I joined the faculty of the University of Washington‘s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance in 2005. I am Professor of International Studies, Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Public Policy & Governance. I am an Adjunct Professor of Global Health, affiliate faculty of the Center for Global Studies, the Southeast Asian Center. the Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA), and EarthLab. I hold degrees from the Univ. of Michigan (B.S., Natural Resource Management), North Carolina State Univ. (M.S., Sociology and Economics), and the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D., Sociology).
Currently, I serve as director of the UW’s Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology and UW Associate Vice Provost for Research in the Office of Research (AVPR). As AVPR, I chaired a Task Force on Advancing Equity in Research. Our report was published here and our activities in 2024 will build on the report’s recommendations.
I research demography dynamics, gender, migration, and environment in many contexts around the globe. Current projects include: 1) improving small area population estimates; 2) social change and migration dynamics, 3) climate change, natural disasters, and population change, 4) several projects related to applied research and training, and 5) global studies research. I have authored work that appears in ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Demography, Population and Development Review, Social Science Research, Social Forces, Teaching Sociology, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Ambio, Population & Environment, and Journal of Marriage and the Family. Most recent c.v. [December 2023]
Current National Service
- Consortium of Social Science Associations, At-Large Board Member, 2022-present
- National Academies Committee to Advise the US Global Change Research Program, Member.
- Socio-Economic Data and Applications Center I SEDAC, CIESIN. Board Member, 2020-present.
New Research Collaboration Launched.
- With support from the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Jeffrey Vincent (Duke), Matthew Potts (Berkeley), and I are leading a Pursuit that aims to understand better the relationship between forest restoration, economics, demography, and climate mitigation efforts in low and middle-income countries. Entitled: Migration, Marginal Agricultural Land, and Tree Cover Expansion in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, this project includes engagement with graduate students and interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues from around the world, as well as stakeholders. Read more here
Editorial Board Service
- Global Perspectives, University of California Press, 2016 to present. Founding Section Editor.
- Journal of Population & Sustainability, White Horse Publishing, 2020 to present. Editorial Board.
- Demography, Duke University Press, 2022 to present. Editor-in-Chief.
Geek fact. I love learning about, thinking about, and teaching about social science research methods. A book I edited with Ellen Perecman is now online through SAGE Research Methods – A Handbook for Social Science Field Research.
Fun fact.
- I’m a very small investor in the film Manchild, written and directed by Ryan Koo (the son of DIck Bilsborrow and Helen Koo at the University of North Carolina, both demographers). Manchild will be released on Netflix April 6, 2018. You can learn more about the film and the filmmaker here.
Call for Papers.
- I am the section editor for the University of California Press’ new journal – Global Perspectives – please consider submitting your work. I am editing the section addressing Social Institutions, Organizations and Relations. The journal’s launch was just written up in the Global-e newsletter. You might want to read my recently published essay on how global perspectives can move social science beyond universalisms and internationalisms. In addition, here is a related blog post for the 2022 International Studies Association annual meeting.
Books I’ve read, reviewed and really liked!
- Curran, Sara R. “Review of: Stagnant Dreamers: How the Inner City Shapes the Integration of Second Generation Latinos.” Population and Development Review. 47(1): 261-264.
- Curran, Sara R. “Review of: The Transnationalized Social Question: Migration and the Politics of Social Inequalities in the Twenty-First Century/Thomas Faist.” Contemporary Sociology. 49 (4):364-366.
- Curran, Sara R. “Review of: Multinational Maids: Stepwise Migration in a Global Labor Market/Mary Anju Paul. ISBN 978-10107-19089-4.” Ethnic and Racial Studies. 43(8):1502-1505.
Recent Opinions, Talks, Quotes, Policy Briefs, Profiles, and Blog posts
Honored to give the 2024 Samuel E. Kelly Lecture on October 17, 2024 at the University of Washington . My lecture entitled “Past, Present, and Future Demographic Diversity in the U.S. and Washington” examined how the idea of “to be counted is to be seen” is often taken for granted as foundational for democracy. The phenomenon has meant that who is counted and why has changed numerous times in our nation’s history. These changes have impacts big and small and implications for politics and policymaking. I discuss past and present ways in which demographic diversity has been measured and why, and also the intersectional complexities of measuring demographic diversity. She will discuss the history, politics, and the statistics of changing demographic diversity in the U.S. and in Washington State, providing some perspectives on the implications of those dynamics. I also briefly discuss some of the upcoming changes for observing demographic diversity in the future.
On March 16, 2023, The Seattle Times reported on OMB’s proposed racial and ethnic minimum standard categories and I offered a few perspectives on the importance of these changes to the federal statistical data infrastructure.
Recently, I moderated a discussion with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and U.S. Ambassador-at-large for Cybersecurity Nathaniel Fick. Watch/listen to the livestream recording of A Conversation with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman: Technology and the Future of Foreign Policy [youtu.be], held on Oct. 27 and hosted by the Jackson School.
Recently, I joined my colleagues Professor Ali Mokdad, Kyle Crowder, Jody Early and others in writing an opinion for Think Global Health in their September 25th issue – “The Quest for Social Connection and Well-Being” – where we argue for renewed research on the role of social connection and how to observe its linkage to health and well-being. This article was selected as among the best in 2022!
