend of bridal pregnancy and then investigate the effects of education on bridal pregnancy by analyzing the sample of 25,886 Korean ever married women from the recent four waves of National Survey of Fertility and Family Health (NSFFH). We compare the case in South Korea with similar cases in the United States and Japan, and found that bridal pregnancy in South Korea displays somewhat unique paths: (a) it was not heavily concentrated among lower education like Japan but rather occurred all across education levels; (b) the rate of bridal pregnancy dropped significantly in the early 2000s. We attempt to identify some possible causes that might explain the observed discrepancies by focusing on the cultural and socio-economic context in South Korea. 9 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary
Nicolette Manglos, The University of Texas at Austin
Religion and Marriage Patterns in West Africa
Marriage in West Africa remains almost universal, and yet it is a complex and often risky process for women. Marriage today has also been heavily influenced by Christianity and Islam, which have historically proposed a more stable, contractual, and monogamous marriage model. Charismatic- Pentecostal churches, in particular, have attempted to control marriage even more extensively for participants. In this paper, I investigate marital outcomes associated with risk for women, and religious affiliation as a potential correlate, using 2008 DHS data from Ghana and Nigeria. Despite suggestions in the literature, Charismatic affiliation is not associated with greater stability or less risk in marriage. The more significant differences are rather between Ghanaian and Nigerian women and between Muslim and Christian women in both countries. I discuss several trajectories of risk for women associated with combined religious and background factors, arguing that no one group of women is universally exposed to greater marital risks.
Yuka Mingawa, The University of Texas at Austin
Gender Differences in Drinking Behavior: An Analysis of a Major Cause of the Mortality Crisis in Contemporary Russia
Objective: Heavy alcohol use is the major cause of premature male mortality in contemporary Russia. This study examines gender differences in drinking behavior among Russians, focusing on how drinking patterns differ in terms of beverage type choice and volume. Methods: Results are based on multinomial logistic regression and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLSM) data. Results: Men and women in Russia have significantly different preferences for alcoholic beverages. Men have strong preferences for hard liquor, namely vodka, and they drink it in much larger amounts in comparison with women. Women are more likely to either refrain from drinking or drink mild types of alcoholic beverages, such as wine and beer. Conclusion: It is not alcohol use per se that is most important for understanding health and mortality among Russians, but differences in beverage types that are respectively consumed by men and women.
Sarah McKinnon, Centers for Disease Control
Municipal-Level Estimates of Child Mortality for Brazil: A New Approach Using Bayesian Statistics Authors: Sarah McKinnon, Joseph E. Potter, Carl P. Schmertmann, Renato M. Assunção
Previous efforts to estimate child mortality levels in smaller geographical areas have been hampered by the relative rarity of child deaths which has often resulted in unstable and noisy estimates. However, with a spatial smoothing process based upon Bayesian Statistics it is possible to “borrow” information from neighboring areas in order to generate more stable estimates of mortality in smaller areas. The objective of this study was to use a spatial smoothing process to derive estimates of child mortality at the level of the municipality. Using data from the 2000 Brazil Census we derive both Bayesian and non- Bayesian estimates of mortality for each municipality. In comparing the smoothed and raw estimates of this parameter, we find that the Bayesian estimates yield a clearer spatial pattern of child mortality with smaller variances in less populated municipalities, thus, more accurately reflecting the true mortality situation of those municipalities.
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Jennifer Pearson, Wichita State University and Lindsey Wilkinson, Portland State University
Same-Sex Attraction, Well Being, and Identity during Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood: The Importance of Family and School Context
Though the negative consequences of the stigma attached to nonheterosexual feelings and relationships have been well documented, the extent to which sexual minority youth and adults experience these negative consequences depends in large part upon their immediate social contexts and systems of social support. Our recent research explores the importance of social settings, such as families and schools, in shaping the well being, school success, and identity of same-sex attracted youth. We present research from three recent studies that use longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to explore the role of family and school context. First, we demonstrate how heteronormativity in schools shapes the well being of same-sex attracted adolescents. Second, we examine how these heteronormative school contexts shape sexual attraction and identity during the transition to adulthood. Finally, we focus on the role of the family, examining whether strained family relationships explain in part same-sex attracted youth’s decreased well being and whether family relationships are equally protective for same-sex attracted and other-sex attracted youth.
