Healthy Outlook Division of Health, Health Policy and Health Services of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Fall 2013 Statement from the Co-Chair Erin Ruel Dear Colleagues and Friends of the Division: It’s a new academic year and there have been several changes to the Division. First, I want to introduce myself, Erin Ruel, as your new Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division co-chair. I am very excited to be serving the Division. I want to express my appreciation to the former Division co-chairs who have built a strong community, large membership and have done the hard work of making us visible on the webpage, and social media outlets. I especially want to thank Debbie Potter who, despite the title co-chair, ran the Division solo last year. Hopefully, I will be able to take some of that work off her shoulders this year. Another change is that we have new student newsletter editors. Please join me in welcoming Christina Miller-Bellor and Jenny Lendrum of Wayne State University as our new co-editors. You can reach them at: healthssspnewsletter@gmail.com. Send any newsletter announcements or accomplishments to them at that email address—or send them a welcome to the Division note. I want to thank Christina Barmon, our newsletter editor for the last two years, for her terrific service. She did a fantastic job, so thank you Christina! I met Shannon Monnat and Debbie Potter and several other Division members at the 63rd annual meetings held in New York. It was a terrific conference with many great sessions. It was also the largest meetings ever with 1,006 members attending. Very impressive!! Comments from the evaluation survey show that overall the meeting was a huge success. I look forward to meeting more Division members in San Francisco at the 64th annual meeting. It’s never too early to start planning for next year’s meeting. San Francisco will host us next year (August 15-17, 2014). Go here: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/571/2014_Annual_Meeting_Expenses/ for some meeting budgeting information. And hotel reservation information can be found on the following webpage: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/570/Hotel_Reservation_Information/. We have developed some great sessions and they are listed below with the announcements. I hope you can join us—start preparing your paper submissions now! The theme of the 64th meeting is: Fifty Years Later: From a War on Poverty to a War on the Poor. In her theme, SSSP president, Anna Maria Santiago, notes that poverty is no longer visible in the political context today compared to 1964 when President Johnson declared war on poverty. Poverty was rarely mentioned in the 2012 presidential campaign. Yet when it is visible, it appears that the poor are being attacked, and services to meet their needs eliminated. Reuter’s news agency (9/17/2013) noted that the economic recovery has not “trickled down” to ordinary Americans. Despite improvements to the economy, this translates to more Americans living in poverty in 2012 compared to 2011 (46.5 million in 2012 compared to 46.2 million in 2011). Those living in poverty are diverse, ranging from children to older adults. The recent food stamp program bill passed in the House of Representatives (that will most likely not pass the senate) that proposes to cut billions from the program will disproportionately affect poor children. A recent New York Times editorial noted that as usual, single female headed households with children are over represented in these new poverty figures. The National Women’s Law Center reports that from 2011 to 2012, older adults are at increased risk of living in poverty. An additional 135,000 older women and 100,000 older men became extremely poor in 2012. This means that the safety net programs we implemented decades ago that have reduced the problem of poverty among older adults may be one more safety net being wiped out by current policy. San Francisco is an appropriate setting within which to discuss poverty and the failed war on poverty. The U.S. government estimates that San Francisco has a poverty rate of 12.8 %. Yet, in a new report by the Public Policy Institute of California, which has developed a new measure of poverty, one that takes the cost of living into account, shows a much higher poverty estimate, 23.4 percent. That is almost one in four living in poverty in California. This suggests that 1.3 million bay area residents (184,000 in San Francisco) are considered below the poverty threshold. Co-author, Sara Bohn of the policy institute, calls it a sobering picture—an understatement if I ever heard one. California, like many states has struggled with its budget and expenses during the Great Recession. Creating a new measure of poverty is much needed, but only a first step. Challenging the old poverty measure, which hasn’t been updated in decades and does not take into account the necessities of life in the 21st century, is important because it demonstrates how much our current measure of poverty understates how many Americans are actually living in economic hardship. As we all know, poverty is highly relevant to the study of health, health behaviors, health disparities, health services, access to health care, and health policy. For those living in poverty, there are strong structural barriers to engaging in healthy behaviors including but not limited to regular wellness check-ups or eating the best nutritional foods. Cumulative inequalities are leading to great economic and health disparities across the U.S. How can we take advantage of this compelling conference theme to share our research and address the impact of poverty on health and health on poverty? What can we do to challenge the status quo? We hope you will submit your research to one of our seven sessions. It ought to be a dynamic conference. Don’t forget to encourage your graduate students to submit papers to our annual Graduate Student Paper competition. The announcement is listed below. Lastly, we are soliciting nominations for candidates for Division co-chair for 2014-2016. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague by emailing me (eruel@gsu.edu). Best wishes!! -- Erin Ruel Graduate Student Paper Awards Applications for the annual student paper award competition will by January 31, 2014. The paper should be related to the broad Division interest, including health and illness, health policy, and health services. Current graduate students and recent graduates (who received their degrees after January 2013) may submit a paper if it was written while a student. Papers based on theses or dissertations are acceptable. Co-authored papers are acceptable as long as all the listed authors were graduate students at the time the paper was written. Double submission to other SSSP award competitions will disqualify the submission. The award recipient will present a version of the winning paper at a session of the 2014 SSSP Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Thus, the paper also should be submitted to any Health Division meeting session organizer or the roundtable organizer by the January 31st deadline. The recipient will receive a monetary prize of $100, student membership to SSSP, and early-bird SSSP conference registration. Recipients will be recognized at the Division Meeting as well as the SSSP Awards Ceremony. Send an electronic copy of the paper and a cover letter identifying your graduate program to: Erin Ruel, PhD, eruel@gsu.edu. The paper submission should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages (including references) and should be prepared for anonymous review (with the author specified only on the cover page). News of Note Please remember to renew your membership. Memberships expired on Dec 31!  Our membership is diverse, representing not only academia, but policy, practice, and activist viewpoints as well.  Let's continue to reflect this diversity by also telling our colleagues about the SSSP and the Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division. Wayne State University Job Posting With significant depth in the field of health and medicine, Wayne State University offers a rich environment for collaborative and interdisciplinary research. As part of a new university research and training initiative for health and medicine in the social sciences, the Department of Sociology at Wayne State University invites applications for a tenure- track faculty position (open rank) in the areas of health and medicine, broadly defined, to begin fall 2014. Competitive candidates will have a PhD in sociology, and a track record of excellence in research, teaching, and external funding commensurate with position rank. The Department of Sociology offers BA, MA and PhD degrees with concentrations in medical sociology, urban/labor sociology, and race and gender inequalities. The department is committed to offering a broad learning experience that enables an understanding of how social institutions and patterns of social interaction shape individual lives in both local and global settings and preparing students for careers inside and outside of academia. The department has 12 tenured and tenure-track faculty and serves over 150 undergraduate majors and 100 students in our graduate programs. Wayne State is located in Detroit, Michigan and is a Carnegie RU/VH institution. Wayne State University is dedicated to preparing students to excel by combining the academic excellence of a major research university with the practical experience of an institution that by its history, location and diversity represents a microcosm of the world in which we live. Founded in 1868 in Detroit, Michigan, Wayne State offers more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students. Wayne State boasts the most diverse student body among Michigan’s public universities.  Its students represent 49 U. S. states and more than 60 countries. Our website is http://clasweb.clas.wayne.edu/Sociology. Applications must be submitted on-line at https://jobs.wayne.edu and the posting number is 039739. Include a cover letter and curriculum vitae. Review of applications will begin November 1, 2013 and continue until the position is filled. Wayne State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Member Publications Potter, Deborah. “Acting Up and Acting Out: Conduct Disorder and Competing Media Frames.” Deviant Behavior. October 18, 2013(online).  DOI:10.1080/01639625.2013.834753. Forthcoming in print 64th Annual Meeting Fifty Years Later: From a War on Poverty to a War on the Poor August 12-20, 2014 The San Francisco Marriot Marquis Division sessions Session Type: Papers in the Round, thematic Session Title: Health Consequences of and Potential Solutions for the Failed War on Poverty Session Organizer: Debbie Potter Session Type: Critical Dialogue, thematic Session Title: Health Consequences of the Great Recession Session Organizer: Erin Ruel Session Type: Paper Session Title: Lived Experiences of Illness for Families and Caretakers Session Organizer: Douglas Bell Co-sponsored Sessions Global Perspectives: Sustainability, Ecological Justice, and Globalization (Co-Sponsor: Global, Environment and Technology) Session Organizers: Kyle Knight and Jenny Lendrum Safety-net Policies across the Life Course (Co-Sponsor Youth, Aging, & the Life Course) Session Organizer: Mary Byrnes When Mental Health Meets Physical Health (Co-Sponsor: Mental Health) Session Organizer: Mathew Gayman Comparative/International Health among Women and LGBTs (Co-Sponsors: Global and Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities) Session Organizers: Jenny Lendrum and Christina Miller-Bellor Racial Inequalities in Health Services and Health Professions (Co-Sponsor: Health; Racial and Ethnic Minorities) Session Organizer: Debbie Potter Sponsor: Health; Families, Disability Families, Disability and Poverty Co-Sponsors: Family Division and Disabilities Division Session Organizer: Ebonie Stringer and Laura Lorenz Session Title: Historical Transformations of Constructions of the 'Poverty Problem' (Co-Sponsors: Disabilities Division and SPT Division) Session Organizer: TBD Call for Division Nominations We are currently soliciting nominations for the position of Co-Chair for the Health, Health Services and Health Policy Division. Co?Chairs serve overlapping two year terms, and are jointly responsible for: developing the Division program (identifying sessions and organizers) for the annual meeting; running the Division business meeting at the annual meeting; working with the newsletter editor to assure publication of the annual newsletter; and other Division business. Tenure begins at the annual meeting in summer 2014. If you are interested in learning more or in nominating yourself or another individual for this rewarding position, please contact Erin Ruel (eruel@gsu.edu) for further information. Chairpersons are elected for two years. No Division chairperson can serve for more than three consecutive years. Self-nominations are acceptable. If you are nominated, the Executive Office will contact you to request your biographical information and statement prior to the elections. Names of nominees must be submitted to the Executive Office no later than June 1, so please contact us soon if you wish to nominate someone, or to nominate yourself. The election process is handled by the Executive Office. Election procedures will insure to all members of the Division an opportunity to vote in the election. A majority of votes cast will be necessary to elect any Division Officer. If there are more nominees for an office and there is not a clear majority, a run-off election will be held between the two candidates receiving the most votes. The same election procedures described above will be followed for the run-off election.