Sheila Clough and husband Chris at Ashland Chamber of Commerce awards dinner

SOU board chair receives highest Chamber honor

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SOU Board of Trustees Chair Sheila Clough was honored for her volunteerism and community service in a surprise presentation of the Honorary Life Member Award at last week’s 115th annual dinner of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce. The award is the highest honor that the Ashland Chamber bestows on individuals.

“Through her vision, her dedication and her unwavering commitment, Sheila has helped shape numerous important programs within the Chamber,” said Sandra Slattery, the organization’s executive director, as she presented the award. “Her legacy is one of leadership, collaboration and inspiration. She is a force.

“Since first moving to Ashland to serve as CEO of Asante Ashland Community Hospital, Sheila Clough, current CEO of Mercy Flights, has been a cornerstone of the Chamber,” Slattery said. “She has dedicated countless hours to strengthening our community and our economy, serving six years on the Chamber board in multiple leadership roles.”

In addition to executive-level positions throughout her career, Clough has taken on a variety of roles for civic and professional organizations including the Ashland Chamber, Rotary, the Oregon State Ambulance Association and the SOU Board of Trustees. She was appointed by the governor in 2017 to the SOU Board, and was unanimously elected by fellow board members in June 2024 to serve as chair.

The Ashland Chamber’s Honorary Life Member Award is intended as a tribute to recipients whose dedication, leadership and vision have left a lasting mark on the Chamber and the Ashland community. It honors past achievements and an ongoing commitment to service.

Clough and her husband Chris attended last week’s Chamber dinner to represent SOU among the Ashland business community and support other friends and awardees, unaware that she would be receiving an award. She received a standing ovation from a capacity crowd more than 230 business owners, government and non-profit leaders, donors and others as the award was announced.

“I volunteer lot, and I do it because I love the communities that I live in and I work in and I play in,” Clough said in accepting the award. “But I only get to do that because I work with organizations who support me through that.

“I tell the story often that when we were looking for a new opportunity to move our family, we had this opportunity with the (Ashland Community) hospital,” she said. “And the first thing I did was I looked at the Chamber website, and you had me at ‘hello.’ It was literally the Chamber who brought us into this community, and it was the Chamber who embraced us, welcomed our family, welcomed me as a new executive into a community that was miles and miles away from our family and our friends.”

Clough held various management and leadership positions in health care organizations in Minnesota and Wisconsin before moving with her family in 2013 to lead Asante Ashland Community Hospital. She was president and chief operating officer for Howard Young Health Care in Woodruff, Wisconsin before accepting the position in Ashland.

Clough earned a Master of Business Administration degree for healthcare executives from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the University of Minnesota.

SOU Trustee Barry Thalden and his wife Kathryn received the Ashland Chamber’s Citizen of the Year award in 2024 – a similar honor that recognizes a person’s impact on the Ashland community.

SOU Ashland alumni awards recipients

Four to receive annual SOU alumni awards

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(Ashland, Ore.) — This year’s Southern Oregon University alumni award winners will be a business lawyer who has conducted an investigation of Las Vegas city officials and managed litigation for a $4 billion real estate firm; a lifelong educator who has written three books and made more than 500 educational presentations; a former legislator who made a film documenting the Klamath River restoration; and an award-winning novelist whose short stories have been featured in various publications.

This year’s four award recipients were chosen by the SOU Alumni Association Board of Directors: Catherine Meulemans for the Distinguished Alumni Award; Sue Teele, Ph.D., for the Alumni Excellence in Education Award; Jason Atkinson for the Stan Smith Alumni Service Award; and Abbigail Rosewood for the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. The awards will be presented during a celebration at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Schneider Museum of Art. RSVPs at (541) 552-6127 are required.

Meulemans
The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented each year by the university and the SOU Alumni Association to recognize someone whose personal and professional achievements have significantly benefited humankind and brought distinction to the university. This year’s honoree, Catherine Meulemans, graduated magna cum laude from SOU in 1985 after serving as an exchange student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She earned her law degree from Georgetown University, then co-founded a multi-state boutique law firm that specialized in complex business litigation, real estate and civil appeals. She conducted a high-profile investigation of several Las Vegas city officials on behalf of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General, and managed the litigation portfolio for a $4 billion privately held international real estate brokerage. Meulemans is now the utilities team co-leader in the San Francisco office of Frost Brown Todd, a firm with law offices across the U.S.

