News – Page 8 – Center for Urban Research and Education

Gentrification, Social Movements, and the Arts in Germany…

…is the name of the course we teach our undergrad and grad students. What makes this course special is that it is a Learning Abroad course where students in addition to meeting in the classroom take a trip to Germany during Spring break. In Germany, we check out Berlin, Hamburg, and Köln with a keen eye on neighborhoods that have experienced physical and/or social change over the past several years. We also look at Street Art and Graffiti, particularly as expressions of social movements. The streets of these cities become our classroom, our live lab. We meet with activists, university professors, professionals, and other natives to collect multiple perspectives on the topics of our study.

Rutgers University-Camden students and faculty on the bank of the Spree River in Berlin, Germany, March 2017

Cure Seminar Series: Sara Goldrick-Rab: Paying the Price

One of the most sustained and vigorous public debates today is about the value—and, crucially, the price—of college. But an unspoken, outdated assumption underlies all sides of this debate: if a young person works hard enough, they’ll be able to get a college degree and be on the path to a good life. That’s simply not true anymore, says Sara Goldrick-Rab, and with Paying the Price, she shows in damning detail exactly why.

Sara Goldrick-Rab is Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University, and Founder of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, the nation’s only translational research laboratory seeking ways to make college more affordable. She is the recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Award and the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award, and in 2016 POLITICO magazine named her one of the top 50 people shaping American politics. Her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, is an Amazon best-seller, and has been featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the New York Review of Books, and CSPAN’s Book TV, among other venues.

Visitor Parking
Parking in Rutgers–Camden lots is by permit only. Visitors to Rutgers–Camden should obtain a temporary permit to park in a lot from 8 a.m. Mondays through 5 p.m. Fridays. Contact Parking and Transportation for more information.

Parking and Transportation
(within the Rutgers University Police Department)
409 North Fourth Street
(856) 225-6137
Visit these sites for directions to campus and to view a campus map

In good company…

Paul Jargowsky, 2016-2017 CASBS Fellow, Stanford University, enjoyed meeting Associate Justice of SCOTUS Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Stanford this week

Uneven Opportunity: Exploring Employers’ Educational Preferences for Middle-Skills Jobs

New Report by KEITH WARDRIP, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF PHILADELPHIA, STUART ANDREASON, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA, AND MELS DE ZEEUW, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA*

Research has shown that the level of education requested in online job advertisements varies across metro areas, even for the same occupation. In this paper, we focus on four middle-skills occupations and investigate whether the observed variation can be fully explained by the characteristics of the jobs themselves. Even after controlling for the characteristics of the online job advertisements, we find that that employers’ preferences for a bachelor’s degree are higher where recent college graduates are relatively more numerous, where wages are higher, in larger metro areas, and in the Northeast.

CURE affiliated scholar Joan Maya Mazelis’ new book “Surviving Poverty: Creating Sustainable Ties among the Poor”

Surviving Poverty: Creating Sustainable Ties among the Poor by Joan Maya Mazelis
304 pages. ISBN: 9781479870080

Surviving Poverty carefully examines the experiences of people living below the poverty level, looking in particular at the tension between social isolation and social ties among the poor. Joan Maya Mazelis draws on in-depth interviews with poor people in Philadelphia to explore how they survive and the benefits they gain by being connected to one another. Half of the study participants are members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a distinctive organization that brings poor people together in the struggle to survive. The mutually supportive relationships the members create, which last for years, even decades, contrast dramatically with the experiences of participants without such affiliation.

Dr. Mazelis will be giving a CURE seminar to discuss her book on Friday, February 3 at 12:15pm. The event will take place in the 3rd Floor Faculty Lounge in Armitage Hall.

Download the view the full Spring 2017 CURE Seminar Series schedule here (pdf).

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