News & Announcements – Rural Sociological Society https://ruralsociology.org Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:21:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://ruralsociology.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-logo-32x32.png News & Announcements – Rural Sociological Society https://ruralsociology.org 32 32 247869585 RSS Members Publish Article in The Conversation https://ruralsociology.org/news/article-in-the-conversation/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:16:08 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Shannon Monnat and Tim Slack recently published an article in The Conversation on myths about rural America
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RSS Members Publish Article in The Conversation

Shannon Monnat (Syracuse University) and Tim Slack (Louisiana State University) recently published an article in The Conversation titled “6 myths about rural America: How conventional wisdom gets it wrong.” Monnat and Slack are both rural demographers who study the causes and consequences of well-being in rural America who also recently published a book together titled “Rural and Small-Town America: Context, Composition, and Complexities.” Their article discusses myths related to depopulation, farming, race, health, “traditional family,” and the political idea of “rural revolt.” Their article is an eye-opening and accessible window into the realities that rural communities face.

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]]> 5281 RSS Members Publish Article in Environmental Science & Policy https://ruralsociology.org/news/environmental-science-policy/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:08:27 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Kautstubh Kumar and Douglas Jackson-Smith (the Ohio State University) recently published an article in the journal "Environmental Science & Policy"
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RSS Members Publish Article in Environmental Science & Policy

Kautstubh Kumar and Douglas Jackson-Smith, both from the Ohio State University, along with their colleague Jeffrey M. Bielicki, recently published an article in the journal “Environmental Science & Policy.” The article, titled “Evaluating credibility, legitimacy, and salience in a participatory modeling project in the food, energy, water nexus,” assessed participatory modeling in the context of the credibility, legitimacy, and salience framework. This work helps societal actors and stakeholders make project decisions for development and ensure that goals of these different parties align when planning and executing these projects.

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]]> 5277 RSS Member and Law Professor Hannah Haksgaard Awarded by the American Agricultural Law Association https://ruralsociology.org/news/haksgaard-awarded-by-the-american-agricultural-law-association/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:01:17 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/rss-member-and-law-professor-jessica-a-shoemaker-wins-american-agricultural-law-association-award-copy/

Hannah Haksgaard, a professor at the University of South Dakota, was awarded the Professional Scholarship Award by the American Agricultural Law Association for her recent book
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RSS Member and Law Professor Hannah Haksgaard Awarded by the American Agricultural Law Association

RSS member Hannah Haksgaard, a Professor at University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law, was recently award the Professional Scholarship Award (book) by the American Agricultural Law Association. Her book “The Rural Lawyer: How To Incentivize Rural Law Practice and Help Small Communities Thrive” was published in 2025 by Cambridge University Press. Focusing on South Dakota’s pioneering Rural Attorney Recruitment Program, this book demonstrates how targeted legislative interventions can help small communities thrive.

đź”— Read the book

]]> 5274 RSS Member and Law Professor Jessica A. Shoemaker Wins American Agricultural Law Association Award https://ruralsociology.org/news/shoemaker-wins-american-agricultural-law-association-award/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:54:44 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Jessica A. Shoemaker, a Law Professor at the University of Nebraska, was recently awarded the Professional Scholarship Award by the American Agricultural Law Association
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RSS Member and Law Professor Jessica A. Shoemaker Wins American Agricultural Law Association Award

RSS member Jessica A. Shoemaker, the Steinhart Foundation Distinguished Professor of Law at University of Nebraska College of Law, was recently award the Professional Scholarship Award (article) by the American Agricultural Law Association, along with her co-author James Fallows Tierney from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Their article “Trading Acres” is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal and discusses rural land grabs and important potential reforms.

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]]> 5271 RSS Members Included as Authors in Book Titled “Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research” https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-3/ Wed, 26 Nov 2025 20:06:28 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Hannah Haksgaard, Elizabeth Chambliss, Joseph Donnermeyer all authored chapters for the recent Bloomsbury Collections book “Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research”
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RSS Members Included as Authors in Book Titled “Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research”

Hannah Haksgaard (University of South Dakota), Elizabeth Chambliss (University of South Carolina), and Joseph Donnermeyer (Ohio State University) were included as chapter authors in a recent book from Bloomsbury Collections titled “Global Reflections on Positionality in Rural Access to Justice Research.” The book, edited by Michele Statz and Daniel Newman, offers a unique look at rural access to justice through a series of personal and professional reflections by leading scholars in the field. Haksgaard’s chapter is called “ My Past is My Present: Teaching in and Writing about a Home Community,” while Chambliss’s is titled “ Claiming the South” and Donnermeyer’s is “ Considerations of Access to Justice in the Context of Disaster.”

