Maxwell School News and Commentary

“Those processes, they’re hard to pull off. You need to have both sides in agreement. It just doesn’t happen that much,” says Ryan Griffiths, associate professor of political science. “The thresholds for success are just too high to make it work.”

For Brian Taylor, professor of political science, the biggest take from the one-year anniversary is Ukraine is still standing. "A year ago a lot of people might not have expected that, given Russia’s size, the size of the population, the size of its army, the size of its economy," Taylor says.

“Unfortunately,” says Colleen Heflin, professor and chair of public administration and international affairs, “my own work suggests that cognitive decline can act as a barrier to SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] participation among older adults eligible for the program, due to the difficult administrative processes associated with demonstrating program eligibility.”

Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says that at the strategic level, the biggest setback for Putin is "the huge casualties that the Russians have taken." 

“In coming decades, winter—as most people understand it—will get shorter and warmer, with less snow and more rain,” says Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography and the environment. “This poses a serious threat to winter recreation: snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and downhill skiing.”

The concentration of troops in the east of the country shows that the Russian president has not given up on his goal of enslaving Ukraine despite multiple setbacks since the launch of the invasion, says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment, argues that state lawmakers need to update the state’s 43 year old water law and create more active management areas to regulate water use across Arizona. “There needs to be some way of monitoring and regulating who is drawing what from the aquifers,” says Koch.

“There are just a lot more things in the atmosphere we have to worry about,” says retired Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

"We know that Black women are paid less than their white counterparts, are expected to work longer hours with fewer pay raises, and are the most likely to be in unemployment lines when those rates increase. So these types of discriminatory practices shape the types of visceral effects that happen to Black women's bodies," says Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science.

“That experience of having your time wasted is uniquely offensive, insulting, upsetting,” Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, tells Bloomberg. “Time is a unique resource and once that segment of your life is gone, you're never getting it back.”