Anthropology professor Holly Dunsworth has teamed with a group of scholars to publish a study targeting a recurring popular evolutionary analogy that compares human races with dog breeds, one that may sound innocent and scientific on the surface but carries deep racist undertones.

Professor of Sociology Melanie Brasher, an expert in population aging who has also conducted research on unintended births and health, discusses the factors behind the declining U.S. birth rate, possible concerns for the future, and the historical significance of the decline.

Professor of Anthropology Kris Bovy and her colleagues’ archaeological research on the environmental and human history at the Ciwicen Village site in Port Angeles, Washington, revealed the long term connections and resilience of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to the site.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Julie Keller brings to light the complicated realities of a population of undocumented Mexican migrants who are vital to the American dairy industry but are forced to work “in the shadows” because of restrictive U.S. immigration policies that leave them subject to isolation, arrest and deportation.

Anthropology Professor Carlos Garcia-Quijano, an environmental anthropologist, discusses his research on perceptions of great white sharks in Cape Cod for a National Resource Defense Council story on the fatal shark attack last September.

Sociology professor Judy Van Wyk leads a J-term course where students, most studying sociology or criminal justice, spend time working with teens in the state’s juvenile justice system.

In 1993, former President Bill Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act, granting unpaid family leave to millions in the U.S. Decades later, the country has yet to implement a paid family leave policy. Can Rhode Island’s paid family leave be a national model?