Story Archive

Talking with U of M

Talking holiday pressures with U of M

The holiday season can bring many stressors: from loneliness and financial concerns to limited time for gatherings with family and friends. Tai Mendenhall, a family therapist and professor in the College of Education and Human Development, shares how to manage stress over the holidays.

Research Brief

Police interactions can increase epigenetic age in youth of color

New research from the University of Minnesota shows that stress caused by negative interactions with police can increase epigenetic age, which is a biological indicator that can differ from chronological age.

News Release

Returning congestion and transit reductions lead to lower job accessibility nationwide

The annual Access Across America study led by the Accessibility Observatory at CTS analyzes the sustainability of transportation options for residents of major urban areas.

Research Brief

Culturally responsive education practices can increase resilience against discrimination

People of color make up the majority of students in public secondary schools in the U.S. However, those students report worse mental health outcomes than their white counterparts. University of Minnesota researchers are investigating if discrimination in schools contributes to these negative mental and emotional outcomes.

Talking with U of M

Talking adult family dynamics with U of M

Professor Tai Mendenhall shares insight into how to navigate adult family relationships as the holiday season approaches

Feature

‘My life has done a 180’

How one first-generation student went from dropping out of high school to embracing the University of Minnesota.

Expert Alert

The March on Washington

August 28 marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom. Six decades later, many of the original issues that spurred the march, including poverty and unemployment, remain in the national spotlight.

Feature

Three questions with Truman Scholars Carter Yost and Joleece Pecore

Two University of Minnesota students selected for the prestigious Truman Scholarship talk about where they’ve been and what they hope to accomplish.

Research Brief

New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years

Two new studies recently published in Science outline a paleoecological reconstruction of early ape fossil sites in eastern Africa dated to the Early Miocene — between 23 and 16 million years ago — showing early apes lived in a wide variety of habitats, including open habitats like scrublands and wooded grasslands that existed 10 million years earlier than previously known.

News Release

Center for Transportation Studies awarded $6 million from Federal Transit Administration to address transportation insecurity

The University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies and its partners will design and lead a new Mobility, Access and Transportation Insecurity: Creating Links to Opportunity Program (MATI).

Feature

A lifelong journey leads her home

Joan Blakey graduated from the University of Minnesota more than 25 years ago with an undergraduate degree in social work. Two more degrees and more than two decades later, Blakey now leads the School of Social Work as its director. She is the first African American woman in that role.

Feature

A perfect match

Josh Bleichman was in class when he received life-changing news.

Feature

Education as an arena for social justice

Ahmed Amin unexpectedly found his career come full circle with his education.

Feature

Creating dialogue across differences

Public life in the United States is fractured and even toxic, to a level where both individuals and communities can find it difficult to cross invisible but rigid political, religious, or regional lines. To help encourage connection and discussion, the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts launched the Public Life Project to engage students in productive discussion and dialogue across differences, no matter how they might identify themselves on the social-political landscape.

Feature

Mental health care for all

Doctoral student Vanessa Anyanso is uniting her interests of helping people and doing research—with a focus on underrepresented communities.

Expert Alert

Prolonged grief disorder recognizes intense feelings of loss

A new diagnosis called prolonged grief disorder was recently added to the latest edition of the DSM-5, the diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals.

Feature

Finding his way

A broad education in the liberal arts prepared Jonathan Du for a varied career path.

Research Brief

Communication spillover processes in families

Close relationships strongly affect people’s health and wellbeing. However, anxious expectations of rejection, known as attachment anxiety, and beliefs that romantic partners can’t be trusted, known as attachment avoidance, often undermine relationship happiness.

Feature

Philsan Isaak: A brilliant undergrad

With an eye toward law school, Philsan Isaak wants to do her part to make the world a better place.

News Release

AAAS honors five University of Minnesota faculty as lifetime AAAS Fellows

Five faculty members receive a prestigious award for their work in the scientific discipline.