Interested in terrorism and disaster preparation and response? Passionate about global economic development, population and the environment? Or, do you just need some expert advice on how to conduct research to help your community, or to properly undertake a public opinion survey? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to meet John Schorr.
John Schorr is Senior Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida (where John and Learning Life founder, Paul Lachelier, were colleagues), Co-Director of Stetson’s Institute for Social Research, and – we are happy to add – a supporter of and advisor to Learning Life.
Born and raised in New York, John graduated from Hartwick College with his bachelor’s degree, the New School for Social Research with his Master’s, and Brown University with his Ph.D., specializing in sociology throughout. After teaching briefly at the City University of New York-Staten Island Campus, John began his teaching and research career at Stetson University in 1975. Over his career, he has taught the sociology of development, the city, population and the environment, as well as statistics, community-based research, and that staple of so many sociology professors: introduction to sociology.
As a researcher, John has published and presented numerous research articles on the impact of disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Oklahoma City Bombing, and Three Mile Island, on communities and first responders. He co-authored the book Demanding Democracy after Three Mile Island (1991) with Raymond L. Goldsteen, and was a consultant on the design of a national Gallup Survey on terrorism. In recent years, John has spear-headed the development of community-based research at Stetson University to get students directly involved in research benefiting local communities.
As a volunteer, John has served for 25 years on the Board of Directors of Community Outreach Services, a local substance abuse treatment agency, for over 20 years as a member and then Vice Chair of the International Board of Partners of the Americas (the largest non-profit for people-to-people cultural exchange in the hemisphere), for 10 years as President of the Florida-Colombia Partners chapter of the Partners of the Americas, and for 7 years as a research consultant to a variety of local community organizations.
Since Learning Life’s founding in 2012, John has advised us on various issues and attended our monthly meetings. Asked why he volunteers for Learning Life, John says,
“The concept of Learning Life intrigues me. I think we may be on the verge of developing a model for increasing awareness and critical thinking for people not ordinarily involved in the major political and social debates of the day.”
Now in semi-retirement, John teaches full-time in the spring semester at Stetson University, then travels with his wife, Phijitra, to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they stay from July to January each year.
Learning Life thanks John for his volunteerism!
To learn more about volunteering with Learning Life and other ways you can help, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Educational Contributor Spotlight: Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
Did you know:
Changing from 12-inch to 10-inch plates leads people to serve and eat 22% less.
Low-fat food labels spur people to eat 16-23% more calories.
Slicing fruit leads school children to buy and eat over 70% more fruit.
People pour on average 28% more into short, wide glasses than tall thin glasses.
These are just a few examples of some of the fascinating findings about eating behavior one of Learning Life’s first educational partners, Dr. Brian Wansink, has produced.
Wansink is Professor of Consumer Behavior at Cornell University, and founder and Director of its Food and Brand Lab. Wansink and his Lab’s research documents how our food environments – homes, supermarkets, restaurants, etc., and elements like lighting, music, color, size, and wording – often powerfully influences what and how much we eat.
As Wansink told Learning Life, the mission of the Food and Brand lab is to “discover and disseminate transforming solutions to help people eat better.”
This mission and his Lab’s research have resulted in over a hundred published research articles and books, and landed Wansink in print, video and film on every continent but Antarctica. His research also led Wansink to serve as White House-appointed Executive Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) in 2007-2009, during which time he oversaw the development of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, the Healthy Eating Index, and the Cost of Raising a Child Index.
As CNPP Executive Director, Wansink also helped increase the number of hits to the USDA’s dietary guidelines website (mypyramid.gov) to 5.2 million per day, a 44% increase; launched a campaign called “Partnering with My Pyramid” which mobilized a hundred companies to promote the dietary guidelines through packaging, ads, tray liners, etc.; and developed new tools like the “My Pyramid” for mothers and toddlers, and a My Pyramid menu planner, which are downloaded over 100,000 times every day, especially by teachers and students.
Wansink’s mission to shape food environments to promote healthier eating has also put him and his research on the front pages of major newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, as well as on CNN, NBC News, ABC News, The Today Show, 20/20, 60 Minutes, and National Public Radio, among others.
Wansink writes an eating column for AARP titled “Chew on This.” In books, Wansink wrote the bestseller, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think”(2006), and the forthcoming Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life(January 2014).
While the term “mindless eating” may suggest to some that consumers must become more mindful about their eating, Dr. Wansink’s more practical approach is to encourage food makers and servers, from major food manufacturers to homemakers, to make often simple changes – like reducing plate size, and giving healthy foods more enticing names – that can boost both sales and healthy eating.
Given Brian Wansink’s important work, we at Learning Life happily feature a quiz on our website highlighting some of his Lab’s fascinating findings, and look forward to helping him further to disseminate his research via Learning Life social media channels and everyday life surfaces.
As Learning Life’s founder, Paul Lachelier, notes, “Brian’s work is a shining example of the research university professors are doing on so many topics that are really interesting and important to people’s lives. At Learning Life, it’s part of our mission to help university researchers spread their most interesting findings on the surfaces of everyday life, where people will see them.”
