Maxwell School News and Commentary

Tom Dennison, professor of practice emeritus of public administration and international affairs, explores why infection control is difficult in nursing homes in an article for Syracuse.com.

"Historically, grandparents have always provided care," says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer. "What we’re seeing now is grandparents providing care that looks a lot more like parenting: more hours and more tasks."

University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer discusses grandparents who are taking on tasks that have, until recently, generally been the purview of parents. So, in addition to the sublime pleasures of grandparenting, many grandparents are now also feeling high levels of stress and strain as grandparenting intensifies.

"If we see fewer immigrants coming to the U.S., or if we start to restrict the immigrants who come in to those who look a lot like middle-class Americans, with respect to fertility rates, we’re going to see completely different fertility rates in the United States," says Len Lopoo, professor of public administration and international affairs.

"My mom told the seven of us to go outside and play," University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer recalled. "Today’s mom says, ‘Get in the van and I’ll drive you from Spanish camp to violin lessons.’ The idea is to cultivate your child, give them every possible advantage, and it clearly spills over to the intensification of grandparenting." Harrington Meyer was interviewed for the New York Times article "When Grandparents Help Hold It All Together." 

"Think about a professional woman who has completed college and some graduate work and may or may not be married, and if they’re married, they have a partner with a similar income," Len Lopoo, professor of public administration and international affairs and director of the Center for Policy Research, says. "So they’re sort of in the part of their careers where they’re really climbing rapidly."

According to University Professor Harrington Meyer, grandmothers often share child-rearing duties and ease the childcare burden of working parents, a role that has only been increasing.

Len Lopoo, professor of public administration and international affairs, was interviewed for the TIME article "Paid Family Leave Has Stalled in Congress for Years. Here's Why That's Changing.". Lopoo was asked about the political dimensions of Paid family leave, and why it has stumped congress for years.