COVID-19

Alum Dedicated to Improving Indoor Air Quality

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Alum Dedicated to Improving Indoor Air Quality Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

Alexx McMillan

Max Kiefer (Mgmt’04; OrgMgmt’21) spent the last two decades building a career as a sustainability professional, holding positions at Costar, CB Richard Ellis and Healthy Buildings International. Today he serves as the sustainability director at Wynd, an air monitoring and purification technology company operating in over 100 countries around the globe.

What was your favorite part about your time at CU?

The highlight has to be a business class I took called “Profiles in American Enterprise” that allowed undergrads to be teaching assistants to a class of 30, give a presentation to over 1,000 people, connect with CEOs — mine was Patagonia CEO Michael Crooke — and become a published author.

Could you tell us a little about what Wynd does?

What we really focus on is speciation and contextualization — basically telling you exactly what’s in the air. Our monitors and purifiers communicate with one another through connected sensors. These sensors can pull in particulate matter and tell if it’s pollen, mold or smoke from a cigarette, and instruct the purifier to respond accordingly. We then aggregate all this data in a mapping system to give consumers a report of their space’s air quality.

Why does indoor air quality matter?

People spend more time inside now, and indoor air quality can be nine to 10 times worse than outdoor air quality. Things like office buildings and apartment complexes used to be just for the owners to monitor and manage. But now, individuals have more access to data and have the power to ask questions and push for change in the places that they live, work and play.

What creates poor indoor air quality?

Poor indoor air quality often comes from simple things people don’t pay attention to: cooking, vacuuming, cleaning — even carbon dioxide from breathing. Improving indoor air quality often comes down to educating individuals on simple items to improve their space, such as opening windows. The COVID-19 pandemic also changed the way people talk about air quality. With the pandemic, we became more aware of how viruses travel through the air — and poor air quality makes that spreading even easier and compounds the ramifications.

What gives you hope for the future of air quality?

I’m hopeful that with more data out there we can continue to uncover solutions to maintaining better air quality. I’m also optimistic about the direction sustainability is heading. It’s evolving to incorporate health and wellness and environmental justice, ensuring these technologies will bring all individuals — particularly those who have been marginalized in the past — forward to the future of healthy buildings.

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Photo courtesy Max Kiefer

Max Kiefer serves as the sustainability director at Wynd, an air monitoring and purification technology company dedicated to giving consumers access to better indoor air quality.

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Resilience Realized

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Resilience Realized Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Something wasn’t right.

Across the street from her flat in Manchester, England, where Logan Turner (CTD, Russ’23) was studying abroad, workers were erecting isolation structures in front of the local hospital.

Information was sparse, and her parents intermittently sent her screenshots from U.S media detailing the emerging COVID-19 virus. She realized those shelters were intended to house sick people.

In just a few hectic days, Turner — a first-generation student from Frederick, Colorado — found herself narrowly making the last flight from Manchester to the U.S. before the borders closed in March 2020.

“Last year was really tough on everyone, but everyone had a unique experience. Everyone gained resilience.”

The stress had just begun. As the summer and fall melded into remote learning and work, she was suddenly in charge of schooling her elementary-aged brother while her parents — deemed essential — worked outside of their home. The two shared one laptop.

“I would email teachers and say, ‘My brother won’t make it to math because I need to go to office hours for a professor,’” said Turner.

To proactively address financial uncertainty, Turner maintained two internships, one as a business analyst and one as a project manager to better prepare Marines for boot camp, in addition to other jobs like housekeeping.

“Fearing the worst, I wanted to make sure that we could still make the bills in the event of anything more drastic happening with COVID. And I still had tuition to pay,” said Turner, who aspires to establish a career in national security.

Looking back, Turner said she was operating in survival mode. But she sums up her experience as such: “You are more resilient than you may realize.”

4 a.m. Math Class

As the world transformed, Buffs operated in their own microcosms. Students adapted to major immediate changes. They had to pull strength from within themselves.

International student Chieri Kamada (AeroEngr’23) flew home to Japan in May 2020, expecting to return in August. With uncertainty still surrounding the virus, she instead stayed with her parents and high-school-aged sister for the fall semester. She slept and studied in a corner of the living room in their two-bedroom apartment. For her daily math class, she woke at 4 a.m. to attend the live lectures occurring in the Mountain Time Zone 15 hours earlier.

“It was really hard, physically and mentally,” said Kamada. “I didn’t really feel like I belonged to the CU community anymore because I was thousands of miles away.”

Kamada, who plays the mellophone (a cousin to the French horn) for the CU marching band, was eager to reunite with her bandmates when she felt safe enough to return to the U.S., and to reconnect with the college experience she loved.

She returned to Boulder for the spring semester in January 2021. She joined other student clubs on campus and obtained a summer internship in research for global navigation systems.

“I was socially craving,” said Kamada, who now lives with fellow bandmates. “Last year was really tough on everyone, but everyone had a unique experience. Everyone gained resilience.”

Finding Support

Chronic stress influenced students’ experiences during the pandemic, said June Gruber, a CU associate professor of psychology and neuroscience who studies human emotion. However, she said, recent studies have found some people’s mental health struggles peaked in the spring of 2020 and showed improvement as they learned to cope.

“People respond acutely to times of stress,” said Gruber. “They’ve found ways to somehow psychologically cope with these stressors and find ways to support their mental wellness.”

“A lot of this is new territory. We need students to tell us what they’re feeling.”

But Gruber wants to know more about students’ mental wellness now that the pandemic has continued for more than 1.5 years.

“A lot of this is new territory,” she said. “We need students to tell us what they’re feeling.”

She and student researchers in the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Laboratory are hoping to use Buffs’ experiences to increase awareness and open dialogue about mental health.

Gruber is also part of CU’s Post-Pandemic Support, Recovery and Resilience Group, which is focused on the well-being of ��񱦵� students, faculty and staff. The group aims to provide support through discussions regarding mental health, substance use, suicide prevention and healthy relationships, said Jennifer McDuffie, CU’s associate vice chancellor for health and wellness.

“COVID exposed many gaps in equity and access,” said McDuffie, who leads the group. “We’re coming to this current new phase [of the pandemic] trying to make sure people’s physical health is taken care of, and their emotional and social health as well.”

Fuel for Creativity

As they settled into patterns of isolation, some Buffs pursued their interests. Sophomore Forrest Mondlane Jr. (Mktg’24) realized capturing student life with his camera energized him when he found his motivation waning. He took a photography job on campus his second semester that pushed him to decide to pursue a photo-centric career.

After selling a jacket made from the materials of a damaged handbag, Megan Griffith (Acct, Fin’23) started a fashion business, Luxury Redesigned, while in lockdown at her family home in Orange County, California. Some of her designs are now for sale in Boulder’s Madison Riley boutique.

“I had the time to settle down and think about goals for myself and passions,” she said. “This has gotten me through this tough time.”

Raul Dominguez (DMus’22), a conductor and instructor, knew the pandemic was going to be especially difficult for those in music. Aside from his husband, he saw no one for long stretches of time.

“That became very lonely,” he said, “especially when in choir, being around people is our bread and butter.”

In May 2020, he secured a grant from CU’s Entrepreneur Center for Music to begin the Choral Conductors Colloquium, a virtual five-lecture series featuring prominent choral conductors, including Anton Armstrong, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, and Janet Galván, music professor at Ithaca College. More than 3,300 people from 53 countries have viewed the lectures, and CU Continuing Education now offers them as a course.

“My summer of disconnect became my summer of connection. No matter what I did, it had to come from a place of purpose.”

“My summer of disconnect became my summer of connection,” said Dominguez. “Going to school in the middle of a pandemic feels almost senseless unless you have a specific direction you’re going. No matter what I did, it had to come from a place of purpose.”

Carried by Community

While strength was an asset for some students, others felt its burden.

“My mental health suffered so much this past year and a half,” said Karia White (EthnSt, IntlAf’22), who spent months in meetings with Ruth Woldemichael (EthnSt, IntlAf’22) and Audrea Fryar (PolSci’21) to help establish ��񱦵�’s Center for African and African American Studies in May.

“Black women often get painted as resilient, but in reality it is because society expects us to recover quickly,” White said. “I don’t want to be strong anymore. I want to be soft, and I want to be held, and I want to be supported.

“Being resilient doesn’t allow for release. If I don’t drop the things I need to drop, I can’t hold anything else. I can’t even hold myself.”