For more information about Dr. Brian Wansink and his Food and Brand Lab, visit:
The following op-ed was published in Alexandria’s (Virginia) Gazette Packet on May 2, 2013.
Did you know:
Alexandria’s currently has around 146,000 residents, 30% of whom speak a language other than English at home.
Alexandria’s extraordinary arts community contributed $71 million in city economic activity, and 1,774 full-time equivalent jobs in 2010.
One of Alexandria’s most recent community health assessments ranked obesity, tobacco use, and substance abuse among the city’s greatest health challenges.
Volunteer Alexandria every year organizes “Spring for Alexandria” a one-day volunteer event to benefit our city and its non-profits. This year it happens this Friday, May 3, at locations throughout the city.
These are just a few examples of facts that can help us better understand and engage with our city. But how do we disseminate such facts to inform more city residents?
All the above facts were culled free from the websites of our city government, Volunteer Alexandria, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
However, as abundant and free is information on the internet, one still usually has to search for it to find it and use it. Those more motivated to learn and engage thus benefit disproportionately from the internet and the Information Age more generally, while those less motivated to learn benefit much less. This problem applies not just to city information, but to all kinds of information essential to personal and collective health and success.
Knowledge is indeed power. Research shows that the more knowledge or education one has, the better are one’s employment prospects, income, health and community engagement. Studies also show that people who are more informed about a given topic comprehend and problem-solve better and remember more about that topic.
Recently, I founded an educational non-profit in Alexandria called Learning Life to address this problem. Learning Life’s mission is to inform and empower more people by printing knowledge on the surfaces of everyday life (health on table tents, poetry on cup sleeves, history on wallpaper, science on cereal boxes, etc.), then linking these surfaces to an ever growing world of learning online.
Learning Life’s mission is based on three educational realities: (a) learning doesn’t just happen in youth, (b) nor just in school, and (c) learning doesn’t just happen deliberately, but also incidentally. We learn incidentally in everyday life from casual conversation with friends and family as well as from work, volunteering, television, the internet and various surfaces, like billboards and posters. However, most of public education’s focus is on schools, not everyday life, and everyday life is filled with far more advertising than learning.
So, what if we started using everyday life surfaces to inform and engage more people in and about Alexandria?
This year, Learning Life is pursuing educational partnerships using everyday surfaces like table tents, drink coasters and fortune cookies to creatively inform and engage more Alexandrians about health and other issues, as well as to encourage more D.C. metro area residents to learn about Alexandria’s rich artistic offerings. Those interested in learning more, or possibly partnering with Learning Life can contact us at email@learninglife.info.
It may come as a surprise, but Learning Life’s most faithful and generous donor is a 23-year old recent college graduate. Her name is Arielle Mohammed.
Arielle graduated in May 2012 from Stetson University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. It is in Stetson’s Department of Sociology & Anthropology that Arielle met Learning Life’s founder, Paul Lachelier. Arielle took two courses with Paul – Sociological Theories, and Power & Evil – and through these courses and thereafter, they developed a friendship that endures to this day. (Per his request though, she now calls him Paul, rather than Dr. Lachelier.)
Despite her solid performance as a student, like many recent college graduates in our down economy, Arielle has struggled to find work she can love. Upon graduation, she initially worked full-time as a 7-11 sales associate. Her productivity, dependability and kindness at 7-11 recently earned her a better position as a receptionist at a dental office, where she is excited to work with a supportive administrative team.
At Stetson, Arielle worked for the university’s recycling program throughout her college years, becoming a team leader in her junior and senior year. As team leader, she helped Stetson achieve third place in Spring 2011 in the RecycleMania competition involving 600 schools nationwide.
As a devout yet tolerant Catholic, Arielle volunteered with the Jewish Student Organization as she helped lead Stetson’s Catholic Campus Ministry, becoming Vice-President in her junior year, and President in her senior year. In her work as a young Catholic leader, Arielle wrote letters to the imprisoned, helped fundraise for food pantries, served in soup kitchens, and traveled to Honduras to help rebuild and renovate buildings at a parochial school.
Asked why she donates monthly and generously to Learning Life, Arielle responds:
“Besides knowing Paul Lachelier for quite some time, Learning Life greatly appeals to me. I have always been drawn to learning and knowledge. Learning should not be constrained behind classroom doors. It should be free and open to all. Learning Life is bringing innovative ways of spreading knowledge, and reminding us of the importance of learning.”
For all these reasons, we at Learning Life admire Arielle, are very grateful for her support, and wish her the very best in her young career.
Want to learn how you can help Learning Life? Contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Born and raised in New York, John graduated from Hartwick College with his bachelor’s degree, the New School for Social Research with his Master’s, and Brown University with his Ph.D., specializing in sociology throughout. After teaching briefly at the City University of New York-Staten Island Campus, John began his teaching and research career at Stetson University in 1975. Over his career, he has taught the sociology of development, the city, population and the environment, as well as statistics, community-based research, and that staple of so many sociology professors: introduction to sociology.
