Recent Faculty Scholarship and Creative Endeavors 2006-2007

Judi Bartfeld played a central role in planning the Wisconsin Hunger Summit. Sponsored by Wisconsin Food Security Consortium, and with partial funding from Human Ecology, the Summit brought together over 200 people from communities around Wisconsin who are concerned with hunger, including members of local coalitions, representatives of nonprofits, Extension educators, media and state legislators. The Summit provided opportunities to learn about hunger and food insecurity in Wisconsin; to learn about successful strategies other states have used to collaboratively address hunger; and to contribute to the development of a state Action Plan to reduce hunger. The Summit resulted in extensive media attention to the issue of hunger in Wisconsin; a Certificate of Commendation to the Food Security Consortium from Governor Doyle; very positive evaluations from participants; and significant progress towards the development of a state Action Plan to reduce hunger.

Karen Holden continued her work on retirement savings and financial education. She is working with Phil Heckman, Credit Union International, on a project financed by CUNA that will examine the “Efficacy of Parental Instruction in Teaching Financial Concepts to Children Under the Age of Five.” This new project links to her continuing work as co-investigator on a grant that examines the preparedness of K-12 teachers to teach financial literacy concepts. Holden argues that very little work has been done regarding at what age financial concepts should be taught and who is best at conveying those concepts to students of different ages. She is working on the first project with Professor Charles Kalish, UW-Madison professor of educational psychology. Another new project was done with the support of the Actuarial Society of America and examines the psychological consequences of widowhood. This extends a growing literature on whether the gain or loss in resources leads to greater individual and society “happiness.” The widowhood paper was delivered in Sweden at the annual conference of the Foundation for International Studies of Social Security, which held a workshop on “Social Security, Happiness and Well-Being.”

Ann Hoyt was a U.S. delegate to the General Assembly of the International Cooperative Alliance in Singapore and traveled to Indonesia to study cooperative development projects there. She serves on the University Committee of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate, where she is coordinating the Gaia Project, a campus-wide series of faculty-staff discussion groups on global warming and sustainability. For the Faculty Senate, she is also chairing a faculty fundraising effort for needs-based scholarships for undergraduates. Professor Hoyt is also a long-time director of the University of Wisconsin Credit Union and the National Cooperative Business Association.

Cynthia Jasper, Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women and Philanthropy, was frequently quoted in local and national media including Time and Smart Money magazines on varied topics, particularly related to consumer behavior and trends in the retail industry. She recently received funding from the Agricultural Experiment Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture for her project on Family Businesses and Public Policy. She also continued to chair the Department of Consumer Science and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Roberta Riportella continued to serve as project director of the Covering Kids and Families-Wisconsin program. CKF is a coalition of more than 60 organizations, with UW-Extension and the School of Human Ecology sharing lead agency responsibilities. CKF is focused on reducing the number of uninsured children and families in Wisconsin by making sure those who are eligible for Medicaid and BadgerCare know about and can easily enroll in the programs for which they qualify. This year CKF is enhancing its outreach work in schools, identifying children most at risk for not having health insurance through the school lunch programs, which have similar income guidelines to BadgerCare. Funding comes from the Wisconsin Partnership Fund ($446,185), Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program ($450,000) and federal matching funds through the Department of Health and Family Services ($616,000). Additional grants from the Evjue Foundation ($14,000) support ongoing CKF work, resulting in over $1.5 million over a three-year period.

Lydia Zepeda’s current research focuses on the demand for organic and local foods and shopper motivations. Several publications on organic and local food demand appeared in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, and the Journal of Food Distribution Research, Agriculture and Human Values in 2006–07. In addition, “Carving Values with a Spoon” was published in the book Food and Philosophy: Eat, Think and Be Merry, Allhoff and Monroe, eds. Blackwell Publishing. Professor Zepeda received a 2006 Human Ecology Outreach Award for her leadership in the UW-Troy Gardens Learning Community Project. It established an urban, organic, community farm, education programs for K-12, internships for UW-Madison students, and participatory research on economic and agronomic sustainability. Professor Zepeda conducted marketing research on huitlacoche, a corn mushroom eaten as a delicacy in Mexico for centuries, (www.troygardens.org/huitlacocheproject.html). She also established a virtual marketplace to facilitate sourcing the product (www.huitlacoche.org). Professor Zepeda is a 2007–09 Food Systems Leadership Institute Fellow. She is also the faculty advisor for Slow Campus Madison, a newly formed student organization that is part of an international initiative to promote Good, Clean and Fair food. In addition, she serves on the board of the Melorheostosis Association, an international nonprofit patient, physician, scientist partnership, and hosted an international conference in Madison in 2006. Zepeda has developed a new course on sustainable consumer behavior and recently sponsored four students in the 2007 UW Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Endeavors 2005-2006

Rima Apple published a book, Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America (Rutgers University Press, 2006). On this same topic, she published a book chapter and presented several lectures outside of the United States, in Taiwan, China, Greece, and Ireland. She also received the UW Women’s Studies Feminist Scholar’s Fellowship.