Woldemichael added: “I remember being in my room from morning to late, late at night. It’s a blur to me. I couldn’t tell you how I did it.”

All three women agreed the people in their lives helped them continue on.

“Community kept me here,” said Woldemichael.

“Being resilient doesn’t allow for release. If I don’t drop the things I need to drop, I can’t hold anything else. I can’t even hold myself.”

Through these experiences — remote learning, new family dynamics, launching virtual classes — Buffs uplifted each other, even in isolation.

Giovanni Hernandez (CivEngr’22), a student who thrives on in-person campus connections, was discouraged with remote learning and decreased communication in his digital classrooms. Then he contracted COVID-19 during finals week of fall 2020 and had to cope with the sudden loss of his grandfather.

“What has helped me a lot is the friendships and networking I have created at CU,” said Hernandez. “My friends worry about me. They hang out with me. They say, ‘Let’s go for a walk’ or, ‘Let’s take a break,’ when we’re performing school work for multiple hours.”

Steps Forward

As pandemic-related stress and discomfort mounted, Buffs cloaked themselves with strengths previously untapped — vulnerability, power, love, confidence.

When the fall 2021 semester started in August with social activities and in-person classes resuming once again, campus exuded energy, hope — and some trepidation.

It’s not just resiliency Buffs are carrying forward. It’s their experiences and lessons, their softening and striving.

During her first week back on campus, Logan Turner reflected on what felt bizarre and challenging, such as missing the Buff Bus or battling traffic to get to class on time.

“Something I’ve heard a lot of people on campus say, and that I can relate to, is that it feels like no time has passed,” she said. “I was a sophomore when everything happened, and I’m a senior now, but sometimes I still feel like a sophomore.”

And yet — she knows she’s a different person than she was then; those bewildering and emotional first few weeks in Manchester allowed her to realize resilience in herself. Today, she describes herself as “relentless.”

“Sometimes, you feel the pressure and you feel the stress coming down on you, and you can either let that crumple you down or you can keep pushing through,” she said. “I am proud of everything I was able to accomplish despite the circumstances.”

It’s not just resiliency Buffs are carrying forward. It’s their experiences and lessons, their softening and striving.

Said Chieri Kamada: “As a CU community, we are stronger.”

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Illustrations by Brian Stauffer

During the pandemic, ��񱦵� students had to seek strength within themselves. Oftentimes they helped one another find it.

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Mutation-Mapping Tool Could Yield Stronger COVID Boosters and Universal Vaccines

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Mutation-Mapping Tool Could Yield Stronger COVID Boosters and Universal Vaccines Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

Kelsey Simpkins

Baker’s yeast has been the secret ingredient to successful sourdough during the COVID-19 pandemic — and it has enabled a scientific breakthrough.

��񱦵� researchers have genetically modified a version of this fast-growing microorganism to express the viral spike proteins found on the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

They’ve also used this yeast to develop a platform that quickly identifies new SARS-CoV-2 mutations that enable the virus to escape antibodies and infect cells. This information could aid the development of more effective booster vaccines and tailored antibody treatments for patients with severe cases of COVID-19.

“We’ve developed a predictive tool that can tell you ahead of time which antibodies are going to be effective against circulating strains of the virus,” said Timothy Whitehead, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and lead author of the 2021 research published in Cell Reports.

But the implications for this technology are more profound.

“If you can predict what the variants will be in a given season, you could get vaccinated to match the sequence that will occur and short-circuit this seasonal variation.”

Researchers working in labs have predictively identified some of the same mutations circulating the globe, plus additional mutations with the potential to evade our immune systems.

Due to the adaptability of new mRNA vaccines, which work with spike proteins, the applications of this research are not limited to one virus, said Whitehead.

“You can use it for mapping trajectories for influenza and for HIV potentially; for other viral diseases that are known, and also potentially emerging pandemic ones,” he said.

Read a longer version of this story in ��񱦵� Today.

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Photos by Casey A. Cass

��񱦵� researchers have genetically modified yeast to express the viral spike proteins found on the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

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Chancellor DiStefano on the Student Pandemic Response

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Chancellor DiStefano on the Student Pandemic Response Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

Philip P. DiStefano

A student’s university experience is often a time of rapid development in their sense of belonging, growth, exploration, curiosity, dedication and self-identity. This past year, determination in the face of adversity was added to the list.

