UCI Immigration Center earns university designation of organized research unit

UCI Immigration Center earns university designation of organized research unit
- May 19, 2009
- New status denotes UC system-wide recognition for research topic complementary to goals of university, says Office of Research
How immigrants join and become part of the societies to which they migrate is one
of the most critical issues facing the post industrial world, says Frank D. Bean,
director of UCI's Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy.
"In the United States, demographic and economic changes such as the aging population,
lower fertility, an expanding economy, more women working, and higher fractions of
the population going to college have caused the United States to rely on immigration
to supplement growth in its workforce," he says. "The issue is not just U.S. specific;
societies around the world rely on immigrants in the work force in order to function.
California is one of - if not the main - immigration state in the United States, so
the issue is extremely critical here." The sociology chancellor's professor is
an expert on the topic and in 2001, he helped found the Center for Research on Immigration,
Population and Public Policy to foster further multidisciplinary research on immigrant
incorporation. In May, UCI's Office of Research officially designated the center a
campus-wide organized research unit (ORU). The status, explains the Office of Research,
gives the center UC system-wide recognition for a research topic which complements
the goals of the university. It brings the total ORU count on campus to 20 and marks
the third to come out of the School of Social Sciences. The center is the second UC
system-wide ORU established to study the impact of immigration on societies, joining
UCSD's Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. The 37 faculty who make up
the center's core investigate this issue from a multidisciplinary angle in order to
impact and change immigration policy on a national level. Some of their currently
funded projects include identifying how immigrants and children of immigrants define
and measure success; how multigenerational families of immigrants become socioculturally,
economically, geographically and politically integrated; and how new measurement methods
may be developed to more accurately pinpoint the size of the immigrant population
living in the U.S. "No state would appear to benefit more from policy-relevant
immigration research than California," says Bean. "Understanding the implications
of immigration for California, for its demography, economy, and health-care, social
service, education and political systems is central to planning and policy formulation
processes at the state, county and city levels." Learn more about Center for Research
on Immigration, Population and Public Policy current projects and published studies
online.
Share on:
Related News Items
- Thinking about neuroscience: Essays from the field
- UC Irvine Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy elevated to Organized Research Unit on campus
- Democrats are in trouble, and a provocative analysis offers ideas to repair the party
- Bridging a gap in research on symmetry
- Trump wants to break California's sanctuary state law: 5 things to know
connect with us: