University of Arizona in the News

This column examines how Hulu's new series "The Other Black Girl" aims to meet the call for Black work-life stories in the media. Stephanie Troutman Robbins, a Black feminist scholar and head of the Gender and Women's Studies department at the University of Arizona, commends recent strides in television to depict issues Black employees face – but she's ready for their workplace stories to take center stage.

When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft swings by Earth on Sunday, it is expected to deliver a rare cosmic gift: a pristine sample collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest. "I ask myself how many heart-pounding moments can you have in one lifetime because I feel like I might be hitting my limit," said the University of Arizona's Dante Lauretta, the mission’s lead scientist.

Valley fever's mortality rate runs about one death per 1,000 infections, according to Dr. John Galgiani, director of the University of Arizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence. It doesn't need to be so high. To show that a vaccine could be effective protection against Coccidioides, Galgiani and his team started by focusing on an immunization for dogs with the infection. The canine vaccine Galgiani helped to develop has already proved itself. Galgiani believes that if funding allows, a human version of his vaccine could be ready for approval within eight years.

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins discusses the university's position as a leader in space sciences.

A new study by University of Arizona researchers shows climate change is causing extinctions at an increasing rate. They surveyed populations of the Yarrow's spiny lizard in 18 mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and analyzed the rate of climate-related extinction over time. "The magnitude of extinction we found over the past seven years was similar to that seen in other studies that spanned almost 70 years," said John J. Wiens, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the senior author of the study.

The University of Arizona Southwest Institute for Research on Women reports the Tucson Police Department Pre-Arrest Deflection Program referred 59 substance users to treatment, rather than arresting them, each month on average over a three-year period. The institute's director Josephine Korchmaros said that not only are the officers actively implementing the program, but community members are accepting of it as well. "They're an alternative," Korchmaros said.

A number of companies – from clothing to pet care – are trying to appeal to customers who think corporate America is pushing a liberal agenda. An issue driving consumers to seek alternatives may also lose political salience, forcing businesses that have made it part of their appeal to change their approach. Nooshin Warren, a professor of marketing at the University of Arizona, said that if LGBTQ rights became less politicized and more accepted across the country, conservative companies would have to rethink their strategy.

Brother Robert Macke, a Jesuit priest and research associate in the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, built a pycnometer, which measures and compares the density or specific gravity of liquids and solids, to test samples taken from the asteroid Bennu.

In the 1970s, buying a print of Ernie Barnes' "The Sugar Shack" – the iconic 1976 painting of a dance club that adorns the cover of Marvin Gaye's album "I Want You" and appears in the credits for the classic sitcom "Good Times" – required only mailing a $20 check to the artist's West Hollywood studio. In 2022, the second of two originals sold at auction for $15.3 million. However, it was his decision to sell prints that changed the trajectory of his career.