Joseph E. Potter, The University of Texas at Austin Authors: Joseph E. Potter, Kari White, Kristine Hopkins, Sarah McKinnon, Daniel Grossman, Michele Shedlin, Jon Amastae
Frustrated demand for sterilization among low-income Latinas in El Paso, Texas
Surgical sterilization is the most commonly used method of contraception in the US, yet there have been indications that access to this method is limited for some segments of the population. We interviewed low-income oral contraceptive users in El Paso, Texas to assess frustrated demand for sterilization among OC users with at least one child. As participants in the Border Contraceptive Access Study, they completed four interviews over nine months. A large proportion wanted no more children (64%), the majority of whom (72%) wanted to be sterilized. Eighteen months following the fourth interview, we re-contacted 158 women who had said they wanted a sterilization and found that only six had been able to get a sterilization, and two women’s partners had obtained a vasectomy. Our findings underscore the limited access to a full range of methods for low-income women with public or no insurance in this Texas community, and point to the need to assess access to female sterilization in other settings.
Dara Shifrer, The University of Texas at Austin
Social Influences on the Attitudes and Behaviors of High School Students Identified with LD
The more negative attitudes and behaviors of students identified with learning disabilities (LD) are thought to be implicated in their poorer academic performance during high school. While commonsense knowledge suggests that the attitudes and behaviors of identified students can be accounted for by their more troubled academic pasts, it is also possible that social interactions with their parents, peers, friends, and teachers play a role in how they perceive themselves and their possible futures. Researchers have more often focused on the academic issues of youth with LD, but important policy implications lie in the identification of social contributors to their disadvantage. I use a nationally representative dataset of both regular and special education students, The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, to explore the contributions of three spheres of social influence to the attitudes and behaviors of students with LD. Net of academic history and initial high school course placement, the more negative
11 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary attitudes and behaviors of identified students are best explained by differences in the expectations and qualities of their teachers. Differences in their peers and friends contribute more to identified students' attitudes and behaviors than do differences in their parents.
Audrey Singer, The Brookings Institution
State of Metropolitan America on the Front Lines of Demographic Transformation
Over the last decade, America has passed a number of major demographic milestones. This on-going project demonstrates how these new realities are redefining who we are, where and with whom we live, and how we provide for our own welfare, as well as that of our families and communities. These new realities, most pronounced in the leading edge of the nation’s metropolitan areas, are fundamental: the continued growth and outward expansion of our population, its ongoing racial and ethnic diversification; the rapid aging on the horizon; our increasing but selective higher educational attainment; and the intensified income polarization experienced by our workers and families. This project, with reports, papers, and an interactive website chock full of data, tables and maps, explores these new realities and the policy responses necessary to meet the challenges imposed by them.
Ying-Ting Wang, The University of Texas at Austin
Education and Health among Asian Americans in the United States
The author used data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (2002-2003) to examine whether a higher level of education is associated with more favorable health among Asian Americans, and also to investigate whether the effect of education on health among Asian American subgroups is different by national origin group. In ordered logistic regression models for all Asian Americans, education is modestly positively associated with physical health and strongly positively associated with mental health. Further, results of ordered logistic regression models by subgroup show that the effect of education on health and its mediators are different across subgroups. The effect of education on health is stronger for Chinese adults than for Filipino adults and Vietnamese adults. The complex pattern of the association between education and health for each subgroup indicates the importance of considering the diverse characteristics of various subgroups in the study of Asian American health.
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Directors of the Population Research Center
1960-1971 Jack P. Gibbs 1971-1977 Harley Browning 1977-1982 Omer Galle 1982-1986 Dudley Poston 1986-1988 Frank Bean 1988-1989 Toni Falbo 1989-1993 Omer Galle 1993-1995 Parker Frisbie 1995-1998 Frank Bean 1998-2001 Myron Gutmann 2001-2005 Robert Hummer 2005-Present Mark Hayward
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The Doug Forbes Fund
The Doug Forbes Fund supports graduate student travel to professional meetings and advanced training. These are activities for which the Population Research Center receives no university support, yet which are fundamentally important for the professional and scientific development of our students.
