IBS News

Dr. Lori Peek, Director of the Natural Hazards Center (NHC) in the Institute of Behavioral Science, was interviewed for a CU Boulder Today article focusing on the long term effects of cumulative natural disasters on families and children's physical and mental health. The article highlights Peek’s research study on the victims of Hurricane Katrina and her newest study on the victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Through her studies Peek points out just how much a family’s circumstance going into disaster can shape how they fare coming out of it, and whether they’ll face the next
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As many IBS friends and colleagues know, we have two changes in leadership on an interim basis this academic year. 

First, Myron Gutmann is on a 9-month sabbatical (August 2020-May 2021), working mostly on research and staying within Boulder for the time being.  Stefanie Mollborn is serving as the Interim Director for IBS.  Stefanie can be reached via email at mollborn@colorado.edu and has set aside time on Wednesdays from 10am-12pm as IBS Office Hours.

Stefanie is a professor in the Health and Society Program and the CU Population Center, tenured in Sociology and affiliated with Social Psychology. She has been on
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More than half a century after the Civil Rights Movement and despite its achievements, race and ethnicity are unfortunately still among the most important categories that define how people are differentially perceived and treated in the United States and beyond. 

We are particularly saddened and angered by how violent forms of policing led to the tragic and completely avoidable deaths of not only George Floyd, but also Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Walter Scott, unfortunately only a few among many other egregious cases of police abuse and of the large number of people dying
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Stories help us piece together the past and create a collective narrative. 

Lori Peek, Director of the Natural Hazards Center, says “In the hazards and disaster field, we have been turning to a new story for a good while. The notion that natural hazards losses are inextricably linked to racism, poverty, pollution, and other slow-motion disasters is now widely accepted." You can read more about the link between natural hazards and the United Sates’ history and evolving narrative in Peek's Director's Corner article titled The Stories We Tell.

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Written by Sierra Speegle (Strategic Communication, '21)