Teele
The Alumni Excellence in Education Award recognizes career achievement in education, service to community and commitment to SOU. Sue Teele, who will receive this year’s award, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands in Southern California, then received her teaching credentials from the University of Alaska before accepting a teaching position in Medford and enrolling in a graduate program at what was then Southern Oregon College. She received her master’s degree in 1969, taught at the junior high level for 11 years, then spent 36 years as a higher education administrator – first at California State University, San Bernardino, and then at the University of California, Riverside. She was responsible for 50 different educational certificate and state approved credential programs that served 12,000 educators annually while at Riverside. Teele has written three books on teaching and learning, and developed an assessment tool, the “Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligence (TIMI),” which has been used in throughout the U.S. and in dozens of other countries to quickly identify how students learn.

Atkinson
The Stan Smith Alumni Service Award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the community and service to people. Jason Atkinson earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science at what was then Southern Oregon State College in 1992, then a master’s degree in business administration and public administration at Willamette University. He started a consulting business, then was elected to the Oregon Legislature – first the House of Representatives and then the Senate. He took a sabbatical to make the film “A River Between Us,” documenting the Klamath River restoration, and ultimately worked on the project for three decades before dam removals began in 2022. Atkinson has been recognized as one of the top 20 most influential fisherman of the West, served as a commissioner for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, and was named a hero of conservation by Field and Stream.

Rosewood
The Distinguished Young Alumni Award is presented to a recent university graduate who has demonstrated distinction in career, civic involvement or both. Abbigail Rosewood received her bachelor’s degree at SOU in 2013, focusing on creative writing, then earned her master of fine arts degree in fiction from Columbia University in 2017. She won the Michael Baughman Fiction Award while at SOU. She has written numerous essays, reviews, articles and creative works for online and print publications. Her debut novel, “If I Had Two Lives,” was published in 2019 by Europa Editions and her second novel, “Constellations of Eve,” was published in 2022 by Texas Tech University Press. Her works have appeared in publications including TIME Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Salon, Elle U.K, Pen America, BOMB and Cosmopolitan. Rosewood has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Best American Short Story 2020, and she won first place in the Writers Workshop of Asheville Literary Fiction contest.

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Grant for SOU Ashland to develop accessible tourism for state of Oregon.

SOU receives grant to develop accessible tourism

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University has received an $89,745 grant from Travel Oregon to develop an accessibility training program for tourism business leaders, with the goal of ensuring that all visitors to the state – including those with disabilities – feel valued and welcome. The initiative is further supported by a $5,000 grant from the SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability Innovation Fund.

The work planned under the new grants will build upon a smaller Travel Oregon-funded project last year that evaluated the accessibility of tourism in Oregon. This year’s project – which will include hosting 12 training workshops across the state of Oregon – aims to create a statewide network of “Accessible Tourism Ambassadors” made up of visitor industry professionals.

“This work is intended to address the lack of training, which is one of the main barriers identified during last year’s accessible tourism research,” said SOU associate professor of business Pavlina McGrady, who is leading the project along with assistant professor of business Rebecca Williams.

“Our goal is to share tools and best practices so that tourism professionals feel empowered to create welcoming, inclusive and accessible experiences where every guest – visitor or community member – feels included and appreciated,” McGrady said.

Last year’s project, which was funded by a $44,270 Travel Oregon grant and another match of $5,000 from the SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability, found funding challenges, a lack of accessibility information and training, gaps in access to products and services, and uneven hospitality for those with disabilities. It determined that existing training often focused too narrowly on specific disabilities, leaving broader needs unmet – but also that many in the tourism industry were eager to learn, and recognized the need for comprehensive training.

That work included audits and surveys of 30 tourism businesses, seven focus groups, and stakeholder meetings in the five counties of the southern Oregon region. The 75-plus tourism professionals who provided input formed the basis for an “Accessible Tourism Network,” and for the accessibility training program that will be the focus of this year’s project.

The training modules that will be developed are expected to include universal design principles, inclusive strategies for customer service and communication, tools such as web accessibility and sensory-friendly experiences, strategic marketing, practical steps and best practices. The focus will be on flexibility, inclusion rather than segregation, and providing information across various formats.