The fund is named in honor of our colleague and UT alumnus, Doug Forbes, and its purpose reflects Doug’s long-standing commitment to student mentorship and professional development. Many of you probably know Doug, but for those who don’t, he is a member of the sociology faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. After completing his undergraduate work at Texas State in San Marcos, Doug decided to nurture his Texas roots by driving thirty miles up I-35 and entering graduate school at UT Austin. Doug entered graduate school with a lot of character-building job experience – he was retail clerk, an operator of heavy machinery, and he served in the military. But, it was in research and teaching in demography that he found the happiness and satisfaction that many of us spend our lives looking for. As a faculty member at UWSP, Doug combines scholarly expertise with a commitment to excellence in teaching that is extremely rare. He is a fine scholar and mentor and the kind of person that comes along on only rare occasions.
We hope you will help us support this fund in recognition of Doug’s dedication and contributions as a distinguished alumnus who has always shown an immense concern for teaching and the welfare of students. Through your gifts to the Doug Forbes Fund, we can help future students pursue research and service in those areas that mean so much to all of us.
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W. Parker Frisbie Fund for Excellence
Professor W. Parker Frisbie retired in 2008 after 36 years in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Because his extraordinary scholarship and mentoring have contributed so much to our community, we are honoring Parker’s career with a $25,000 endowment called the W. Parker Frisbie Fund for Excellence. Housed within the PRC, the fund will be dedicated to supporting outstanding PRC faculty and graduate student research. Although the initial financial goal is modest, our long-range plan is to raise enough funds to transform the excellence fund into a PRC endowed professorship.
Rarely has one person symbolized the heart and soul of an organization as W. Parker Frisbie has for the PRC. He is our community’s icon. Throughout Parker’s distinguished research career, he has mentored dozens of students (many of whom are distinguished demographers themselves), he has secured millions of dollars in NIH funding, and he has been almost continuously funded since 1976. His scientific contributions in the areas of urban ecology, family demography, and health and mortality are profound. Perhaps more important than these accomplishments, however, are the traits of Parker as a man. His integrity, honesty, dedication to mentorship, loyalty to his colleagues and students, and his tremendous work ethic—these are the traits of a great man. Throw in Parker’s scientific accomplishments, and it is little wonder that he is the icon for the PRC. Of course, Parker also contributes more than a dash of color to our community. His cowboy boots and cowboy hat signal a very important aspect of Parker’s identity—he is a Son of Texas.
Parker’s professional and personal accomplishments clearly reflect his heritage. He was born to Texas ranchers in 1940, married Elaine in 1959 right out of high school, and worked on the family ranch until the late 1960’s, when he decided to go back to school and obtain his B.A. in sociology from Southwest Texas State University. Always strategic and with an eye on how best to raise the odds of getting back to Texas to pursue an academic career, he migrated from Texas to the University of North Carolina for his M.A. and Ph.D., both of which he completed in three and a half years! Although universities like Michigan and Berkeley tried to recruit Parker, he returned to Texas in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, achieving the rank of Professor in 1985. Parker served as PRC Director from 1993-1995 and was Chair of Sociology 1985-1986. He remains fiercely loyal to both the State of Texas and to UT-Austin, as well as to his students and colleagues. The UT Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center would not be nearly as strong as they are without his research record, his leadership, his loyalty, and his Texan work ethic. To boot, he continues to run his family ranch on weekends—running cattle, fixing fences, riding horseback, and educating his granddaughters in the ways of Texas ranching. He is truly both a first-rate scholar and a cowboy and perhaps the most unique yet down-to-earth and honest person in our field and the University.
