Preparation for meaningful work and life: urban high school youth's reflections on work-based learning 1 year post-graduation

The challenges confronted by low-income high school students throughout school and across the transition to higher education and employment are well-documented in the US and many other nations. Adopting a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2005), this study reports findings from interviews with 18 low-income, racially and ethnically diverse graduates of an urban Catholic high school in the US. The interviews were designed to shed light on the post-high school experiences of urban high school graduates and to understand how students construct meaning about the value of school and work-based learning (WBL) in their preparation for meaningful work and life. The interviews highlight the perceived value of the academic and non-cognitive preparation students experienced through high school and WBL in relation to the challenges they encountered along the pathway to post-high school success and decent work. Overall, the findings suggest the potential of WBL for low-income youth in facilitating access to resources that build academic and psychological/non-cognitive assets, while also illustrating the role of structural and contextual factors in shaping post-high school transitions and access to meaningful work and life opportunities.Published versio

Decent Work: A Psychological Perspective

This contribution, which serves as the lead article for the Research Section entitled From Meaning of Working to Meaningful Lives: The Challenges of Expanding Decent Work, explores current challenges in the development and operationalization of decent work. Based on an initiative from the International Labor Organization (ILO; 1999), decent work represents an aspirational statement about the quality of work that should be available to all people who seek to work around the globe. Within recent years, several critiques have been raised about decent work from various disciplines, highlighting concerns about a retreat from the social justice ethos that had initially defined the concept. In addition, other scholars have observed that decent work has not included a focus on the role of meaning and purpose at work. To address these concerns, we propose that a psychological perspective can help to revitalize the decent work agenda by infusing a more specific focus on individual experiences and by reconnecting decent work to its social justice origins. As an illustration of the advantages of a psychological perspective, we explore the rise of precarious work and also connect the decent work agenda to the Psychology-of-Working Framework and Theory (Blustein, 2006; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, and Autin, in press)

Social Justice Driven STEM Learning (STEMJ): A Curricular Framework for Teaching STEM in a Social Justice Driven, Urban, College Access Program.

This article presents the curricular framework for a social justice driven STEM curriculum (i.e., STEMJ) within an out-of-school time program for Boston Public high school students (i.e., College Bound) at Boston College. Starting with a discussion of the authors’ ideological positionality within critical social justice discourses, the authors share how Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) General Ecological Model provides a conceptual framework for operationalizing social justice inquiry with and through STEM. Positioning this curriculum within the College Bound program’s overall design gives readers a sense of how the program’s College and Career, Identity and Society, and STEMJ curriculums work in tandem to support the programs desired outcomes of students’ increased critical consciousness and college matriculation. Lessons learned and future directions are also included in acknowledgement of the necessity of ongoing reflection and adaptation to fulfill the program’s ambitious goals

Awakening, Efficacy, and Action: A Qualitative Inquiry of a Social Justiceâ Infused, Science Education Program

This article describes an innovative application of a social justiceâ infused pedagogy to an outâ ofâ school program for urban high school students. Using an interdisciplinary framework, the program featured a coherent synthesis of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, highlighting environmental and food justice perspectives; social justice education; and career and college planning. We used qualitative content analysis to analyze two separate interviews with six female and three male students of color ranging in age from 15 to 18 with an average age of 16.1 (SD=1.26) across an approximately 10â month time span. Utilizing a model of critical consciousness development as our organizing framework, we explored the studentsâ understanding of environmental and food justice issues. Participants indicated that they were actively engaged in learning about food and environmental justice, exploring STEM careers, and investigating the various ways that social justice is manifested in their lives. Implications for social justice and STEM education interventions as well as broader public policies are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141159/1/asap12136.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141159/2/asap12136_am.pd

Genome-wide analysis yields new loci associating with aortic valve stenosis

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular heart disease, and valve replacement is the only definitive treatment. Here we report a large genome-wide association (GWA) study of 2,457 Icelandic AS cases and 349,342 controls with a follow-up in up to 4,850 cases and 451,731 controls of European ancestry. We identify two new AS loci, on chromosome 1p21 near PALMD (rs7543130; odds ratio (OR) = 1.20, P = 1.2 × 10−22) and on chromosome 2q22 in TEX41 (rs1830321; OR = 1.15, P = 1.8 × 10−13). Rs7543130 also associates with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) (OR = 1.28, P = 6.6 × 10−10) and aortic root diameter (P = 1.30 × 10−8), and rs1830321 associates with BAV (OR = 1.12, P = 5.3 × 10−3) and coronary artery disease (OR = 1.05, P = 9.3 × 10−5). The results implicate both cardiac developmental abnormalities and atherosclerosis-like processes in the pathogenesis of AS. We show that several pathways are shared by CAD and AS. Causal analysis suggests that the shared risk factors of Lp(a) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol contribute substantially to the frequent co-occurence of these diseases

" I See it All, but I Don't Have the Power": Exploring Institutional Change Talk and Subject Positioning in the Context of Higher Education Administration

