Tag: Daniel Tichenor

The Policy Implications of the Biology of Trauma

Presenter: Rose Kordahl − Political Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Daniel Tichenor

Session: (In-Person) Poster Presentation

Modern research has revealed one of the greatest public health crises in the United States: the epidemic of toxic stress in childhood. Physicians have found that significant exposure to toxic stress through Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) increases the risk of seven out of the ten leading causes of death in the US. As a public health crisis, policy is uniquely equipped to prevent toxic stress and ACEs before they occur and create support services for those affected. However, a disconnect remains between scientific research and policy. Through a survey of existing literature on toxic stress and U.S. policy, I aim to identify the implications of medical research on creating trauma-informed policy responses to the toxic stress epidemic in the U.S. By identifying specific areas of policy that should be utilizing research on toxic stress, this project intends to demonstrate how science can help inform modern policy.

Jewish Civicism in Oregon: How Jews Became Successful in a Plainly Racist State

Presenter: Jacob Valleau

Mentors: William Toll, History; Daniel Tichenor, Political Science

Oral Presentation

Major: Political Science 

Oregon Jews flourished economically and politically despite living in a state with many pro-hegemony laws, including severe measures such as a constitutional amendment barring blacks from entering the state. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the following questions using theories of historical regionalism coupled with demographic data, laws, and primary writings of the founders of Oregon from the mid-19th century through 1930. Why is there a general lack of anti-Semitism in a society that was (and some have argued, still is) determined to be racially hegemonic? Jews from Germany, a group favored by the immigration board of Oregon, created a lasting impact both economically and socially in Oregon. As Eastern European and Sephardic communities moved to Oregon and developed their own synagogues, larger systems of social control such as the various benevolent societies and the B’nai B’rith consolidated the ethnic variation of Oregon Jews, succeeding at reducing the ability for divisive groups like the Ku Klux Klan to blame Jews for any strife. The economic successes of the Oregonian Jewish merchant class made the Jewish ethnicity pronounced in the public eye. The integration of Jews into the majority ruling class in the West helps explain the strength of the Oregon Jewish ethnic group both civically and economically. This research helps answer the question: what defines “otherness” in the state of Oregon?