University of Arizona in the News

The Washington Post Aug. 26, 2022
The future of America's water cannot be won without changing America's farms

This column calling for "a great leap forward in water conservation strategies" praises the ideas of University of Arizona Regents Professor Emeritus of Law Robert Glennon in a July essay for Governing.com. Glennon urged direct investment by cities in more efficient farms, helping farmers afford the cost of "drip irrigation" systems and in exchange, cities would receive the conserved water.
The Los Angeles Times Aug. 26, 2022
Manuel Muñoz's stories capture a Central Valley you've never seen

University of Arizona professor of English Manuel Muñoz discusses the role that California's Central Valley plays in his fiction.
Arizona Daily Star Aug. 24, 2022
School's back: Time to find your U of A Wildcat spirit

About 7,500 students moved into the University of Arizona’s 23 dorms last week and a good lot of them made their way to the UA BookStores on campus, looking to prop up their wardrobes.
KGUN Aug. 24, 2022
'Approachable, reachable': UAPD leadership prepares department to welcome students back

University of Arizona Police Chief Paula Balafas and Deputy Chief Mario Leon discuss how they seek to foster a culture in which the campus community at large knows UAPD officers and staff are ready and prepared to answer calls for help at any time.
ABC News Aug. 23, 2022
Companies increasingly using politics in marketing, but there are risks: Experts

As the polarization of public life deepens in the U.S., some companies see opportunity to attract customers. While political messaging cultivates loyalty among a devoted set of customers with matching beliefs, businesses risk damaging their bottom lines and further exacerbating polarization, since such ads alienate consumers with opposing views and freight everyday purchases with political overtones. "The idea in the mind of managers – especially investors and their boards – had always been to stay away from politics because it's going to be a mess," said Nooshin Warren, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, who specializes in the use of political messaging. "As consumers moved to the side of pushing for one political ideology, naturally firms had to respond to the market."
The Hill Aug. 23, 2022
Rebuilding Ukraine means building homes, a sense of belonging and civic engagement

University of Arizona professors Beth Mitchneck and Jane Zavisca write that, beyond the critical military needs of Ukraine, the U.S. and other nations must lay the groundwork for reconstruction of the county's civil society, particularly housing.
PBS Student Reporting Labs Aug. 22, 2022
University of Arizona students work with Indigenous communities on climate change challenges

A 2021 study found Indigenous peoples face the great challenges due to the historical dispossession of 99% of their native land. The University of Arizona Indigenous Resource Center, founded by associate professor of environmental science Karletta Chief, connects students to Indigenous communities to solve problems with water, food and natural resources caused by climate change with funding from the National Science Foundation.
USA Today Aug. 22, 2022
Their pleas for water were long ignored. Now tribes are gaining a voice on the Colorado River.

The 1922 Colorado River Compact virtually ignored tribal communities, but amid drought, Indigenous leaders have gained a say in what happens next. Tribes' access to legal assistance to advocate for asserting, protecting and quantifying their water rights has increased over the past 50 years as the Native American Rights Fund and other such organizations were founded. "I think after a lot of high-profile wrangling between state governments and the federal government over rights to the Colorado River, the reality that tribes and other federally reserved rights were going to play a significant part of the picture of managing the Colorado River started to really come become clearer to everybody," said Heather Whiteman Runs Him, the director of the Tribal Justice Clinic at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.
National Geographic Aug. 22, 2022
Unlocking the secrets of the North American monsoon

A monsoon is a seasonal change in wind patterns that delivers rainfall to a large area or continent, typically causing dry winters and wet summers. Although people often think of monsoons as a steady downpour that drenches the entire region for weeks or months on end, that is rarely the case: Monsoons are highly variable from day to day and year to year. In 2020, for example, the Southwest set a record for the driest and hottest monsoon season with just 2.97 inches of rainfall – followed by one of its wettest monsoon seasons ever in 2021 with 7.93 inches. "Predicting exactly what places on a given day will get monsoon rainfall is extremely challenging," said Chris Castro, an expert on the North American monsoon at the University of Arizona. "One part of town can get a good dousing of monsoon rain – like an inch or more in a given storm – and other parts of the city can be completely dry."
Vox Aug. 20, 2022
The Colorado River drought is coming for your winter veggies

Last August, the federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time in response to projections that Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, would be at just 34% of its capacity by the end of 2020. The declaration, known as a Tier 1 shortage, triggered cuts that affected Central Arizona, which has low-priority rights. Farmers in Pinal County, who grow alfalfa, wheat and other crops, suffered the most, said Paul Brierley, a former farmer who now leads the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture at the University of Arizona. "They've had to fallow (stop planting) about 40% of their acreage because they lost all their Colorado River water," he said.