The SOU grant is for one of 65 projects funded throughout the state this year with $6.2 million in Travel Oregon’s Competitive Grants Program, which is intended to increase access and inclusion for historically – and currently – underserved or under-resourced communities. Grant recipients include local governments, port districts, federally recognized Tribes and non-profit entities, and funded projects range from adaptive trails and inclusive outdoor activities to cultural heritage programming and experiences.

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NSF grant on grasshoppers awarded to SOU Ashland biologist

SOU biologist receives NSF grant for grasshopper research

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University biologist Jacob Youngblood has been awarded a three-year, $422,183 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how insects respond to two aspects of climate change – rising air temperatures and declining plant nutrients – potentially improving pest management strategies and forecasts of insect-related damage nationwide.

The study will focus on migratory grasshoppers, which consume as much as 20% of available forage from U.S. rangelands each year for losses estimated at about $393 million.

“This project will investigate how temperature and nutrition jointly affect the most damaging rangeland pest in the United States,” said an abstract of the NSF grant. ”By combining fieldwork, laboratory experiments and computer simulations, the research will improve ecological forecasts and inform pest management strategies that support national food security.”

The project is also expected to provide opportunities for SOU students to participate as paid researchers. The work will be conducted partly by students enrolled in Youngblood’s courses in environmental physiology and biogeography. The NSF-funded project – “How temperature-nutrient interactions affect the physiology and ecology of an insect herbivore” – is scheduled to begin Aug. 1.

“This work has the potential to significantly improve how we manage national rangelands in a changing climate,” Youngblood said. “If we can predict grasshopper outbreaks before they happen, we can act proactively to minimize damage to crops and forage.

“Just as important, the project will train SOU students – many of whom are the first in their families to attend college – in research design, data analysis and science communication, preparing our graduates to tackle scientific challenges in their careers and communities.”

The project will test competing hypotheses for how the combination of temperature conditions and nutrient availability affect the biology of grasshoppers. It will involve a combination of computer simulations, experiments in artificial laboratory environments and field experiments conducted at The Farm at SOU.

“Together, this integrative approach will advance general theory on how organisms forage in multidimensional environments and how those foraging decisions scale up to affect physiology and ecology,” the abstract of the NSF grant project said.

Youngblood, an animal physiologist and ecologist, joined the SOU Biology Department as an assistant professor in 2022. His research interests involve predicting the impacts of climate change on insect populations. He teaches courses on the principles of biology, comparative animal physiology and biogeography.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Clemson University and a doctorate in biology from Arizona State University.

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Mindfulness and compassion book co-authored by Paul Condon of SOU Ashland

SOU faculty member co-authors book on mindfulness and compassion

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Paul Condon, an associate professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University, is co-author of a new book that blends psychological science and contemplative theories to inform mindfulness and compassion practices for the general public. “How Compassion Works: A Step-by-step guide to cultivating well-being, love and wisdom,” was written jointly with Boston College professor John Makransky and will be released June 24.

The book, published by Shambhala Publications and distributed by Penguin Random House, offers a guide to embody the qualities of love, compassion and wisdom from within, using an evidence-based meditation method called Sustainable Compassion Training (SCT). The compassion training style is adapted from Tibetan Buddhism traditions, attachment theory and cognitive science.

“Organized into three categories – receptive mode, deepening mode, and inclusive mode – these practices help us cultivate unconditional care and discernment from within,” the publisher’s description of the book says. “With a flexible framework that allows practitioners to integrate their own religious or spiritual beliefs, this book offers practices suitable for people of all faiths and those seeking a purely secular path.”

The book uses a progressive series of meditations that readers can use to gradually build capacity for mindfulness and compassion.

Makransky and Condon, who are both practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, worked together to develop SCT as a means of teaching modern Buddhists, those of other faiths and people in caring professions to train compassion and wisdom.

“Befriending one’s mind through formal meditation practice can be thought of as a radical act of love, sanity, wisdom, and healing,” Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), said in a review of the new book.

“’How Compassion Works’ is a high-resolution guide to both the instrumental and non-instrumental dimensions of meditation practice based predominantly on Tibetan teachings yet explicitly inviting a broader inclusivity,” said Kabat-Zinn, the author of “Wherever You Go, There You Are” and “Coming to Our Senses.”

Makransky, Ph.D., is a professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College. He has served as senior academic advisor for the Buddhist Studies Center at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal, president of the Society of Buddhist-Christian studies and “contemplative fellow” of the Mind and Life Institute in Virginia. He was ordained 25 years ago as a Tibetan Buddhist lama.