15 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary
SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE EARLY YEARS OF THE LATIN AMERICAN ENTERPRISE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Harley L. Browning April 2007
I salute Joe Potter and Bryan Roberts for organizing this meeting (it was Joe who had the original idea) for a number of reasons, some of them highly personal. But other than offering me the welcome and cherished chance to be with many old friends on the same occasion, I believe we can justify the get together on more scholarly grounds. Why? It is a chance to reflect on organizations and programs, their trajectories and prospects, and what makes them work or not work. I’ve always believed that some occasional self examination is useful and I wonder why it is not done more often. Social psychologists have done literally thousands of studies of small groups of all kinds and in all contexts but I am not aware that they have ever turned their attention to that hallowed academic institution, the seminar. Why not? It IS, par excellence, a small group, is it not? So my hope is that we can turn an analytical searchlight on the Population Research Center and its Latin American emphasis—its history, its current situation and its future. I hesitate to use the term program because it never achieved or presumed to achieve such a deliberately formulated existence. My assignment is to cover the early years.
I begin with the Population Research Center (I have always resisted its familiar designation as the “Pop Center”; we definitely didn’t produce Pop Art) since what was done in the Latin American area could never have been achieved without the auspices of the Center. That institution, and I am warranted in using this term for in only 3 years it will be able to celebrate the 50th year of its existence, was established in 1960 with the parenthood of Jack Gibbs (the man who brought me to UT Austin) and Leonard Broom who was the recently appointed head of the Department of Sociology with the explicit mandate to energize a rather complacent and backwater organization. In forming the PRC neither man had it in mind as one emphasizing Latin American research. The beginning of the Center was modest indeed, with the University providing an old frame house on the edge of the campus with no air conditioning, only fans. One prominent feature of it was the array of Marchant and Monroe calculators (I wonder how many in this room even recognize the terms?) which signified the level of computing technology at the time. Fortunately the University as a whole was establishing a good computer center which was of much help over the years. One of our first responsibilities as a state-funded organization was to produce yearly population estimates for each of the 254 counties—count them—of Texas. It was burdensome and not of our liking. I remember receiving an indignant call from an official of Loving county—way out West—who insisted we had underestimated the population of the county. He said “We have more than the 220 or so inhabitants and if you have the time I can name them!” As soon as we could we got out of that business.
I found myself made Director of the Center far earlier than could have been expected. Gibbs as Director had wanted to accept a visiting summer appointment at UCLA but Broom vetoed the idea, saying that Jack needed to stay and run the Center. Jack was unhappy and retaliated by making me the Director as soon as he could. In his customary pithy fashion he used only three short words of advice: “Run with it!” Sound advice no doubt but the question was WHERE to run. I knew the University would provide only modest start-up funding so we needed imperatively to seek outside funding. But where? At this point enter two other men who arrived at UT-Austin the same year I did, Jack Harrison and Rick Adams. The former was recruited out of the Rockefeller Foundation to run the Institute of Latin American Studies, another UT organization that had fallen on slack times. Jack had spent years roaming around Latin America seeking out talent - for example, he had funded the writing of the Mexican classic Pedro Paramo—and he knew all sorts of people. Adams was a well-known anthropologist who had done much
16 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary field work in Central America. The three of us soon formed close friendships, and we were equally committed to get research started on Latin America.
Enter the Ford Foundation, at that time by far the largest foundation operating in the USA. It had embarked on an ambitious international program of which Latin America was integral to its realization. Given this circumstance it wasn’t long before, upon invitation, a Ford representative showed up on campus to determine if some features of the University merited funding. Being at the right place at the right time, the Population Research Center, along with Adams, was the recipient of a major grant (at least at that time). Curiously, we didn’t even have to specify, certainly not in detail, the research we would engage in. Ah yes, back in those golden days, funding requirements were handled more casually!