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]]> 4980 Three RSS Members Quoted in Newsweek on the Future of Rural America https://ruralsociology.org/news/three-rss-members-quoted-in-newsweek/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 18:24:28 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Shannon Monnat, Ken Johnson, and Lisa Pruitt were all quoted in a recent Newsweek article on recent American Communities Project survey results; the survey studies heterogeneity across rural areas.
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Three RSS Members Quoted in Newsweek on the Future of Rural America

RSS members Shannon Monnat (Syracuse University), Ken Johnson (University of New Hampshire), and Lisa Pruitt (UC Davis) provided comment for a recent Newsweek article on the American Communities Project (ACP) called “Rural America Feels Differently About The Future.” The ACP survey’s goal is to “understand the different worlds that people in the United States call their homes.” As the article notes, there is not one rural America, but instead several groups within the demographic, each of which faces differing challenges and has differing views—something the survey shows. Rural communities are not universally conservative or progressive and have a variety of concerns and priorities. Quotes from Monnat, Johnson, and Pruitt leverage their expertise in studying rural communities to augment the description of the survey results.

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]]> 4949 RSS Member Catharine Biddle (University of Maine) Quoted in New York Times Piece on Rural Youth https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-2/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 17:03:27 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

Catherine Biddle (University of Maine) was quoted in a recent New York Times Opinion piece on rural education, especially as it pertains to wraparound services and challenges in providing those.
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RSS Member Catharine Biddle (University of Maine) Quoted in New York Times Piece on Rural Youth

A recent New York Times opinion piece title “How Rural Kids Got Left Behind” quoted Dr. Catharine Biddle from the University of Maine, who researches rural education. Biddle provided comments on the importance of wraparound services, which provide students with necessities like food and health care in the form of school nurses and counselors on site. She noted that while these services are vital, they are costly and rural areas are already facing issues like teacher shortages. Her article from the Rural Educator, “‘We’ll probably all be in trouble for hugging a kid’: Rural teacher radicalism in addressing adverse childhood experiences,” in which Biddle interviewed over 100 educators in rural Maine, was also cited in the opinion piece.

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]]> 4941 Matt Brooks (Florida State) quoted in NPR piece on immigration trends https://ruralsociology.org/news/matt-brooks-quoted-in-npr-piece/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:50:24 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/no-safe-ground-brant-explains-cost-of-poverty-in-appalachias-flood-zones-copy/

RSS Member Matt Brooks (Florida State) was quoted in a recent National Public Radio piece on the impact of the current administration on population flows and migration trends.
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Matt Brooks (Florida State) quoted in NPR piece on immigration trends

Rural Sociological Society member Dr. Matt Brooks was recently quoted in a National Public Radio piece titled “’We need to get out of here’: Trump’s immigration crackdown is quietly reshaping where immigrants live in America.” Brooks is a demographer and assistant professor at Florida State University. He spoke about population flows and migration trends, highlighting how many immigrants initially settle in big cities but then move on to seek jobs in agriculture or manufacturing in the South or the Midwest. Now, several are moving a third time, of in response to immigration crackdowns.

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]]> 4938 RSS Past-President John Green Wins Rural Renewal Research Prize https://ruralsociology.org/news/past-president-john-green-wins/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:32:59 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/farm-crime-across-borders-rss-member-donnermeyers-latest-book-provides-a-global-lens-on-agricultural-justice-copy/

The Rural Renewal Research Prize is an award given to a global leader in rural renewal research, education, and engagement by the Oklahoma State University Rural Renewal Initiative. The prize honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the renewal of rural communities and is awarded at the annual Rural Renewal Symposium, which was held in Woodward, Oklahoma, in November 2025.
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Past-President John Green Wins Rural Renewal Research Prize

The Rural Renewal Research Prize is an award given to a global leader in rural renewal research, education, and engagement by the Oklahoma State University Rural Renewal Initiative. The prize honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the renewal of rural communities and is awarded at the annual Rural Renewal Symposium, which was held in Woodward, Oklahoma, in November 2025. RSS Past-Presidnet, John Green’s nomination letter noted:

“John’s work has real impact. Community engagement and listening to and understanding all stakeholders is foundational to John’s scholarship. This abiding perspective aligns with John’s worldview of the importance of building and enhancing rural capacity. He is the kind of public scholar that we critically need at the forefront of challenges and opportunities facing rural places today.”

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]]> 4785 RSS Member Mara Casey Tieken Warns Against Temptation of Rural School Closure in Washington Monthly https://ruralsociology.org/news/school-closure-temptation-2/ Fri, 07 Nov 2025 16:36:07 +0000 https://ruralsociology.org/news/dont-fall-for-the-school-closure-temptation-by-rss-member-mara-casey-tieken-copy/

When enrollments decline, school boards often shutter schools, but this rarely saves money and always hurts kids and communities.
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RSS Member Mara Casey Tieken Warns Against Temptation of Rural School Closure in Washington Monthly

This op-ed explains that school closures are on the rise, in rural and urban communities alike, and that they rarely save money and can hurt students and communities, especially Black communities. It argues for a slower, fairer approach to closure.

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