Condon, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at SOU and a research fellow at the Mind & Life Institute. He has been a visiting lecturer at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and a guest teacher at Kagyu Sukha Choling in Ashland. His work has appeared in several leading psychology journals, Buddhist magazines and other publications.

“How Compassion Works” will be available in paperback or as an ebook for $24.95, online through Penguin Random House or through retailers including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s and Hudson Booksellers.

Bloomsbury Books in Ashland will host a book event from 7 to 8 p.m. on July 21, with Condon in conversation with Cody Christopherson, Ph.D., who is a professor of clinical mental health counseling at SOU.

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Distinguished Teaching Award recipient Alena Ruggerio at SOU Ashland

SOU’s Ruggerio receives Distinguished Teaching Award

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Alena Ruggerio,  a professor of communication at Southern Oregon University, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award by the Western States Communication Association (WSCA), one of the leading academic organizations in the field of communication studies.

The WSCA Distinguished Teaching Award is presented annually and honors educators who demonstrate excellence in teaching, innovative instruction and a sustained impact on student learning and engagement. Ruggerio was recognized at the association’s annual conference for more than two decades of transformative instruction, mentorship and leadership in inclusive education.

“For her exceptional contributions to communication education, her scholarly advancement of inclusive pedagogy, and her unwavering commitment to teaching for liberation, mutual humanity and engaged citizenship, we are honored to present the WSCA Distinguished Teaching Award to Dr. Alena Ruggerio,” award presenter Ashley Givens, Associate Dean of Communication & Performing Arts at Salt Lake Community College, said in the official announcement.

Known across the SOU campus for her signature closing, the “Ruggerio Benediction” — “Go forth and use wisely every heartbeat” — Ruggerio encourages her students to dedicate their energy to meaningful communication. “The goal is to encourage my students to put the heartbeats they’ve chosen to spend with me to wise use in communicating for liberation, communicating our mutual humanity and communicating citizenship,” Ruggerio said.

Ruggerio’s teaching portfolio spans foundational and advanced courses in public speaking, persuasion, political communication, gender studies and more. She is celebrated for employing student-centered learning practices, including “Question of the Day” discussions, and learning contracts that empower students to shape their educational journeys. Her creative teaching practices include sensory-based chapter facilitation and community-centered speech competitions, which tie academic theory to social impact.

In addition to her teaching, Ruggerio contributes extensively to the field of communication education. She has published influential course syllabi and co-facilitated university-wide initiatives in antiracism and curriculum decolonization. Her work integrates feminist rhetorical theory and international perspectives, including leading study abroad programs in Spain and Greece.

“Alena embodies the ideal of a teacher-scholar-mentor,” said Andrew Kenneth Gay, dean of the School of Arts & Communication at SOU. “Her classrooms are not just sites of knowledge transmission but spaces of transformation. She challenges students to think critically, care deeply and act courageously. We are incredibly proud of her and grateful for the profound impact she has on our university community.”

Ruggerio has previously received SOU’s Distinguished Teaching Award and Distinguished Service Award, as well as national recognition from AHA International. She is the editor of “Media Depictions of Brides, Wives and Mothers,” and co-author of “Feminism in Practice: Communication Strategies for Making Change.”

The Western States Communication Association represents scholars, educators and practitioners across a wide range of communication fields, including public speaking, interpersonal communication, health and environmental communication, and studies of identity and difference. Founded at a speech and debate tournament, WSCA continues to evolve in step with the discipline, recognizing outstanding contributions to research, service and teaching in the Western region of the U.S.

For more information, please contact Michele Fulkerson, office specialist for SOU’s Department of Communication, Media & Cinema, at (541) 552-6669 or fulkersom@sou.edu.

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SOU receives grant from Ashland Community Health Foundation

SOU receives behavioral health care grant

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Southern Oregon University has been awarded a $110,000 grant from the Ashland Community Health Foundation to fund a faculty position for the 2024-25 academic year in SOU’s master’s degree program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

The SOU grant is the first undertaking by the ACHF that will be paid for with a $1 million grant that the nonprofit community health organization received from CareOregon. The grant to ACHF is intended to be used over the next three years to help boost the Rogue Valley’s behavioral health care workforce.

