Honors Scholars Fighting the Good Fight

Author: Sophie Hill | Majors: Arabic,  Economics, International Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies

My name is Sophie Hill, and I am a recently graduated honors student from the University of Arkansas with majors in Economics, International Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Arabic. Throughout this past semester, I have been working with Dr. Popp and Dr. Hancox of the University of Arkansas Honors college as part of a student research team studying food insecurity in the university’s student population and the broader Northwest Arkansas community.

Our student research team was part of the Honors Arkansas Research Scholars network. This cohort consisted of students and faculty from a multitude of universities across the state all working together to combat food insecurity in Arkansas. The entire cohort met once per week to attend a lecture and discussion regarding a topic that greatly impacts food insecurity issues faced by Arkansas residents. A wide range of experts and organizations were represented during these presentations. Some of my favorite presentation topics were the impacts of transportation infrastructure on food security, barriers faced when applying for government food subsidies (i.e., SNAP and WIC), and state and/or local government responsibility vs. corporate responsibility for ensuring food security for Arkansans. In addition to these lectures, our team took on two major projects this semester. First, we collaborated with the Northwest Arkansas Foodbank to help them identify food deserts in our community. Secondly, we created and distributed a food insecurity survey to the University of Arkansas student population and formatted our data analysis into a report that will serve university administrators in determining how to meet students’ nutritional needs.  The results from these two projects will be shared with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance in order to inform our state legislators of the critical food insecurity issues that are disproportionately held by marginalized Arkansas residents.

While working with the NWA Foodbank, we collected an inventory of all food stores in Benton County, Carrol County, Washington County, and Madison County, to determine where food deserts exist in NWA, we reached out to each establishment to inquire about hours of operation and fresh produce availability. These two components enable the NWA foodbank to determine where the community’s needs are not met in terms of access or lack thereof to the purchasing of food and to a variety of food options that fulfill nutritional requirements for multiple ethic groups living in the area. After contacting these food stores, we forwarded our data collection to the NWA Food Bank so that they could begin mapping each location and its info to identify food deserts. Additionally, the information we collected will be made available to community members by the NWA Foodbank so that local residents can familiarize themselves with all local food options they may find useful.

Furthermore, we took part in a project aiming to examine food insecurity on the University of Arkansas campus. Our student research team helped Dr. Popp and Dr. Hancox finalize the food insecurity survey prior to its release. Additionally, we created a comprehensive marketing plan in order to get the word out around campus about our survey. Once we closed the survey, Dr. Popp generated the SAS output for our survey results. We split up the SAS output and conducted statistical analyses of the most relevant survey sections. The results are statistically significant and show a trend that in-state students (i.e., from Arkansas), first generation students, and Black students all struggle with similar issues impacting food security (i.e., have less money, use government subsidies, worry about having enough food, cannot afford a balanced meal, etc.).

In addition to our own campus-specific project, each of the universities participating in the Honors Arkansas Research Scholars cohort released the same survey to their students. This made for a solid cross examination of food insecurity disparities amongst a variety of college students across the state. This information will greatly aid legislators in drafting relevant food insecurity policies and programs for Arkansas residents specifically in college.

Food insecurity and its intersection with poverty, inequality, state infrastructure, government funding, corporate involvement, etc., are extremely critical topics of study given the current state of affairs we are plagued with today. Creating and implementing solutions that prioritize people of the working class and their right to food security is a daunting task. However, research projects like this one that employ multiple fields of study and have a goal to directly influence policy.

I have worked on multiple research projects regarding food insecurity and/or basic resource disparities domestically and abroad and each one has equipped me with different skills and taught me new lessons. Some of the goals I came in with for this project were hindered by multiple medical issues that popped up for me this previous semester. Though quite a few of these issues could not be foreseen prior to the start of the semester, all of them absolutely took a toll on my academic capabilities to a larger degree than I would like to admit. Though I do not intend to underwrite the severity of my ongoing medical issues, I do think that I can still take a few new lessons under my belt, especially with regards to matters not attributed to my medical situation such as timeliness and communicating my mishaps and overcommitments to the committed party. However, since my medical issues are ongoing, my full redemption arc era is still pending as is the process of overcoming these challenges in full.

As for my next chapter in life, I am currently applying for jobs within the field(s) of economics and statistical analysis at organizations that have a strong disposition to upholding social and economic justice. I am additionally looking at pre doctoral programs in economics. Regardless, I intend to pursue a master’s degree in public policy analytics and/or economics or a related field within the next few years and would like to get a PhD in Economics a few years down the road. Though I had some difficulties this semester, the research I conducted throughout this project has allowed me to further refine my skills for my academic and career pursuits.