So, we now had funding, somewhat modest but enough to do decent research, so the question then became one of deciding what kind of research. By now the reader will have realized that what we know as the program of Latin American Research at UT-Austin, one carefully plotted out carefully in advance, was no program at all. Certainly I hadn’t attempted to plot out over a 5 or 10 year period of time where we wanted to be. Once again I was favored by fortunate circumstances. Nearly 400 miles to the south, two young Argentine sociologists had arrived at the Universidad de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey for two- year appointments, one condition being that they were to engage in research. They soon found out that there were practically no other sociologists to talk to in Monterrey at the time. A mutual friend who was a graduate student in history at UT brought them to Austin where I was introduced to Jorge Balan and Elizabeth Jelin. They were very bright and moreover experienced in survey research, having worked under the well-known Argentine sociologist, Gino Germani. We soon became friendly and discovered a mutual compatibility as professionals. Somewhat surprisingly, the Monterrey arrangement also was funded by the Ford Foundation. Realizing that both parties were enjoined to do research it occurred to us to jointly conduct research in Monterrey, a fast-growing industrial center in Mexico that offered a fine locale to study developmental issues.
Both parties were under time pressure to get started on a research project so the question became what kind of research. It didn’t take long to agree on a study of mobility. Jorge and Shevy were mainly interested in social mobility mainly in the form of occupational mobility. Browning, whose UC Berkeley dissertation under Kingsley Davis, “Urbanization in Mexico” was not only interested in the urbanization process, of which Monterrey was a stellar example, but also in another form of mobility, internal migration. Why not set up a project that would examine both forms of mobility, using the vehicle of the sample survey, of which Jorge and Shevy had considerable experience. You all know the outcome. The Monterrey Mobility Study, produced about 30 publications in its lifetime, culminating in the book, Men in a Developing Society: Geographic and Social Mobility in Monterrey, Mexico. Never a best seller it did achieve a certain suces d’estime in the field, in part because we were able to acquire partial life histories of the 1,640 men we interviewed. Jorge and Shevy came to Austin to continue work on the project and in the process to become the first doctorates in Latin American studies. Parenthetically, some years later another couple, Humberto Munoz and Orlandina de Oliveira decided to do a similar study of mobility in Mexico City. They too continued the tradition of excellent and experienced scholars who obtained their doctorates in Austin.
A word should be said about our contacts in Mexico other than the Universidad de Nuevo Leon. About this time, the very dynamic and creative economist in Mexico, Victor Urquidi, had determined to set up a demographic program in El Colegio de Mexico, one of the premier graduate programs in Mexico. Jack Harrrison had become a good friend of Victor and Jack soon introduced me to Victor, thus beginning a long and continuing relation with El Colegio. Victor also sponsored us in the Monterrey project.
I have placed emphasis on the Monterrey project because it was key to our subsequent development in Latin American studies. It was our first major research project and one that early gave us a good
17 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary reputation in the field. It also provided us with some of our best graduate students. It should be noted that the Population Research Center from its beginnings had not centered its research on what is called formal demography, with an emphasis on mortality and fertility. We were social demographers, whatever that means, and as such were sometimes considered a bit on the margins of the field of demography. Still, migration could not be excluded from the field and our work clearly was germane to the burgeoning field of economic development so we were accepted.
The Center also was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when in the late sixties, a time when the danger of the “population explosion” had turned foundations and other agencies to this matter. As noted, the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundation became much involved and the Population Council became a force in providing fellowships and some funding of research. In the late 1960s NICHD, the governmental agency, established a program that would provide basic organizational support, nothing for research as such, for some six population research centers throughout the country. This kind of support was just what we needed so naturally we applied. As I recall, a ca. 30 page application was all that was needed that first time around, whereas today it takes a wheelbarrow to contain all the many forms and auxiliary documents needed for proper application. It was my impression that the sympathetic and helpful attention we got from the NICHD staff in Washington in part was due to the fact that they wanted Texas in because of our geographical representation. Over the years we continued to be renewed although it never was an easy process since the requirements progressively became more demanding and the competition continually increased.
A word about our students and their recruitment. We never set out to attain a planned representation of students from the countries of Latin America. Understandably, given its proximity and our research projects, Mexico was well represented, followed by Argentina for the same reason. With the arrival of Joe Potter our representation from Brazil, both in students and research projects, materially increased. Basically, we tried to find the best qualified students wherever they might be, and we relied heavily on personal recommendations from colleagues we knew in Latin America. In one way or another, we were able to find support for them. In this respect a major continuing grant from the Hewlett Foundation was of great value. Sometimes, the students received assistance from their home institutions.