In addition to the $110,000 grant that will fund the SOU faculty position, the ACHF money will be used on paid internships for local behavioral health counseling students, scholarships for second-year students in counseling programs, continuing education for those who offer peer support in behavioral health settings and an endowment to support future behavioral health workforce needs. All of the grant-funded efforts are being administered in partnership with Jackson Care Connect, and are meant to help those serving low-income and vulnerable populations, such as Medicaid clients.

The CareOregon grant to ACHF is in response to the 2023 Oregon Health Care Workforce Needs Assessment, in which the Oregon Health Policy Board and Oregon Health Authority prioritized expansion of the behavioral health care workforce

SOU’s master’s degree program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling prepares its students to serve as behavioral health counselors in both public and private settings. The accredited program, which meets both state and federal standards, offers small classes, supportive student-faculty connections and hands-on, experiential learning opportunities.

The ACHF has administered more than $1.5 million in scholarships for nursing and allied health students during its 22-year history. The 501(c)(3) organization promotes innovative and equitable approaches to community health and wellness in Ashland and the Rogue Valley.

SOU's Kelly Szott awarded post-doc fellowship

SOU faculty member earns research fellowship on substance abuse

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(Ashland, Ore.) — Kelly Szott, an associate professor of sociology at Southern Oregon University, has been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing to study drug use and addiction issues during her sabbatical year at SOU. The fellowship is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Her 12-month fellowship through NYU’s Behavioral Sciences Training in Substance Abuse Research program began June 30 and will be her first step in studying the effects of climate change on drug use, drug markets and treatment.

“My main aim with this fellowship is to work toward developing a grant proposal for a research project that examines the impacts of climate instability (including wildfires, drought and smoke) on drug use risks, such as overdose,” Szott said.

She is one of 16 pre- and post-doctoral researchers from around the country who were awarded fellowships in the NYU program to study a variety of drug use and abuse issues ranging from drugs among college students to politics in drug policy. The fellows meet each Monday to collaboratively review their work, listen to speakers and participate in training.

The Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research program at NYU has been funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse since 1984, making it the largest and oldest such training program. It awards fellowships to researchers from a variety of academic disciplines, including public health, social work, psychology, criminal justice, sociology and nursing.

Szott is a medical sociologist who uses qualitative methods to study drug use and harm-reduction responses. She received her bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Michigan, and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology from Syracuse University.

Her past research has focused on fentanyl use and harm-reduction responses in rural contexts. Her more recent research has examined wildfire’s impacts on the health and social support networks of rural, older adults – which she is now expanding to the impacts of climate crisis events on drug use. Szott’s research has appeared in publications including the monthly International Journal of Drug Policy, and the Critical Public Health and Human Organization quarterly journals.

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SOU's Worth Harvey Pipe Organ is 50 years old.

SOU’s 50th anniversary celebration of its pipe organ

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(Ashland, Ore.) — There will be cake. There will be festivities marking a half-century milestone. And most certainly, there will be music.

Southern Oregon University will observe the 50th anniversary of the SOU Music Recital Hall’s Worth Harvey Pipe Organ – and the history behind it – with a celebration and concert at 2 p.m. on Friday, August 23. The massive and much-celebrated pipe organ itself will be at center stage.

“Come and hear the organ sing for this glorious occasion,” said SOU professor emerita Margaret Evans, who will perform on the instrument that has framed her career. “The organ is truly the ‘King of Instruments’ and we hope the audience will enjoy the joyous sounds of organ music.”

The concert and golden anniversary reception – with cake and punch – will be hosted by the SOU Foundation and the SOU Music Department. The performance, parking and reception are free and open to the public.

The performance by Evans, who continues to serve as an adjunct professor of organ at SOU, will showcase the unique qualities of the university’s powerful and complex Worth Harvey Pipe Organ. Evans will play the organ’s multiple keyboards, with feet flying across the pedals to cover bassline notes. The instrument’s various “stops,” or controls, will also create different “tonal colors,” allowing Evans to produce sounds on a spectrum from bright and piercing to warm and mellow.

SOU’s Music Recital Hall was still being planned in the late 1960s, when the chair of the Music Department lobbied for performance space to accommodate a pipe organ – even though the state of Oregon’s appropriation for the building did not include funding for the instrument. The new Music Building and Recital Hall opened in 1972 with space for an organ, and Medford philanthropist Agnes Flanagan agreed to co-chair an organ fund-raising committee.

Flanagan, who was known as a tireless letter writer, immediately began tapping friends and acquaintances for contributions – and didn’t hesitate to remind those whose pledges had not been paid. Donors who paid $50 or more were promised the opportunity to sign one of the organ’s 2,000 pipes, – and 250 contributors qualified.

