Stories

Shea Mulqueeney, Class of 2026 (Public Health and Environmental Studies Major and Sustainability Minor), completed her Honors Thesis on research on encampment sweeps of people experiencing homelessness in the South Bay. See here to hear her discuss how her policy analysis, entitled “A Call for the Reform of Encampment Sweep Practices in San Jose, CA,” emerged from her Public Health Senior Capstone research project with Dr. Mackenzie. Congratulations to Shea for her inspiring thesis!

In this research, Fall 2025 Public Health Senior Capstone students collected Wellness Audit surveys in collaboration with Tristia Bauman of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley to assess the mental and physical health impacts of encampment sweeps in the South Bay. This project was also conducted with community collaborators Todd Langton of Agape, Larry Cargnoni and Monica Rising of the Mobile Showers in San Jose, as well as Marlene Bennett and Brie Mendoza of SCU’s Unhoused Initiative. Driven by their continued interest in supporting the health of people experiencing homelessness, a group of Public Health students continued data collection for the Wellness Audit in Spring 2026, presented research findings at SCU’s Alumni Science Conference in May 2026, and are working on data analysis for publication.