I haven’t mentioned the faculty and their recruitment. In retrospect it seems odd that with so much attention given to Latin America in the Center so little attention was given to the recruitment of Latin Americanist faculty. No wonder Browning was the chair of so many dissertations dealing with Latin America; the poor students had little choice. Oh my! Memory CAN be quite unreliable. Shortly after writing the above I came across a report I had made for the first nine months of the Ford grant. It turns out we HAD tried to recruit a Latin Americanist, interviewing two and hiring one. I now know why I had this failure of memory; it was related to the failure of the appointment. It became apparent that it wasn’t working out and the person left with no discernible impact on the program. Yes, memory CAN be unreliable and I only can hope that in other respects my recall is more adequate.
Happily, our subsequent appointments to the Population Research Center were in my opinion more than successful. Actually, most of them in the early years did not work directly in Latin American demography. Parker Frisbie and Dudley Poston originally came with interests in human ecology as did Jack Gibbs who left after several years. Parker eventually established a reputation in mortality, especially Hispanic mortality. Dudley discovered a passion for Chinese demography and brought on board more than a half dozen Chinese students who considerably enriched our graduate student mix. Omer Galle and Terry Sullivan were long-term members of the Center who were very supportive of the Latin American interest although they did no research in the area. Frank Bean who came to us more as a social psychologist soon turned his attention to the demography of the Hispanics and he has become a leading figure in that field. Oddly enough, it was not until the arrival of Bryan Roberts from the University of Manchester that the Center took on a full-fledged Latin Americanist, although Bryan never
18 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary pretended to be a demographer. But I shall leave to him an account of his experience in the Center. Similarly, the later arrival of Joe Potter gave us at long last a Latin Americanist who was a fully trained demographer, being a product of the program of Princeton. He too can ruminate on his experience in the Center. And, I should mention Chuck Wood, one of our very own egresados who became a faculty member in the 90's for about five years on a sort of extended leave of absence from The University of Florida. He helped greatly the Brazilian connection among other contributions.
The Population Research Center was fully committed to an interdisciplinary approach and we tried to involve faculty from other departments, although never quite to our hopes. In anthropology Rick Adams was supportive and we were especially grateful to Henry Selby who had worked in Mexico, for being the “outside” member of countless dissertation committees. Bill Glade , a distinguished economist who was the long-time director of the Institute of Latin American Studies , was also supportive of our activities. In history it took time but we brought in Myron Guttman, who though never a Latin American historian was very active in the Center, at one time being director of the PRC.
Over time, as the Population Research Center expanded in faculty, staff, and students we were able to generate a sort of critical mass. The earliest days when that old frame house sheltered two or three faculty, four to six graduate students, and an administrative staff member or two, simply wouldn’t do. Growth was essential. Eventually, more than fifty people had reason to pass through our doors. In this effort the University and its administration generally was supportive in our efforts to grow, successively providing us with larger quarters, although never ideal. Administrators varied in their commitment or even interest in our Center. Some had honeyed words but no follow up to our requests. Others were much better. Of all, Norm Hackerman, a physical scientist from Rice who was for a time Provost, was my favorite. He was direct, no nonsense and quite supportive. A story I can’t resist passing on is the occasion when I needed approval for something we considered important. I had sent him in advance a memo and as I entered his office I was all pumped up to give him a brilliant spiel in support. As I crossed the room to his desk Norm looked up and barked, “You got it!” I was utterly crushed! It was worse than not being able to carry through a sexual climax. There was nothing to do but leave.
To my mind it was especially important that we get a critical mass of graduate students, originating from a variety of countries and with different backgrounds. Students don’t just learn from their professors. To a significant degree they learn from each other and the Center was a locale where they could come together. They not only could learn from each other, they become part of a social group and surely, whatever professional education they received, it was their membership in social groups and the social interaction they engendered that were a treasured part of the “Austin experience.” One feature of the “mix” of graduate students was that of the Latin American students with those from the USA who had Latin American interests. The latter were divided into those of Latin American descent but born in the USA and those who were strictly Anglo in background. Everyone got along very well, adding to the diversity of the group.