Worth Harvey, a Eugene and Cottage Grove banker, led the way by donating $40,000 of the instrument’s total cost of $67,000. It was created by Seattle-based organ builder Balcom and Vaughan, and its console was updated in 2000 at a cost of $20,000. The SOU instrument would cost about $1 million if built today.

The organ was dedicated to Harvey, who was a 1906 alumnus of what was then Southern Oregon State Normal School, at a pipe-signing party on October 26, 1974. Initial recitals on the instrument were performed in December 1974 by Portland organist John Strege – the first in a long and ongoing string of renowned organists to play at SOU.

The Worth Harvey Pipe Organ served as the “host” instrument for the Northwest Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists in 1997, and has been used in church choir festivals, ensemble concerts and as a study instrument by many students.

Margaret Evans, who is SOU’s fourth organ instructor since 1974, is currently dean of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a trustee of the SOU Foundation. She has played recitals and presented workshops throughout the country and has had a nearly 50-year career as an organist and choir director for a variety of churches.

Evans will open this month’s anniversary concert with “Praeludium in G Major” by Nikolaus Bruhns, and will also include Bach’s “Schmüke dich, o liebe Seele” and “Prelude and Fugue in D Major.” The performance will continue with Kerensa Briggs’ “Prelude on Pange Lingua” and “Variations on a Theme by Paganini for Pedals” by George Thalben-Ball, and will conclude with Louis Vierne’ “Clair de Lune” and “Carillon de Westminster.”

All upcoming 2024-25 SOU events, music and theatre performances are listed on the OCA website at https://oca.sou.edu/events.

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Travis Campbell's research on family support for transgender youth

SOU economist’s research paper stresses importance of family support for trans youth

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(Ashland, Ore.) — SOU economist Travis Campbell is the lead author of a research paper that highlights the critical role of family support during the “identity development” of transgender youth. The study was published in this month’s issue of JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Medical Association.

The paper, “Mental Health of Transgender Youth Following Gender Identity Milestones by Level of Family Support,” concludes that transgender youth who live in unsupportive families are at significantly increased risk of suicide attempts and running away from home when they initiate any of four gender identity milestones: feeling that their gender is different, thinking of themselves as transgender, telling others that they are transgender and living full-time in their gender identity. By contrast, for those who live in supportive families, “there were no statistically significant associations between gender identity milestones and adverse mental health outcomes,” the research found.

In their study, Campbell and his co-authors – Yana Rodgers, a professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University; Samuel Mann an associate economist at RAND Corporation; and Nathaniel Tran, an incoming assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago – analyzed data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest-ever assessment of transgender people with more than 27,700 respondents across the U.S. The collaborating authors analyzed the responses of 18,303 of those survey respondents, all of whom were transgender adults who had initiated at least one gender identity milestone between the ages of 4 and 18 years.

“These results demonstrate that without a supportive family environment, gender identity development increases the risk of transgender youth attempting suicide or running away from home,” the paper in this month’s JAMA Pediatrics said. “Social services and community resources to establish supportive relationships between transgender children and their parents are essential.”

Gender identity milestones are common and important steps in identity development for transgender youth, the paper said, and “may result in changes in internalized and externalized stress because of exclusion, rejection and violence,” which can contribute to “gender dysphoria” – a sense of distress for those who feel their assigned sex at birth does not match their gender identity. But the authors also said that achieving those milestones “is one way transgender people achieve self-actualization.”

The paper said the mental health of transgender people can improve with medical procedures that reduce gender dysphoria and interventions that lessen any gender-related stigma they may experience. On the other hand, limiting the options of transgender people can negatively affect them, the authors said.

“Antitransgender legislation is associated with worsening mental health outcomes among gender minority individuals, which is of particular note given the recent rise in antitransgender legislation, including bills that establish criminal charges for providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth,” the paper said, citing new laws in Oklahoma and Wyoming that ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Campbell joined the SOU Economics faculty as an assistant professor after earning his Ph.D. in economics in 2022 from the University of Massachusetts. His research applies microeconomics to social justice issues, including economic inequalities based on race, gender and sexuality. His classes at SOU include Micro and Macroeconomics, Quantitative Methods and Application, Healthcare Economics, Labor Economics and Gender Issues in Economics.

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