Thesis advisor: David L. BlusteinCritical studies have developed a tendency to schematically neglect the ways in which individuals actively participate in social and self-construction, even while constrained by the systems in which they are embedded. The current study explores discursive forms of self-construction embedded in an organizational hierarchy. Under critical analysis are 13 interviews with individuals employed as mid-level administrators by a large, private Catholic university in the United States (heretofore referred to as “PC University”). As mid-level university employees, most administrators are structurally bound to institutional priorities to some degree, regardless of any personal interpretation of supporting and competing discourses. In the context of this “middle ground,” people may be situated at intersections of overlapping and competing discourses, feeling pulled to position themselves differently depending on the context and its perceived stakes and expectations. How and why they make sense of, (re)constitute, and resist this positionality (in the context of a research interview situation) are the topics of interest. This study utilizes Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA; Arribas-Ayllon & Walkerdine, 2017), a translation of critical discourse analysis (CDA; Martínez-Alemán, 2015). To aid in establishing empirical rigor, I enlisted principles from constructivist grounded theory (CGA; Charmaz, 2017). The shifts and innovations to the original grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) that Charmaz evokes make the method an ideal match for studying subject formation from a critical (Foucauldian) discourse-analytic perspective. Results eventually took the form of 12 recurrent patterns grouped into 3 coherent groups. These groups corresponded to the categorical ways in which participants explained or justified their beliefs and actions related to institutional change. Generally, participants justified statements in three ways: in terms of morality, rationality, and fear. In terms of self-construction, how participants constructed change often related to group identification and outgroup orientation and ultimately, whether or not participants identified with the institution or as an outsider. These identifications were fluid in conjunction with changing circumstances including how groups were constructed and described in any given moment.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology

Genome-wide analysis yields new loci associating with aortic valve stenosis

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular heart disease, and valve replacement is the only definitive treatment. Here we report a large genome-wide association (GWA) study of 2,457 Icelandic AS cases and 349,342 controls with a follow-up in up to 4,850 cases and 451,731 controls of European ancestry. We identify two new AS loci, on chromosome 1p21 near PALMD (rs7543130; odds ratio (OR) = 1.20, P = 1.2 × 10−22) and on chromosome 2q22 in TEX41 (rs1830321; OR = 1.15, P = 1.8 × 10−13). Rs7543130 also associates with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) (OR = 1.28, P = 6.6 × 10−10) and aortic root diameter (P = 1.30 × 10−8), and rs1830321 associates with BAV (OR = 1.12, P = 5.3 × 10−3) and coronary artery disease (OR = 1.05, P = 9.3 × 10−5). The results implicate both cardiac developmental abnormalities and atherosclerosis-like processes in the pathogenesis of AS. We show that several pathways are shared by CAD and AS. Causal analysis suggests that the shared risk factors of Lp(a) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol contribute substantially to the frequent co-occurence of these diseases

From Noncoding Variant to Phenotype via SORT1 at the 1p13 Cholesterol Locus

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified a locus on chromosome 1p13 strongly associated with both plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and myocardial infarction (MI) in humans. Here we show through a series of studies in human cohorts and human-derived hepatocytes that a common noncoding polymorphism at the 1p13 locus, rs12740374, creates a C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) transcription factor binding site and alters the hepatic expression of the SORT1 gene. With small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown and viral overexpression in mouse liver, we demonstrate that Sort1 alters plasma LDL-C and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particle levels by modulating hepatic VLDL secretion. Thus, we provide functional evidence for a novel regulatory pathway for lipoprotein metabolism and suggest that modulation of this pathway may alter risk for MI in humans. We also demonstrate that common noncoding DNA variants identified by GWASs can directly contribute to clinical phenotypes.Stem Cell and Regenerative Biolog

Genetic inactivation of ANGPTL4 improves glucose homeostasis and is associated with reduced risk of diabetes

Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) is an endogenous inhibitor of lipoprotein lipase that modulates lipid levels, coronary atherosclerosis risk, and nutrient partitioning. We hypothesize that loss of ANGPTL4 function might improve glucose homeostasis and decrease risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We investigate protein-altering variants in ANGPTL4 among 58,124 participants in the DiscovEHR human genetics study, with follow-up studies in 82,766 T2D cases and 498,761 controls. Carriers of p.E40K, a variant that abolishes ANGPTL4 ability to inhibit lipoprotein lipase, have lower odds of T2D (odds ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.85–0.92, p = 6.3 × 10−10), lower fasting glucose, and greater insulin sensitivity. Predicted loss-of-function variants are associated with lower odds of T2D among 32,015 cases and 84,006 controls (odds ratio 0.71, 95% confidence interval 0.49–0.99, p = 0.041). Functional studies in Angptl4-deficient mice confirm improved insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. In conclusion, genetic inactivation of ANGPTL4 is associated with improved glucose homeostasis and reduced risk of T2D