Christina Baker ’06

A new study by a University of Puget Sound professor reveals that AI tools like ChatGPT may speak your language, but they are thinking with an “American mind.”

New research into the inter-personal relations connecting China and Central America will provide a critical perspective on shifting global alliances. This work, led by Monica DeHart, University of Puget Sound professor of sociology and anthropology, has been awarded a prestigious 2025 Project Development Grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

What does it mean to be a grandmother today? For many, it’s no longer just weekend visits or holiday baking. As Jennifer Utrata, professor of sociology at Puget Sound explains, grandmothers across the country, often assisted by involved grandfathers, are stepping into daily, essential caregiving roles like never before. Her in-progress book manuscript, Keeping the Kids Afloat: Intensive Grandmothering and Family Inequality, uncovers how this quiet shift is transforming family life, and placing new, often invisible demands on an older demographic.