In my 47 years on campus, I have witnessed turbulent social times and have seen students face tough questions and issues. However, the past year and a half tested fortitude and collective mettle like no other time in my memory. The challenges have been as monumental as they’ve been unpredictable. Through it all, the ��񱦵� community has not only met the challenges, but has risen to overcome them.

Our students adapted nimbly with the seismic shift to remote learning during the pandemic and have remained flexible as we continued to refine teaching and learning strategies.

At the outset of the pandemic, many students and professors who were engaged in important research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels felt a responsibility to act. They refocused their work on COVID-19-related projects that had beneficial real-world impacts — both on campus and in service to communities near and far.

The racial reckoning of the past year also initiated a new level of transformation. As a result, the campus community is engaging at a deeper level than ever before in seeking progress toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

CU students are helping drive that mission. They were involved in the selection process for the new senior vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, Sonia DeLuca Fernández; they worked closely with campus police to create a community oversight review board; and they collaborated with faculty and staff in the creation of the Center for African and African American Studies.

As we have gathered back on campus in Boulder this academic year, I have seen students embrace both the joys and challenges of university life with a new set of skills gleaned over the past year and a half — tenacity, flexibility and self-awareness among them. These skills will serve them well throughout their academic careers and into their professional and personal endeavors.

While students will face new and evolving obstacles, I am confident that they will rise to the occasion individually and collectively, bending into the wind, but never breaking.

Philip P. DiStefano is the 11th chancellor of ��񱦵�. He is the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership, overseeing ��񱦵�’s leadership programs.

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Photo by Glenn Asakawa

Changes caused rapid adaptation, strength and new ideas.

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Student Turns Her Apartment Into Pandemic-Themed Art

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Student Turns Her Apartment Into Pandemic-Themed Art Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

When COVID hit, Taylor Passios (MediaPro’21) watched the world fall into the same pattern she lives in as a hypochondriac: Feel something, Google it, panic — repeat. She couldn’t find an academic name for this cycle, so she coined it “The ICA Loop.”

“The ICA Loop is a theoretical concept linking information overload, cyberchondria and the attention economy together using relational evidence between the information seekers and COVID-related media,” Passios told CMCI Now.

To physically demonstrate this idea of cyclical online patterns while adhering to COVID restrictions, she turned her apartment into a three-room, interactive art installation, complete with fog, heat and lighting. The public installation, part of her senior honors thesis, included walls plastered with news articles, graffiti, broken televisions and “a Wheel of Fate.”

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Photo courtesy Taylor Passios

When COVID hit, Taylor Passios (MediaPro’21) watched the world fall into the same pattern she lives in as a hypochondriac: Feel something, Google it, panic — repeat.

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Editor’s Note: Fall 2021

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: Fall 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

Maria Kuntz

In March 2020, workers and students across the country left behind familiar spaces and routines to protect each other and their communities. Many thought a return to normalcy was a few weeks or months away. Twenty months later, some of those spaces and routines are apparitions of the past. Amid the COVID-19 delta variant surge, ��񱦵� students have reflected on what resilience looks like to them, where it comes from and what it demands.

Today, resilience is a bittersweet reality; a skill, or perhaps a latent ability, that surfaced as a matter of necessity and survival. In this issue, you’ll read about the fruits of resilience — the triumphs, the challenges and the self-revelations of various communities at ��񱦵�.

Wherever you’re headed this winter, tuck the Coloradan in a pocket and read about the state’s first licensed outdoor preschool, color-changing tattoos, the history of camping, a trip to Mars (in the U.S.) — and meet Ralphie VI.

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Coloradan editor discusses student resiliency.

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Editor’s Note: Summer 2021

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: Summer 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/02/2021 - 00:00

Maria Kuntz

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated social inequities as the ubiquity of phones and digital media focused attention on interrelated issues including racial injustice, gender, voting rights, gun violence and access to health care and education.

These challenges gave rise to another topic that ancient philosophers, modern researchers and CU students have sought to better understand: leadership.

While there is an eagerness to return to “normal,” new types of leaders are emerging to usher forth the future as it unfolds.

In this issue, we examine leadership research, education and practice through CU’s Center for Leadership and explore one alumna’s dedication to Colorado’s future luminaries. I invite you to read these, plus stories about an unlikely book-turned-movie, robot-fueled sustainability and the power of lullabies.