Judi Bartfeld and Lingling Wang authored a discussion paper, “Local-Level Predictors of Household Food Insecurity,” available on the Institute for Research on Poverty website: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/dplist.htm. The paper supports the view that food insecurity results from a complex interplay among personal resources, public resources, and the economic and social contexts in which a household resides. Professor Bartfeld and Rachel Dunifon published an article, “State-Level Predictors of Food Insecurity Among Households with Children,” in the Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management. The article explored the role of state characteristics in explaining cross-state differences in household food security. This research also served as the basis for a report published by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by Judi Bartfeld, Rachel Dunifon, Mark Nord, and Steve Carlson, titled Most of the Differences in Food Insecurity Across States Can Be Accounted for by a Small Number of Household and State Characteristics. Professor Bartfeld also received a grant from the USDA to examine the use of the School Breakfast Program and its potential impacts on food security and breakfast eating patterns.

Karen Goebel gave several media interviews and presentations on topics including identity theft, privacy, e-mail scams, the costs of credit, wills and trusts, transferring property, planning for incapacity, and spousal impoverishment. Professor Goebel chairs the national Phi Upsilon Omicron Foundation and serves on the board of directors.

Michael Gutter continued development of the Financial Survival Skills course funded by the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation. He conducted several media interviews on topics including tax planning, holiday spending, and student credit, and he participated in a regular feature on WKOW-TV. Professor Gutter is the principal investigator on a study of the financial management practices of college students from states with varying financial education mandates. The project is funded at $112,552 by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

Karen Holden continued her work on several funded grants and serves as co-investigator on a new, $104,807 grant from the National Endowment for Financial Education to examine the financial issues and personal finance teacher education needs of pre-service and in-service educators. This involves collaboration with scholars of personal finance education at several other universities, in particular Iowa State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, North Dakota State University, Colorado State University, University of California-Fullerton, and Virginia Tech University.

Ann Hoyt serves as principal investigator of the Southern Child Welfare Training Partnership, which develops and delivers high quality training to managers, staff, and care-giving families to provide family-centered child welfare services throughout Wisconsin. The partnership has a $2.47 million annual budget and accomplishes its mission through a collaboration with county and tribal child welfare agencies, the Wisconsin State Department of Children and Family Services, and the University of Wisconsin system. In 2006, Professor Hoyt and three faculty from Agricultural and Applied Sciences received a $500,000 grant to study the impact of all types of cooperative businesses on the U.S. economy. She is a co-investigator on that project. The same year, Professor Hoyt traveled to Ghana to continue her work in documenting consumer cooperatives around the globe. In 2007 she traveled to Indonesia to continue that work. She also was elected to the University Committee of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate. She is the first Human Ecology representative to serve on the committee since at least 1971. As part of her work on the committee, Prof. Hoyt is leading a new faculty initiative to establish learning-action groups on sustainability among faculty and academic. She also designs and directs the annual conference of the Consumer Cooperative Management Association. In 2007, 440 participants from 2 countries attended the conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Cynthia Jasper was frequently quoted in national and local media on consumer science topics, particularly on consumer behavior and trends in the retail industry. She also was initiated as an honorary member of the student chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron, a national honorary professional organization that promotes scholarship and leadership.

Roberta Riportella continues to serve as project director of the Covering Kids and Families-Wisconsin program. This is a coalition of more than 60 organizations, with UW-Extension and the School of Human Ecology sharing lead agency responsibilities. CKF is focused on reducing the number of uninsured children and families in Wisconsin by making sure those who are eligible for Medicaid and BadgerCare know about and can easily enroll in the programs for which they qualify. CKFwas originally funded with more than $900,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with additional grants from the Evjue Foundation ($12,285) and the Beckner Human Ecology Fund ($10,400). In Spring 2007 the project received word that it will be able to continue its good work for another three years. Both of the medical schools in Wisconsin, through their Blue Cross/Blue Shield conversion fund foundations, awarded $450,000 to what is now called the CHILD, a demonstration project of CKF. CHILD is attempting to encourage children who are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program to also be enrolled in Wisconsin's public health insurance programs. Because the nature of this work qualifies CHILD for federal outreach monies, the total award will be over $1.6 million.  A new award from the Evjue Foundation ($14000) will allow CKF to maintain its strong policy presence.  Professor Riportella and her staff also received a 2006 Human Ecology Outreach Award for the CKF program.

Lydia Zepeda completed her leadership of the UW-Troy Gardens Learning Community Project, a $500,000 project funded by the Kellogg Foundation. Troy Gardens is a 26-acre multi-use open space on Madison's north side that includes a community garden, kids' garden, community farm, and natural areas. The project established the community farm, education programs for K-12, internships for UW students, and participatory research on economic and agronomic sustainability. Professor Zepeda conducted marketing research on huitlacoche, a corn mushroom eaten as a delicacy in Mexico for centuries, which is now being grown here ( www.troygardens.org/huitlacocheproject.html). She also established a virtual marketplace to facilitate sourcing huitlacoche (www.huitlacoche.org). Professor Zepeda is researching the demand for organic and local foods using national consumer survey data, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She is also investigating the motives for buying organic and local foods (www.uwfoodstudy.org) and what influences attrition and retention of membership in Community Supported Agriculture. Professor Zepeda received a 2006 Human Ecology Outreach Award and is a 2007 Helen R. Whiteley Scholar. She has designed and offered a new course on sustainable and socially just consumption targeted at providing research opportunities for freshmen. Professor Zepeda is on the board of the Melorheostosis Association and hosted an international conference for researchers, physician and patients in Madison in 2006.