December 2020/January 2021 Chronicles
Dr. Cindy Bethel began serving as interim director following Dr. Art Cosby’s retirement at the end of 2020. Read more about the transition and Dr. Bethel at http://bit.ly/39I1WrS.
On January 14, 2021, Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale and Dr. Mary Read-Wahidi – with support from the Feed the Future Soybean Innovation Lab through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – launched the online course, How to Increase Your Gender Responsive Agricultural Development Capacity. As of January 20, 2021, the course has had 220 learners and has issued 40 certifications. Find the course online at soybeaninnovationlab.getlearnworlds.com/course?courseid=grad.
SSRC Graduate Research Assistant Robert Kolbila has been awarded a scholarship to attend the 2021 Women and Gender in International Development Conference. An initiative of Virginia Tech’s Women and Gender in International Development Program, the conference will be held virtually February 23-26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale has been invited to join the PLOS ONE Editorial Board. Ragsdale will serve as an editor for the disciplinary area of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Robert McMillen will serve as Principal Investigator of the “ABC to Quit” project. This work will focus on building from previous work of providing tobacco control assistance to parents in pediatric settings since parents who smoke often visit their child’s doctor more than their own. Massachusetts General Hospital is sponsoring this project.
Dr. Colleen Sinclair wrote a story for The Conversation. “Incitement to violence is rarely explicit – here are some techniques people use to breed hate” is available at theconversation.com/incitement-to-violence-is-rarely-explicit-here-are-some-techniques-people-use-to-breed-hate-153585.
Ben Walker, a project manager, appeared on The Children’s Foundation of Mississippi’s monthly Chat about Children series. Walker and Foundation Executive Director Dr. Linda Southward discuss Mississippi’s Risk & Reach Report, the new data-driven resource that community groups, policymakers, and funders can use to guide their work to improve the lives of Mississippi children. Find the video online at https://youtu.be/bEgHBOpuB2Q.
Dr. Robert McMillen will present at the Virtual Vaping Summit on Feb 4. Dr. McMillen will discuss what we know and do not know about vaping. Register for the free event at enrichms.org/summit.
Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale, Dr. Mary Read-Wahidi, and SSRC Graduate Research Assistant Robert Kolbila will present two oral presentations at the 81st Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Annual Meeting. The SfAA is an interdisciplinary global organization for academics and applied social scientists established to promote the integration of scientific methods and approaches with “local knowledge and perspectives” to better understand and address “emergent and pressing global issues” in developed and developing nations. Ragsdale is the lead author and Kolbila will serve as presenter on the Fish Innovation Lab-supported presentation, Fish4Zambia Preliminary Results: Exploring Food Insecurity Among Men and Women in Zambia’s Lake Bangweulu Region. Read-Wahidi is the lead author and Ragsdale will serve as presenter on the Soybean Innovation Lab-supported presentation, Using the Household Hunger Scale to Explore Food Insecurity among Men and Women Smallholder Farmers in Rural Ghana. The conference will be held virtually during March 23-27 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale, Dr. Mary Read-Wahidi, and SSRC Graduate Research Assistant Robert Kolbila will present two posters at the 2021 Women and Gender in International Development Conference. This year’s conference is themed, “Out Of The Theory And Into The Field,” and “will create an environment where students, early-career faculty, practitioners, and extension professionals are able to learn from gender experts and international agriculture experts promoting inclusive agriculture and rural development.” Ragsdale is the lead author and will serve as presenter on the Fish Innovation Lab-supported poster, Using the Household Hunger Scale to explore food insecurity among smallscale fishers, processors, and traders at Zambia’s Lake Bangweulu: Fish4Zambia Results. Ragsdale is the lead author and Kolbila will serve as presenter on the Soybean Innovation Lab-supported poster, Can a low-cost soybean intervention improve the productivity gender gap in food insecure regions? Evidence from smallscale women farmers in Ghana. The conference will be held virtually during February 23-26 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Child Health & Development Project: Mississippi Thrive!, Mississippi Early Learning Alliance, & The Children’s Foundation co-hosted a statewide virtual event, Mississippi’s Forum for the Future: Communicating About the Early Years on January 12, 2021.
Bethany Deuel joined the SSRC as a communication intern with SSRC Communication Coordinator Emile Creel. Bethany is a junior studying communication with a concentration in public relations and a minor in French studies. She will assist with writing feature stories, creating graphics, and maintaining the SSRC’s websites.
Read our latest Spotlight story on Heather Martin, a project manager working with the Child Health & Development Project: Mississippi Thrive! as the statewide Vroom coordinator. Find the story online at http://bit.ly/39GweeC.
