The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
For Akanke Mason-Hogans, returning to the Hank and Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute as a co-instructor feels like a natural continuation of a journey that began long before her first day in a classroom. Mason-Hogans, a Durham native and graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, didn’t always know she wanted to…
Jaelyn Nixon didn’t plan on becoming a public policy scholar. She didn’t plan on teaching high school students research methods, either. But then again, her path has never really followed a straight line. What has stayed consistent is her curiosity. “I knew I wanted to study people,” says Nixon, a returning instructor to the Hank…
For Shamia Truitt, teaching is far more than a career, it is a calling rooted in service, creativity, and a steadfast commitment to equity. Throughout her more than two decades in the classroom, Truitt has championed a holistic, student-centered philosophy that honors the complexity of her students’ lives. Today, as a 7th grade teacher at…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, was quoted in a story by Marketplace examining how companies are quietly rebranding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The article explores how some corporations are scaling back or reframing public-facing DEI language amid political scrutiny. And, that the broader landscape is more nuanced…
February 20, 2026 — A new first-of-its-kind study of nearly 3,000 adults in New York City finds significant inequities in wealth and health outcomes across the 11 most common racial and ethnic groups, showing that Black and Latino New Yorkers have less wealth and unfairly worse health outcomes compared to others. Conducted in June 2024 by…
Faculty Affiliate Omer Ali is an Assistant Professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, and previous postdoctoral fellow a the Cook Center. Ali is the lead researcher on a new article published in Regional Science and Urban Economics this month examining the relationship between race and home values in Durham, North Carolina. The study…
