THE WEIDENBAUM CENTER NEWSLETTER
Jake Rosenfeld, Weidenbaum Center Resident Fellow, argues that the public sector is the forgotten flank of the labor movement—and its largest opportunity for growth.
Michael Strawbridge, a political science professor and Weidenbaum Center research fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, said Black women in Congress lend a greater focus to maternal and women’s health. “They recognize that sometimes issues related to race on the single axis don’t always account for the distinctive experiences of Black women who deal with both race and gender,” Strawbridge said.
Weidenbaum Center grant recipient Caitlyn Collins spoke with St. Louis on the Air about a federal proposal to redirect child care funding to married families with a stay-at-home parent, its potential impact on working families, and the need for broader child care and paid leave support.
The Weidenbaum Center is a research institute at Washington University in St. Louis that supports social scientific research in the fields of public policy, economics, political science, and sociology. Led by Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves (pictured), the Center funds faculty research, provides administrative support for research activities, and sponsors a wide range of public affairs programs. In doing so, the Center serves as a bridge between scholars, policymakers, and the general public.
Through unbiased empirical research and events, the Center addresses many of the pressing public policy issues facing America and the world today.
The Weidenbaum Center provides significant research support for faculty in the departments of Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. This support allows a wide array of faculty members to participate in a variety of impactful research and is of particular importance to our younger faculty who are just starting their research careers. Research efforts contribute to work that addresses key social issues locally, nationally, and globally, and enhance the prominence of Washington University in the academic and policy world. Donations fund our grant programs, which support this research. We could not support nearly as much research without this generosity.
Weidenbaum Center Faculty Research Fellow Krister Knapp has recently been selected as a Higher Education Ambassador for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a leading U.S. think tank dedicated to promoting understanding of international affairs.
Winners of the award demonstrate advanced pedagogical skills, develop innovative materials and lessons, and/or refine feedback mechanisms that have significant impacts on student learning and engagement.
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Weidenbaum Center Faculty Research Fellow Kiara Wyndham recently celebrated the launch of their new book, Diversityland: Hiding Racial Inequality in an American Suburb, with a conversation and book signing at Left Bank Books.
Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and more than 150 interviews in Fort Bend County, Texas, Diversityland examines what Wyndham calls the “diversity contract” — an unspoken local agreement in which racial difference may be celebrated while racial inequality goes unnamed.
Weidenbaum Center Faculty Research Fellow and Assistant Professor of Political Science Michael Strawbridge received the Best Paper Award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for his paper, “This Is How We Do: African American Culture, Political Learning, and Black Democratic Partisanship.”
Presented at the 2025 APSA Annual Meeting, the paper examines how Black Americans develop political identities through everyday experiences with Black social and cultural institutions and how those experiences help explain patterns of Democratic Party identification across generations.
The paper also serves as the foundation for a larger book project Strawbridge is developing with support from his 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
New research from Lukas K. Alexander examines the geographic distribution of DOGE federal contract cuts, finding that counties with lower support for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election experienced more contract cuts. The study explores what these patterns reveal about the use of presidential administrative power.
Weidenbaum Center Faculty Research Fellow and Treiman Professor of Law Travis Crum spoke with NBC News about recent Supreme Court decisions involving election disputes. Crum said the Court’s actions could signal that delays in resolving election-related cases will not be rewarded.
“The ‘civil’ in ‘civil discourse’ doesn’t mean nice. It’s fine to disagree passionately... The goal is to understand and engage the other side rather than simply defeat it.”
―Andrew Reeves Director, Weidenbaum Center and Frick InitiativesFrom left: Barbara Frick, Bob Frick, and Mark Frick
Betsy Sinclair, Weidenbaum Center Resident Fellow, Chair and Professor of Political Science, and Vice Provost for Innovation
From left: Weidenbaum Center staff members Alex Campbell, Alana Bame, Kristin Henningfeld, and Elizabeth Larson with Bob Frick
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin
From timely conversations and faculty research to special guests and public programs, explore what’s coming up at the Weidenbaum Center.
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