The challenges of the past year will not resolve quickly, but Forever Buffs instill hope for a brighter future.

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The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated social inequities as the ubiquity of cellphones and digital media focused attention on interrelated issues including racial injustice, gender, voting rights, gun violence and access to health care and education.

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Inside CU's African Dance Class During the Pandemic

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Inside CU's African Dance Class During the Pandemic Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/02/2021 - 00:00

Grace Dearnley

Nii Armah Sowah dreaded teaching CU’s “African Dance — Ghanaian” during the pandemic.

“The whole course is based on expression and connection,” said Sowah, who’s instructed African dance classes at CU for more than 20 years.

To cut aerosol transmissions, Sowah decreased the chanting that accompanies dances, restructured classes and cut the typically required extracurricular bonding.

But the losses in no way caused a loss of heart.

“COVID deprived so many students of human contact. When we started dancing, there was this sense of strong desire to connect... this longing has helped us build a good community in the classes,” Sowah said.

When Sowah moved to the U.S. from Ghana in 1994, he soon realized that Americans identified him as “African” rather than Ghanaian. He recalls being thrust into a position of cultural ambassador for the entire continent — a role he does not take lightly. As a result, his course doesn’t just cover the moves. It also explores the tenets of African cultures, creating global citizens by expanding students’ cultural competencies.

“Africa has a lot of values, ideals and philosophies that are powerful and very meaningful in terms of supporting healthy life,” said Sowah. He hopes to foster appreciation and respect for African cultures by highlighting these values.

And, according to students, the course offers even more. Constance Harris (MDance’21) shared, “Embedded in the steps that we dance and the songs that we sing are life lessons that are grounded in personal accountability, community building, selflessness, confidence building, decolonization and joy.”

Rather than dwelling on class changes due to COVID — like the modified final celebration — Sowah views these sacrifices as another way to demonstrate the African spirit of resilience.

Growingup in Ghana, I experienced periods of famine and drought. We learned to manage and made do under the circumstances,” Sowah said. “We didn’t insist on living our life as if the world was not happening. We adjust as needed.”

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Photo by Matt Tyrie

Nii Armah Sowah’s dance class allows socially-starved students to regain community.

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The Shecession: How the Pandemic Is Impacting Women’s Careers

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:00:00 +0000

The Shecession: How the Pandemic Is Impacting Women’s Careers Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/02/2021 - 00:00

Lisa Marshall

In mid-March 2020, Rachel Rinaldo found herself in the same position as roughly 20 million other working mothers in the United States: suddenly stuck without child care, or thrust into the role of homeschool teacher, and trying to figure out how to get her work done.

“It was an impossible choice. You could either do your job well or parent well,” said Rinaldo, ��񱦵� associate professor of sociology and mother of 7-year-old Nathaniel. “At times, I felt like I was failing at both.”

When she scrolled through social media, she noticed it was blowing up with similar sentiments from other women scrambling to adjust to pandemic-related school and daycare shutdowns. Some, like her, were fortunate to have a partner who took on a full share of child care and a job that could be done at home. However, many had no choice but to cut their hours or leave the workforce.

“There are conversations happening now about what it takes to support working parents that I have never seen in my lifetime.”

Curious to know more about how the pandemic was impacting working parents, and how couples were dividing up their tasks, Rinaldo launched a study surveying nearly 300 people nationally and interviewing dozens in her own community at length. She found a common theme.

“Even in a relatively progressive area like the Denver-Boulder area, women were taking on the brunt of the remote schooling and extra child care and were more likely to have reduced their work hours or have been furloughed,” she said.

Rinaldo’s findings echo those of studies around the country which show that women, particularly those with children, have been hardest hit by the recession sparked by COVID-19.

In the first weeks of the pandemic, an astounding 3.5 million mothers with school-aged children either took a leave, lost their job or left the job market entirely, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Even a year later, women’s participation in the labor force was at its lowest level since 1988.

Some fear that the “Shecession,” as it is being called, could have lasting impacts on everything from homeownership and wealth accumulation for women to the kinds of people who end up in boardrooms and the scientific discoveries that are made in years to come.

But it also brought a silver lining.“It has galvanized a lot of needed discussions,” said Rinaldo, who specializes in gender studies. “There are conversations happening now about what it takes to support working parents that I have never seen in my lifetime.”

