Written by
Nicolle McMurray
Understanding the Invisible: Air Quality and Health
A citizen-science project aims to see if the act of measuring air quality influences how we understand and think about the air from a day-to-day standpoint. Journalism professors and students are working with air quality scientists to incorporate the social sciences—or the human element—in to their investigation.
The Health, Strength, and Vitality of a Democracy
Can a democracy be healthy or unhealthy? Political science professors weigh in on how democracies are created and the work required to maintain them.
Community Guide Project amplifies housing’s impact on health for Fort Collins residents
How can a city encourage participation in a critical topic such as sustainable, affordable housing? Call on a variety of agencies and the Center for Public Deliberation to solicit people from a wide spectrum and teach them how to engage in productive community conversation. The result is a successful first step toward meeting people’s physical and mental health needs related to housing.
COVID-19 and Health: Why We Need an Interdisciplinary Approach to a Global Pandemic
An interdisciplinary approach to the economic, mental, social, and even environmental debris left in this pandemic’s wake is the best way of understanding its impact. The theoretical and methodological stances of multiple disciplines helps break down disciplinary walls and open up a new space in which we can better understand our current health crisis.
Lead exposure study shows how economics leads to understanding health at another level
Chris Keyes, Ph.D. candidate, has discovered not just a correlation, but a causal relationship, between a region’s level of lead and the degree to which the people who grew up there suffered adverse health and cognitive effects from elevated levels of lead in their blood.
Economic viability and the health of a community: Tackling wicked problems begins at the kitchen table
What’s a small town to do when their economic breadwinner – oil and gas – disappears? Some towns consider hosting a prison, but the environmental, economic, and community impact is significant and can drive townspeople apart. Through stories and anecdotes, criminologists and environmental sociologists study the community conversations and outcomes of such a vexsome issue.
Finding Purpose: The Discipline of Spiritual Health
Pursuing a monastic, religious, and spiritual life isn’t available to everyone. But for Mac McGoldrick, philosophy instructor, the pursuit of questions about spiritual practice and self inquiry have informed his own life, his teaching, and his consulting with tech companies on mindfulness and resiliency training.