Baird-Thomas, C. (PI), Walker, B., Anreddy, S., C., Stouffer, Long, L., Bell, L., McCown, J., and Brown. D., (2021, January 28). Learn about data for Mississippi’s Families and Children. Staff from the W.K. Kellogg Mississippi Data project conducted a virtual Presentation (90 minutes) of our website, data products produced (briefs, factsheets & county-level infographics), GIS maps, and Tableau dashboards. This webinar was for the Mississippi and Louisiana W.K. Kellogg grantees to access and utilize the information available to them.
Gardner, S. (2021, January). Child Health and Development. Presented at the Institute for the Advancement of Minority Health’s Blue Table Talk. January 13, 2021.
Long, B., Love, T., and Martin, H. (2021, January). Supporting Early Childhood Development: Turn Everyday Moments into Brain-Building Moments. Presented as a webinar via the Mississippi Parent Training and Information Center (MSPTI) for the Child Health Development Project: Mississippi Thrive!.
Long, L. (2020, December 3 and 9) Brain Building: Supporting Early Childhood Development. Presented virtually through Zoom for the Mississippi Department of Education Pre-K and KG Professional Development training platform.
Long, L. (2021, January) You have what it takes to help your children thrive, and we have the tools: The Child Health and Development Project, Mississippi Thrive! Recorded virtually for “Informed in 5” social media presentation for the Mississippi Parent Training and Information Center.
Martin, H. (2020, December) Introduction to Vroom®. Presented virtually through Zoom for the Mississippi Family Support Partnership and Bezos Family Foundation.
Martin, H. (2021, January) Do you see what I see? The power and opportunity in Perspective Taking from Mind in the Making. Presented virtually through Zoom for the Forum for the Future conference.
Martin, H. (2021, January) Vroom Brain Building Moments® with Serve and Return. Presented virtually through Zoom for the Mississippi Department of Education Pre-K and Kindergarten Professional Development training platform.
Martin, H. (2021, January) Making Connections with Vroom® and Mind in the Making. Presented virtually through Zoom platform to the Early Childhood Coalition of Tupelo/Lee County.
Seitz, H. H. (2021, January). Using communication science to promote cancer prevention and detection. Grand Rounds presentation at Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS.
Stouffer, C. (2020, December 11). How to navigate and report program information using the Tobacco Reporting and Progress System (TRAPS), data portal. Office of Tobacco Control New Directors Training. Virtual presentation (3-hour), recorded for future viewing.
Stouffer, C. (2021, January 13). How to navigate and report program information using the Tobacco Reporting and Progress System (TRAPS), data portal. Office of Tobacco Control New Program Training for Enrich MS staff and Division Director. Virtual presentation (2-hour).
Stouffer, C. (2021, January 21). How to navigate and report program information using the Tobacco Reporting and Progress System (TRAPS), data portal. Office of Tobacco Control New Program Training for CATCH staff and Division Director. Virtual presentation (2-hour).
Read the latest updates from the Data Sciences for the Social Sciences Lab on their website, ds3.ssrc.msstate.edu. This month Graduate Research Assistant Tayor Ray shares a blog post about social media use during the pandemic. Read the blog at http://bit.ly/3cAxOk8.
Bolstad, C. J., Porter, B., Brown, C. J., Kennedy, R. E., & Nadorff, M. R. (Forthcoming). The relation between pet ownership, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in late life: Propensity score matched analyses. Anthrozoös.
Rico Méndez, G., Stubbs-Richardson, M., Mohanty, S. & Cosby, A. (2021). Implications of Social Media on Disaster Response: Commentary on the Flint Twitterverse. In T. Thornton Neaves, A. D. Williams, K. M. Simon & J. F. Sklarew (Eds.), Managing Challenges for the Flint Water Crisis (pp. 1-17). Westphalia Press.
Rico Mendez, G., Pappalardo, G., & Farrell, B. (2021). Practicing Fair and Sustainable Local Food Systems: Elements of Food Citizenship in the Simeto River Valley. Agriculture, 11(1), 56. doi:10.3390/agriculture11010056
Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University Risk and Reach Report team. Mississippi’s risk and reach report: opportunities for children youth and communities. (2021, January). Publication developed for the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi through funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The first-ever report of its kind on the status of Mississippi’s approximately 771,800 children and youth, it identifies the needs (“risks”) of children and youth as well as the available opportunities (“reach”) in each of Mississippi’s 82 counties. Available at: https://childrensfoundationms.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/CFM-Mississippi-Risk-Reach-Report-2021-1.pdf
Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University Mississippi KIDS COUNT team. 2021 Legislative countdown calendar. (2021, January). Publication developed for the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi through funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The calendar provides daily facts about Mississippi’s children and was provided to each state legislator on the first day of the 2021 session. Available at: https://childrensfoundationms.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021KidsCountCalendar.pdf