The Back-Up Parent Trap

Even before the pandemic, Rinaldo’s research found the division of labor in many households was unequal.

“Women in many cases were already the default or back-up parent,” she said. “They arranged the play dates, did the majority of the housework and when someone got sick, they were the ones to stay home from work.”

Previous studies also have shown that heterosexual women tend to view their jobs as more flexible than their husband’s: when two-earner couples move for a job change, for instance, it’s usually his.

“When both people are working and they cannot afford child care, if somebody is going to quit, it’s going to be the person with the lower paying job — and in heterosexual couples, that’s usually the woman,” said Rinaldo.

Meanwhile, centuries-old cultural stereotypes persist, with many people, even subconsciously, still associating women with child care and nurturing.

“When hard times hit, people tend to fall back on those traditional gender roles,” she said. Throw a pandemic on top of all this, and inequities have been supersized.

One recent study, published in the journal Feminist Frontiers, found that even when both parents were able to telecommute from home during the pandemic, mothers with young children reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers did.

As of May, while vaccines rolled out widely and the economy started to rebound, mothers’ representation in the labor force was still down 4% but working fathers’ representation was nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. Black and Latino moms were even harder hit, accounting for about half of the total decrease in the female labor force, even though they represent less than one-third of it, according to the Pew Research Center.

And in academia, where today’s publications drive tomorrow’s tenure, women — who already published less than men and took more of a career hit when they became a mom, according to ��񱦵� research — saw this publishing gap exacerbated.

“Science works better if we have diverse communities contributing to scientific knowledge,” said Allison Morgan (PhDCompSci’21), who recently published a study on women in academic publishing. “These trends suggest that we might not be hearing some of those voices. That’s concerning.”

Change Is Coming

In all, Rinaldo and study co-author Ian Whalen (PhDSoc’23) found that the majority of women interviewed expressed that their 2020 experience was filled with anxiety, stress and exasperation.

“They felt the pandemic was taking a toll on both their careers and their marriages,” Rinaldo said.

Some who took pandemic leave to care for kids worried it would stall their career progression. Others complained that while the kids wouldn’t dare interrupt their father during a Zoom call, they often freely walked in on mom’s work calls.

“I am just so tired and so worn down, and I have just burnt the candle — broken it into a thousand pieces,” explained one interviewee. “There’s just not a lot of me left.”

But in about one-quarter of cases, Rinaldo found, the division of labor at home was more equitable.

In these cases, a few common themes emerged: The working mother was more likely to be the breadwinner or have a job their partner viewed as more demanding than his; the husband was unemployed; the husband’s workplace was sympathetic of his child care needs; or there was a strong commitment between the couple to create gender equity at home.

LGBTQ couples, she found, were also more likely to have equitable divisions of labor and tended to have ongoing conversations about who does what around the household.

“When you don’t have these obvious gender differences between partners, you have to talk about these issues more explicitly,” she said.

Rinaldo did not include single parents in the study, as one of her objectives was to examine how work was divided up between couples during the pandemic. But she points to research that shows single moms have taken an even greater emotional and financial toll.

“Change is coming. People are demanding it. I’m optimistic.”

The pandemic, Rinaldo said, has been its own kind of natural disaster, similarly leaving wreckage in its wake while also prompting frank talk about how to be more resilient when the next crisis comes around. In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced a proposal for an American Families Plan, which would provide free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-old children, subsidize child care and create a national paid family and medical leave program.

More private companies have also begun offering on-site child care and gender-neutral paid leave — enabling fathers to take a greater role in parenting.

More cultural and structural change is needed, said Morgan, noting that 40% of academic institutions in the country still have no paid family leave. Since 2018, ��񱦵� has a gender-neutral policy, allowing both mothers and fathers six weeks of paid parental leave after the birth of a child.

“Younger generations have become much more aware of these issues of gender equality, and the pandemic has shone an even brighter light on them,”said Rinaldo. “Change is coming. People are demanding it. I’m optimistic.”

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Illustration by Harriet Lee-Merrion

What the pandemic revealed about gender inequalities — and what needs to change.

