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I'm interested to work with students who question the determinants of health inequity, with a focus on the roles and experiences of community health workers in pursuing health equity. Undergraduate and graduate students working with me have pursued a variety of projects involving qualitative and quantitative methods in diverse geographical contexts. I've served on the committees of numerous anthropology (MA, MS, PhD), public health (MPH), and engineering (MS) graduate students.
I'm interested to work with diverse students who have traditionally faced social and economic barriers to achieving college degrees in the US.
In recent years, students working with me have received financial support from the National Science Foundation’s Cultural Anthropology Program, the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, the OSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the OSU URSA Engage Program, the OSU Prestigious Diversity Fellowship, and the OSU Provost Fellowship. I am committed to assisting students in accessing financial support for their research and degrees.
Oregon State University provides a variety of resources to support undocumented and DACAmented students.
2017. Maes, Kenneth. The Lives of Community Health Workers: Local Labor and Global Health in Urban Ethiopia. Routledge.
2015. Maes, Kenneth. Community Health Workers and Social Change: Global and Local Perspectives. Annals of Anthropological Practice 39(1).
2022 Wiggins, N., K. Maes, L. Rodriguez Avila, K. Rodela, and E. Kieffer. Aligning research practices with health promotion values: Ethical considerations from the Community Health Worker Common Indicators Project. In Global Handbook of Health Promotion Research, Vol. 1.
2021 Wiggins, N., K. Maes, G. Palmisano, L. Rodriguez Avila, K. Rodela, and E. Kieffer. "A Community Participatory Approach to Identify Common Evaluation Indicators for Community Health Worker Practice." Progress in Community Health Partnerships.
2021 Rodela, K., N. Wiggins, K. Maes, T. Campos-Dominguez, V. Adewumi, P. Jewel, S. Mayfield-Johnson. The Community Health Worker Common Indicators Project: Engaging CHWs in measurement to sustain the profession. Frontiers in Public Health.
2020 George, R., R. Gunn, N. Wiggins, R. Rowland, M.M. Davis, K. Maes, A. Kuzma, and A.J. McConnell. "Early Lessons and Strategies from Statewide Efforts to Integrate Community Health Workers into Medicaid." Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
2020 Tesfaye, Y., K. Maes, R. Abesha, S. Young, J.S. Snyder, A. Gebremariam, and M.C. Freeman. "How Do Rural Ethiopians Rate the Severity of Water Insecurity Scale Items? Implications for Water Insecurity Measurement and Interventions." Human Organization.
2019 Maes, K., S. Closser, Y. Tesfaye, and R. Abesha. "Psychosocial distress among unpaid community health workers in rural Ethiopia: Comparing leaders in Ethiopia's Women's Development Army to their peers." Social Science & Medicine.
2018 Maes, K., S Closser, Y. Tesfaye, Y. Gilbert, and R. Abesha. "Volunteers in Ethiopia's Womens' Development Army are more deprived and distress than their peers: cross-sectional survey data from rural Ethiopia." BMC Public Health.
2017 Closser, S, A. Rosenthal, J. Justice, K. Maes, M. Sultan, S. Banerji, H. Banteyerga, R. Gopinath, P. Omidian, and L. Nyirazinyoye. “Per Diems in Polio Eradication: Perspectives from Community Health Workers and Officials.” American Journal of Public Health.
2014 Maes, K., S. Closser, and I. Kalofonos. “Listening to community health workers: How ethnographic research can inform positive relationships between CHWs, health institutions, and communities.” American Journal of Public Health.
2013 Maes, K. and Ippolytos Kalofonos. “Becoming community health workers: Perspectives from Ethiopia and Mozambique.” Social Science & Medicine.
2012 Maes, K. “Volunteerism or labor exploitation? Harnessing and sustaining the volunteer spirit for AIDS treatment programs in urban Ethiopia.” Human Organization.
2012 Stevenson, E.G.J., L. Greene, K. Maes, A. Ambelu, Y. Tesfaye, C. Hadley, and R. Rheingans. “Water insecurity in three dimensions: An anthropological perspective on water and women’s psychosocial distress in Ethiopia.” Social Science & Medicine.
2010 Maes, K., C. Hadley, F. Tesfaye, and S. Shifferaw. "Food Insecurity and Mental Health: Surprising Trends among Community Health Volunteers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the 2008 Food Crisis." Social Science & Medicine.
2010 Maes, K. "Examining Health-Care Volunteerism in a Food- and Financially-Insecure World." Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
For a complete list of publications, see my Google Scholar page.
Cross-Cultural Health & Healing (ANTH 574)
Anthropology and Global Health (ANTH 374)
Peoples of the World: Africa (ANTH 315)
Human Adaptability (ANTH 442/542)
Neuroanthropology (ANTH 461/561)
Nutritional Anthropology (ANTH 444/544)
Human Osteology Laboratory (ANTH 443/543)