Scholars Strategy Network's No Jargon – Details, episodes & analysis

For this special guest episode of No Jargon, we’re diving into how the Scholars Strategy Network helps scholars turn research into impactful policy. SSN executive director Pao Maynard-Moll spoke with Robert Perkinson, an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa and co-leader of the Hawaii SSN chapter, for his Better Tomorrow Speaker Series podcast at the university. They explore how SSN connects academics with policymakers and communities, using real examples from Alabama and Maine to show the power of research in driving change. 

For more on this topic:

• Listen to the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series podcast episodes.

• Read SSN’s Annual Report for the 2023-24 academic year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates. Professor Sarah Winchell Lenhoff discusses some of the reasons why some students miss so much school, the ways in which the pandemic has intensified these challenges, and shares some innovative strategies that are being implemented to address them.

For more on this topic:

• Read Lenhoff’s SSN memo: Attendance Incentives 

• Read her policy report, co-written by Jeremy Singer, Walter Cook, and Ben Pogodzinski: Detroit’s Uniquely Challenging Context for Student Attendance

While news over Britney Spears’s 13-year conservatorship turned what was a largely unfamiliar term into one most Americans now know, involuntary care over adults with certain types of disabilities or severe mental illness is nothing new in the United States. In fact, the contentious battle between civil rights and health care needs goes back decades. Professor Alex V. Barnard explained the history of conservatorships in the state of California, examined the government’s role in overseeing involuntary care, and proposed ways the conservatorship system can be improved for those it seeks to help.

For more on this topic:

Check out Barnard’s recently published book, Conservatorship: Inside California’s System of Coercion and Care for Mental Illness. 

Read his OpEd on this topic: California needs new rules as it forces more mentally ill people into treatment.

The future of affirmative action is unclear. Harvard has been taken to court for its admissions policies and the case is likely to be the first affirmative action case in front of the new Supreme Court judges. In this archive episode, Professor Natasha Warikoo discusses investigations into school admissions and how focusing on diversity ignores the real reasons for affirmative action.

For More on This Topic:

• Read her brief, How the Ways College Authorities Talk about Diversity Can Undercut Efforts to Fight Racial Inequality
• Check out her two OpEds for the PBS Newshour on the Harvard court case
• Find her piece in The New York Times, How Elite Schools Stay So White

In a democracy, government is supposed to represent the people. But Congress doesn’t exactly look like your average American. In fact, lawyers make up a huge number of our federal representatives, but only a small percentage of the American population. Professor Adam Bonica unravels why we have so many lawyers in office, what fundraising has to do with it, and what it all means for how our government functions.

For more on this topic:

• Read this Vox piece on Bonica’s research, There are too many lawyers in politics. Here’s what to do about it.
• Check out his academic articles, Professional Networks, Early Fundraising, and Electoral Success and Why Are There So Many Lawyers in Congress?

Every February students across the country learn about Black History Month, including the civil rights movement. But educating children on the civil rights movement takes on a special role when you’re located in Birmingham, Alabama. Professor Tondra Loder-Jackson dives into the history of civil rights activism in Birmingham’s schools and what teachers today should know as they tackle this important topic in their classrooms.

For more on this topic:

• Read Loder-Jackson’s SSN brief, How Alabama Can Earn a Straight "A" in Civil Rights Education
• Check out her book, Schoolhouse Activists: African American Educators and the Long Birmingham Civil Rights Movement

Americans are more likely to die of an opioid overdose than of a car accident. But even as national attention has shed light on this crisis, opioid addiction remains a difficult problem to solve. Professor Peggy Compton lays out how doctors can help patients suffering from chronic pain without turning to opioids, what treatments actually work for people who do develop an opioid addiction, and how to encourage wider use of these evidence-based practices.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Compton’s SSN brief, How to Win America’s Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic
• Read her research paper, Providing Chronic Pain Management in the “Fifth Vital Sign” Era

America’s democracy is in uncharted waters. From attacks on the media to challenges against free and fair elections and the longest government shutdown in US history, the future of American democracy looks increasingly unclear. Recorded at the SSN National Leadership Convening, Washington Post Columnist EJ Dionne talks through the media’s responsibility in these tense times and one big policy idea to help right the ship.

For More on this Topic:

• Read Dionne’s Washington Post piece mentioned in the episode and his regular column.
• Check out his Brookings report on the case for universal voting
• Find his most recent book, One Nation After Trump

The consequences of climate change are looking increasingly dangerous and imminent, yet little has been done to address this crisis. Professor Garth Heutel lays out a potentially cost-effective way to reduce global temperatures and stave off global warming. But solar geoengineering is not a silver bullet. While the benefits are clear, the costs are much more uncertain.

For More on this Topic:

• Read summaries of his research in his two-page SSN brief and an article in The Conversation.
• See his full article in the Annual Review of Resource Economics.

Real estate agents help us navigate the housing market, get the best prices, and find the perfect house to call a home. But they also help decide who gets to live where, and not everyone gets the same options. Professor Elizabeth Korver-Glenn shares her research on the hidden ways real estate agents keep neighborhoods segregated, and what can be done to change their ways.

For more on this topics:

• Read Korver Glenn’s brief, How America’s Real Estate Brokers Still Use Practices That Reinforce Racial Segregation
• Check out her conversation with the CEO of the real estate company Redfin