Again, without making a “program” out of it, I tried to make sure that there was plenty social interaction between faculty and students and I believe we were successful on that score. Faculty invited students into their homes. It wasn’t Harley they got to know, every student became quite familiar with the very friendly Waldi as well (even if it came out as Baldy at times). In turn, students invited faculty into their homes. Both parties were fully aware of the difference between faculty and student, but we tried to minimize it. (I recall one Latin American student who persisted in calling me Dr. Browning. When I insisted he stop it his immediate reply was , “Of course…. Dr. Browning.”) We organized expeditions and picnics and always parties, with Latin American music prominent. I even got some interested in jazz. Oh yes, it wasn’t all fun and games but there was plenty of that.
19 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary And, I mustn’t forget the third part of the tripod interaction; one that always was for me very important: the staff. Even though grossly underpaid, we had a wonderful succession of secretaries and librarians and other staff who were crucial in giving a positive tone to the Center. After all, faculty and students are in and out of the Center but the staff are ALWAYS there, and with very few exceptions, always efficient, helpful and cheerful. My own memories of the Population Research Center will forever have abundant reference to the staff. Ah yes, Sandy, Carmen, Theresa, the inimitable Doreen. What a marvelous crew! It is regrettable that none of them are here today, but then they always were shortchanged, weren’t they?
This stroll down memory lane doubtless has been too much on nostalgia so let me end by drawing some conclusions from what has been stated. The first is one that has been alluded to throughout. Whatever merit and success the Center and its Latin American emphasis have had at UT-Austin cannot be attributed to advance planning and the implementation of a carefully developed “philosophy.” No indeed! We simply were alert enough to take advantage of opportunities as one by one they presented themselves. Does this mean the whole history we have recounted can be attributed to nothing more than sheer dumb luck? Well, yes and no. It certainly helps to be in the right place at the right time, but one still has to be prepared to take advantages of those opportunities when they arise. Basically, I believe that successful research centers, whatever their mission, must have a certain flexibility and a willingness to change course when necessary. Otherwise, one is trapped in one way which can sooner or later become obsolete. If I may make a brief mention of the current version of the Population Research Center, the present emphasis on health research in various forms makes a lot of sense if for no other reason than the brute reality: this area is where the money is and no research center can ignore this fundamental requirement. (Of course in 15 years or so the enormous costs of health may force a drastic reduction in funds going into this sector and it may be that the PRC may then have to look in other directions. Who knows?)
A second conclusion is a reiteration of the central role of the Population Research Center. Without its presence whatever was accomplished in Latin American demography would not have been possible. It is only in making this review that I fully comprehend the critical importance of a “center.” The faculty and students all had to be members of the Department of Sociology or other Departments, and all degrees were awarded by the University, but I would strongly argue that the key, core experience for those in Latin American Studies was that experienced in the Population Research Center, NOT in a department. Research centers, whatever the purpose for which they were established, exist and indeed survive only when they produce research. This may appear tautological but in a deeper sense it is fundamental. Departments, on the other hand, can survive even if little research is done within them. Fundamentally, their purpose is the training of students and the consequent awarding of degrees certifying to this fact. Conducting research may be giving lip service but really it is incidental.
Research centers bring people together for one purpose and if they are not successful in producing credible research sooner or later they will cease to exist. The good feature of this situation is that people come together for a common purpose, although on occasion there may be disagreements as to what constitutes “good” or “needed” research. Research centers act to “socialize” young graduate students in the “doing” of research in ways that never can be taught in the classroom. The critical matter of the preparation of grants is integral to a research center. The availability of Center staff to assist in this task as well as assisting in the doing of the research is a normal part of the activities of a Center. Inevitably, all of this brings faculty, students and staff into close and cooperative contact. Contrast this with departmental interaction. People may be brought together for lectures or more rarely, special meetings, but this is generally passive and not interactive. One might counter with the example of faculty attending faculty meetings but my own experience has been that faculty meetings in most cases are a waste of time and that the interaction present in such meetings encourage(s) disagreements and pettiness rather than productive interaction.