The November 2021 issue of the UW’s College of Arts & Sciences Perspectives provides a profile of collaborative work on cybersecurity with Dr. Jessica Beyer at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.
On November 2, 2021, the UW’s Population Health Initiative generously shared a profile about my motivations around interdisciplinary research and teaching.
On March 18, 2020, I joined with the Olympia World Affairs Council to offer a public lecture on World Population Trends and Development: Future Forecasts Concerning Poverty, Aging, and Climate.
On December 6, 2020, I joined Professor James Long for a discussion on the Political Economy Forum podcast program Neither Free Nor Fair where we discussed “Census–Counting Folks and Counting Votes.”
On October 9, 2020, I joined the UW Libraries’ annual Constitution Reading, where I spoke about the special place of the census in the U.S. Constitution. A YouTube recording is available here.
On September 24, 2020, I joined UW’s Office of Public Lectures Coexisting with COVID-19 on a panel “Stand Up and Be Counted” Joining her on the panel are Professor Lisa Manheim Marshall (Law) and Michele Storms (ACLU-Washington).
On January 28, 2020, I offered a few perspectives on the economic impacts of immigration and the implications of declining net migration trends among Mexican migrants to the U.S. to the online investment site: Wallet Hub.
On November 25, 2019, I participated in a Q&A with Global Perspectives on the goals for our new journal and the section addressing Social Institutions, Organizations and Relations.
On November 25, 2019, I co-authored a blog post with Derek Fulwiller and India Ornelas at IAPHS, regarding the UW’s Population Health Initiative.
On April 23, 2018, I penned an opinion in the Seattle Times regarding the addition of a citizenship question to the Census 2020 form.
On March 15, 2018, I gave a talk about the Rohingya crisis at the International Affairs Forum in Traverse City, Michigan. Here are a few links to that talk: posted on the JSIS website, on the International Affairs Forum youtube channel.
On January 16, 2018, I was quoted in the New York Times regarding the risks and vulnerabilities of immigration statuses. “Michigan Father Deported After Living In U.S. for Thirty Years.”
On November 22, 2017, Jessica Beyer and I published a working paper on workforce preparedness, stemming from our cybersecurity initiative through the International Policy Institute.
On November 15, 2017, I delivered a talk on the Population Dynamics: Predictions to 2050 for a panel on Solving the Future Challenges of Population Growth sponsored by the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pacific Northwest. You can see highlights of the panel here. Here is a copy of the slide deck, please do not cite or use without permission. Slide Deck.
On November 6, 2017, I delivered a talk on Climate Regimes and Trump for the Trump in the World Series for the University of Washington.
On March 14, 2017, I delivered the 10th D.B. Doran Annual Lecture on Population, Resources and Development at the Hebrew University. You can view the talk here. The program is hosted by Hebrew University’s Department of Sociology and Glocal MA Program .
Recent Publications
Misbah Hoque, Kisung Lee, Jessica L. Beyer, Sara R. Curran, Katie S. Gonser, Nina Lam, Volodymyr Mihunov, and Keijin Wang. 2022 “Analyzing Tweeting Patterns and Public Engagement on Twitter During the Recognition Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of Two U.S. States.” IEEE Access 10: pp.72879-72894. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3189670.
Holl, Karen Davis, Mark Ashton, Jacob Bukoski, Katherine A Culbertson, Sara R. Curran, Thomas B Harris, Matthew D Potts, Yesenia L Valverde, Jeffrey R Vincent. “Redefining “Abandoned” Agricultural Land in the Context of Reforestation“, in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, section Forest Management./p>
Sara R. Curran “A Micro Perspective: Elaborating Demographic Contributions to the Livelihoods Framework.” International Handbook of Population and Environment. Springer 2022.”/p>
Vincent, Jeffrey, Sara R. Curran, and Mark Ashton “Forest Restoration in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 46. 2021.”/p>
Curran, Sara R. “Green- or Rose-Colored Lenses for Globalization Matters? Transdisciplinary Epistemic Practices and Paradigmatic Transformations in Ecologies and Equalities.” Globalizations. 2021./p>
Lui, Lake & Sara R. Curran. ““I Wish I Were a Plumber!”: Transnational Middle-Class Re-Construction Among Hong Kong Emigrants, Returnees, and Non-Migrants” Current Sociology. 68 (7): 872-890. 2020
Current Grants
PI, NICHD-P2C, Population Research Infrastructure Grant, 2022-present
Multi-PI, NICHD/OBSSR-T32, Data Science, Demography & Population Health Training Program, 2020-present
PI, NSF Rapid, Covid 19 and the Demography of Disinformation, 2020-present
Current Service
Global:
Section Editor, Social Institutions, Organizations & Relations, Global Perspectives.
National:
Editor-in-Chief, Demography
Member, National Academies of Science Advisory Committee for US Global Climate Change Research, 2021-present
At Large Board Member, Consortium of Social Sciences Associations, 2022-present
Member, NASA’s User Working Group for Socioeconomic Data and Application Center (SEDAC), housed at CIESIN, Columbia University
University of Washington:
Associate Vice Provost for Research, UW Office of Research
Member, Steering Committee, EarthLab, UW College of Environment
Founding Faculty Advisor, Jackson School Journal of International Studies, 2009-present
Founder, JSIS Global Research Group, 2009-present
Member, Honors Program Director, Department of Sociology