{"id":93143,"date":"2022-10-26T14:36:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T18:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=93143"},"modified":"2022-10-26T15:12:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T19:12:45","slug":"umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/","title":{"rendered":"UMW Alum Sheds Light on Economic Inequality"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>The Mayor of Mary Washington. That&rsquo;s what one professor called then-student Lavar Edmonds &rsquo;14 as he strolled down Campus Walk, stopping to chat with everyone along the way.<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_93146\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93146\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"93146\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/p1213532\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-scaled.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1438\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"2.8\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"DC-S1\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1631887931\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"45\",\"iso\":\"1600\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.002\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Lavar Edmonds &amp;#8217;14 discovered an interest in economics at UMW, where he received a bachelor&amp;#8217;s degree in the subject. Now a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, his research and opinions on housing, economic and educational inequality have made headlines.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-300x169.jpeg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-1024x575.jpeg\" class=\"wp-image-93146 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-300x169.jpeg\" alt=\"Lavar Edmonds '14 discovered an interest in economics at UMW, where he received a bachelor's degree in the subject. Now a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, his research and opinions on housing, economic and educational inequality have made headlines.\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-300x169.jpeg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-1024x575.jpeg 1024w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-768x431.jpeg 768w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-1536x863.jpeg 1536w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-2048x1151.jpeg 2048w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-285x160.jpeg 285w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-1140x640.jpeg 1140w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-600x337.jpeg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lavar Edmonds &rsquo;14 discovered an interest in economics at UMW, where he received a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in the subject. Now a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, his research and opinions on housing, economic and educational inequality have made headlines.<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a curious person,&rdquo; said Edmonds, who discovered a passion for social science research at the University of Mary Washington. Majoring in economics was &ldquo;a whole new way to ask and answer my own questions about the world, which is a huge part of what I do now.&rdquo;<\/p><p>A Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, Edmonds engages in conversations with his students like he did with his professors a decade ago, describing his time at UMW as &ldquo;an unparalleled experience.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s still asking important questions, such as how economic and housing inequality can impact learning, recently as a research specialist at Princeton University&rsquo;s Eviction Lab.<\/p><p>At the start of the pandemic, Edmonds penned a <em>Washington Post<\/em> opinion piece that asked: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/07\/27\/want-help-kids-weather-this-school-year-keep-them-getting-evicted\/\"><em>Want to help kids weather this school year? Keep them from getting evicted<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em>His expertise drew national attention, landing him interviews on PBS <em>Newshour<\/em> and NPR.<\/p><p>Edmonds, who grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, in a family of educators, always expected to teach. What he didn&rsquo;t foresee? How economics figured into the equation.<\/p><p>&ldquo;Education is a huge enterprise, and in most state budgets, it&rsquo;s the largest expenditure,&rdquo; said Edmonds, who got interested in the field after taking an elective on the principles of microeconomics. &ldquo;Everyone is touched by teaching, which has a tremendous social, cultural and economic impact on our society.&rdquo;<\/p><p>At Mary Washington, Edmonds said, he found &ldquo;the kind of college experience every student should have,&rdquo; forming meaningful bonds with professors who &ldquo;not only do research, but teach, advise, mentor and make themselves available to students.&rdquo;<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_93144\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93144\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"93144\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/college\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1536,2048\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Edmonds (right) poses with Gibran Parvez &amp;#8217;14, his three-year UMW roommate, at graduation. In college, said Professor of Economics Robert Rycroft, Edmonds&amp;#8217; inquisitiveness stood out, as did his popularity, with Rycroft saying he was like &amp;#8220;the mayor of Mary Washington.&amp;#8221;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-225x300.jpeg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-768x1024.jpeg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-93144\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Edmonds (right) poses with Gibran Parvez '14, his three-year UMW roommate, at graduation. In college, said Professor of Economics Robert Rycroft, Edmonds' inquisitiveness stood out, as did his popularity, with Rycroft saying he was like &quot;the mayor of Mary Washington.&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-225x300.jpeg 225w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-768x1024.jpeg 768w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-855x1140.jpeg 855w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College-450x600.jpeg 450w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/College.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93144\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edmonds (right) poses at graduation with Gibran Parvez &rsquo;14, his three-year UMW roommate. In college, said Professor of Economics Robert Rycroft, Edmonds&rsquo; inquisitiveness stood out, as did his popularity, with Rycroft saying he was like &ldquo;the mayor of Mary Washington.&rdquo;<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Outside of class, Edmonds played violin with UMW Philharmonic and popular indie band Wylder. He also used critical-thinking and problem-solving skills he gained at Mary Washington as a data analyst for UMW&rsquo;s Student Transition Program, collecting information on academic outcomes for first-in-family and underrepresented students.<\/p><p>&ldquo;Lavar had tons of academic talent, but what stood out was his inquisitiveness,&rdquo; Professor of Economics Robert Rycroft said. &ldquo;He wanted to know the deep reasons why things worked the way they did, and he was willing to do the research to discover that.