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CU's Austin C. Okigbo Studies Music from Past Pandemics

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:00:00 +0000

CU's Austin C. Okigbo Studies Music from Past Pandemics Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/02/2021 - 00:00

Kelsey Yandura

Austin C. Okigbo, associate professor College of Music, affiliate faculty Ethnic Studies and Global Health

Austin C. Okigbo, associate professor in the College of Music and affiliate faculty in Ethnic Studies and Global Health, studies the intersection of music and public health. He traces the way people express themselves musically during times of widespread illness — a highly relevant topic given COVID-19. Here he discusses his research on past health crises and how music has played a role in the current pandemic.

Your areas of interest are really diverse (music, African studies, global health). How do they intersect?

Ethnomusicology is by definition a very interdisciplinary field. I study African music and, within those studies, my subject area is global health. I did my PhD research working with HIV/AIDS choirs based in South Africa. I seek to understand how people use music to articulate their experiences of disease in a global health context.

Why study the music of pandemics?

When I was doing research in South Africa, I started doing archival studies on past public health crises and epidemics in the area to give my research a broader historical context, like the 1713 outbreak of smallpox and the influenza of 1918. I began to identify where and what the musical responses were and compare them to what we were seeing with HIV/AIDS. The research just kept going.

What themes did you see carrying through in your research of this music?

“People are expressing their feelings about economics, politics and religion with music.”

There is plenty of research about how music is used as an educational tool during public health crises — for example, promoting protective measures. However, my research seeks to understand how people articulate their personal experiences of a disease. Music is a means by which people express what is on their minds... And what are people expressing? Feelings about economics, politics and religion.

Do you see people making similar creative works and music today?

Absolutely. For two semesters during the coronavirus pandemic, I taught classes around disease and music. I asked students to use the current artistic responses they’re seeing today to launch a broader conversation. It’s been fascinating. Students have been able to identify some of the political extremities that have characterized our nation’s response to the pandemic.

You found that social and cultural events surrounding pandemics fueled the responses and behaviors toward them. What would you say were the major events at play in 2020?

Disease epidemics reveal the fault lines already present in a society. The social and cultural difficulties that this country faces as a nation are real. The pandemic highlighted inequalities at the level of race, social class and economic class.

Diseases tell us who we are at an individual and a broader societal level. The disease is a sickness itself, but it does reveal other forms of sickness. It’s social, political and economic maladies that we suffer from as well.

Did your findings surprise you?

“Conspiracy theories about vaccines now echo those that followed the invention of the smallpox vaccine in the 1790s.”

Initially, yes. I was juxtaposing historical epidemics that spanned over 300 years. And yet there was consistency — for example, conspiracy theories about vaccines now echo those that followed the invention of the smallpox vaccine in the 1790s. New York and London experienced violent resistance to quarantine measures in 1918. You would think that culture has changed a lot or that people’s mindsets would have changed a lot...but it didn't matter. The precedents in history are there; we often just aren’t aware of it.

What about physical sickness leads us to express ourselves musically?

Music is an expressive form, and the arts are a part of how people bring out what they have on their minds and articulate their life experiences.

Have you been listening to any favorite music over the course of the pandemic?

I have been listening to Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. He was the inventor of Afrobeat music and was very political and radical in his thought. Even though he died in 1997, his music still feels like it’s speaking to the present. The things he criticized in his music (like government corruption, wasteful spending and economic disparities) are relevant to how many countries are responding to the current pandemic, especially in Nigeria and Africa.

What’s next for your research?

I’m working on a book project now. It’s a comparative study of African concepts of justice, which interestingly will include issues of justice in the context of epidemics. I’m also thinking about a book project that will look at music and the global history of pandemics. It will allow us to explore the ways humans have responded musically to global outbreaks of diseases across centuries, going back to the Renaissance and up to this moment.

Condensed and edited for clarity.

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Photo Courtesy Austin C. Okigbo

Austin C. Okigbo, associate professor in the College of Music and affiliate faculty in Ethnic Studies and Global Health, studies the intersection of music and public health.

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CU's Austin C. Okigbo Studies Music from Past Pandemics

Your areas of interest are really diverse (music, African studies, global health). How do they intersect?

Why study the music of pandemics?

What themes did you see carrying through in your research of this music?

Do you see people making similar creative works and music today?

Did your findings surprise you?

What about physical sickness leads us to express ourselves musically?

Have you been listening to any favorite music over the course of the pandemic?

What’s next for your research?

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