20 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary Of course, all of this activity in the research centers has a psychic cost. Except for those rare cases where research centers are fully funded by endowments, there is the need to acquire outside funding. This generally involves entering into quite strong competition for limited resources. It is a never ending, rather grinding matter. One no sooner has the satisfaction of winning a grant, even one of several years duration, when, far from being able to relax for a bit, one immediately must begin thinking about the NEXT grant and how it can be obtained. A never-ending process. Departments often have a representation of “dead wood” or unproductive staff; it is much less common in research centers. All of this means an environment with a certain necessary state of tension, but one also with a certain stimulation and charged activity. WELCOME TO THE POPULATION RESEARCH CENTER!
The third and last conclusion I want to call to your attention is a more intangible feature but a very important one: the “ambiente” the “spirit” or whatever you want to call it of the Population Research Center. It definitely was there, wasn’t it or should I say, isn’t it? Can we agree that hardly anyone has left the Center disgruntled or “mad?” I suppose there were a few cases but not many. Your very presence here today is as good as evidence as any that there WAS a Center spirit quite independent of the research that was carried out there, but I am putting it wrong for there was no separation of the two elements.
But how to characterize it? I am tempted to call it our “democratic” way of behaving, but this is not on the mark- is it?-too solemn and a bit pretentious. Perhaps closer is the idea that we were all in it together: students, faculty and staff—that there was a commonality, a shared experience, a true collegiality to it all. More simply, we were all sharing the bad times and the good times. And, ideas and suggestions could come from everywhere. To cite just one of any number, I remember when it was decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Center. It was Eddie Telles and Raphael del Cid who came up with the great idea of creating T-shirts with the slogan, DEMOGRAPHERS REALLY COUNT, which we all proudly wore. And, those wonderful parties, quite often held in those ideal settings, the Roberts house or the Potter “estate” or the Waldheim on Pecos-who can forget them?
What better way to end this than to say, whatever the hard times-and getting through a dissertation or preparing a grant proposal almost always had some down times—if I were to characterize the Population Research Center experience in just one three-letter word, I would choose FUN. It was fun, wasn’t it?
21 Population Research Center 50th Anniversary
In Memory of Leonard Broom
Ashbel Smith Professor of Sociology 1959-1971 and Chair 1959-1966
In 1959, Leonard Broom came to The University of Texas at Austin from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was charged with transforming and bringing national recognition to the Department of Sociology. As chair, he was a driving force (along with Jack Gibbs) in establishing the Population Research Center in 1960. Though not a demographer himself, Leonard Broom was vital in developing the PRC from the ground up, recruiting world-class demographers into the Department of Sociology and establishing one of the leading demographic research centers in the country.
Leonard Broom, 98, died November 19th, 2009, in Santa Barbara where he lived for the past 29 years.
Born on November 8th, 1911, in Boston, Massachusetts, Broom was a distinguished professor of sociology in a career spanning seven decades and was a research associate at UCSB in recent years. In 1941, he was the second sociologist appointed to UCLA's newly established department of sociology and anthropology. During his 19 years at UCLA, he was the chair of department (1952-57) and editor of the American Sociological Review (1955-57). His early research on the effects of US internment of Japanese- Americans during WWII made him an early critic of that policy and shaped his life-long interest in social inequality and discrimination against minorities. In 1955, Broom co-authored (with Philip Selznick, UC Berkeley) one of the first and most successful textbooks in sociology. He was Ashbel Smith Professor of Sociology (1959-71) and chair (1959-66) of the department of sociology at The University of Texas at Austin where he established a strong population research program. He then became a research fellow (1971-76), honorary fellow (1977-79), and professor emeritus at The Australian National University (from 1977) where he became an active and influential voice in the development of sociology in Australia.
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A Special Thanks To:
Office of the Vice President for Resource Development Office of Executive-Vice President and Provost The College of Liberal Arts The University of Texas at Austin