&rdquo;<\/p><p>After graduation, Edmonds, who minored in math, taught precalculus in nearby King George County. Thinking about ways to improve student performance led him to pursue a master&rsquo;s degree in education policy at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p><p>Then, he moved on to Princeton, where he compiled eviction data to help policymakers, journalists, educators and others better understand the intersection of housing inequality, poverty and education. His <em>Washington Post<\/em> article, published in 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/fallwinter2020\/departments\/eviction-specialist-aims-to-help-people-keep-homes\/\">brought attention<\/a> to a critical problem &ndash; at a time when people needed to stay home, a growing number were being forced out of theirs, unable to pay rent.<\/p><p>&ldquo;If we care about keeping students safe, and if we care about educational equity, we need to find ways of keeping children home while still providing high-quality, easily accessible education,&rdquo; Edmonds wrote. &ldquo;That starts with making sure they have homes at all.&rdquo;<\/p><p>His doctoral work asks a new question: How does having teachers trained at historically Black colleges and universities impact Black elementary school students?<\/p><p>There&rsquo;s a lack of research in this area, said Edmonds, who hopes his data can help craft legislation that benefits schools, teachers, administrators and most of all, students. &ldquo;I enjoy creating new knowledge and contributing to this conversation.&rdquo;<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_93145\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93145\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"93145\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/headshot-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"520,292\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Edmonds, shown here at Stanford University, where he&amp;#8217;s pursuing a Ph.D. in the economics of education, holds a master&rsquo;s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot-300x168.jpeg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot.jpeg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-93145\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot-300x168.jpeg\" alt=\"Edmonds, shown here at Stanford University, where he's pursuing a Ph.D. in the economics of education, holds a master&rsquo;s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot-300x168.jpeg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot-285x160.jpeg 285w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/headshot.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93145\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edmonds, shown here at Stanford University, where he&rsquo;s pursuing a Ph.D. in the economics of education, holds a master&rsquo;s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>He did just that earlier this month, when his Stanford research was shared in an article titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jbhe.com\/2022\/10\/public-school-students-with-teachers-educated-at-hbcus-do-better-at-mathematics\/\">&ldquo;Public School Students With Teachers Educated at HBCUs Do Better at Mathematics&rdquo;<\/a> by <em>The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education<\/em>.<\/p><p>All of his educational experiences shaped him as a scholar, Edmonds said, but his UMW professors provided a model for teaching and interacting with students. &ldquo;Mary Washington influenced how I think about academia and the type of professor I want to be.&rdquo;<\/p><p><em>Lavar Edmonds was the recipient of the Crawley Senior Fund, the Charles A. and Lenore Kramer Orchestra Scholarship and the James E. Baker University &ndash; Community Orchestra Scholarships. <\/em><\/p><p><strong>Watch Edmonds in UMW&rsquo;s 2019 <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=05sxwh2AnJA\"><em>College to Career<\/em> video<\/a><strong>, where he revisits his alma mater and talks about his time as an undergraduate at Mary Washington.<\/strong><\/p><p><em><b>Betty Emrey of Mindpower Inc. contributed to the reporting and writing of this story.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mayor of Mary Washington. That&rsquo;s what one professor called then-student Lavar Edmonds &rsquo;14 as he strolled down Campus Walk, stopping to chat with everyone along the way.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a curious person,&rdquo; said Edmonds, who discovered a passion for social science research at the University of Mary Washington. Majoring in economics was &ldquo;a whole [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":93147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[704],"tags":[728,15101,15100],"topics":[5147],"class_list":{"0":"post-93143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-rrycroft","9":"tag-housing-inequality","10":"tag-lavar-edmonds","11":"topic-service-citizenship","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UMW Alum Sheds Light on Economic Inequality - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMW Alum Sheds Light on Economic Inequality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mayor of Mary Washington. That&rsquo;s what one professor called then-student Lavar Edmonds &rsquo;14 as he strolled down Campus Walk, stopping to chat with everyone along the way.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a curious person,&rdquo; said Edmonds, who discovered a passion for social science research at the University of Mary Washington. Majoring in economics was &ldquo;a whole [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/26\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityofMaryWashington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-26T18:36:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-26T19:12:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/P1213532-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jill Laiacona\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UMaryWash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UMaryWash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jill Laiacona\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jill Laiacona\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/81cd90fbc8c9a45401477e39ce19ef4b\"},\"headline\":\"UMW Alum Sheds Light on Economic Inequality\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-26T18:36:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-26T19:12:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":868,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/7\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/P1213532-1.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bob Rycroft\",\"housing inequality\",\"Lavar Edmonds\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Top Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/26\\\/umw-alum-sheds-light-on-economic-inequality\\\/\",\"name\":\"UMW Alum Sheds Light on Economic Inequality - 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That&rsquo;s what one professor called then-student Lavar Edmonds &rsquo;14 as he strolled down Campus Walk, stopping to chat with everyone along the way.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a curious person,&rdquo; said Edmonds, who discovered a passion for social science research at the University of Mary Washington. 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