December 2017

- On November 14, 2017 the College of Public Service, in partnership with UHD President Juan Munoz and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, hosted the first Innovation in Criminal Justice Symposium with panels devoted to Restorative Justice, Diversion, and Community-Based Justice. Panelists from the college included: Lori Lovins, Rebecca Pfeffer, Clete Snell, and John Kelly. The panels were moderated by Ashley Blackburn, Nina Barbieri, and Dana Smith. 

- Many thanks to Nina Barbieri, Ron Beebe, Barbara Belbot, Kevin Buckler, Christal Burnett, Ana Esparza, Beth Gilmore, John Kelly, Bernardo Pohl, and Terrilyn Ratcliff for representing us in the Cap and Gown Celebration with our December, 2017 graduates! Honor cords were distributed to 143 College of Public Service Honor Graduates!

- Ashley Blackburn (CJ), Irene Chen (UE), and Rebecca Pfeffer (CJ) are currently co-editing a book titled Emerging Trends in Cyber Ethics and Distance Learning with the final product due to the publisher this month!    

- Franklin Allaire, Urban Education faculty member and NASA Project Chair, adjuncts teaching science methods courses with him, and our teacher candidates in Urban Education who are working on the NASA/ISS/UHD project received a video from Astronaut Joe Acaba aboard the International Space Station. Watch the video here.  

- Nina Barbieri, Ashley Blackburn, and Dana Smith, all of whom served as moderators during the Innovation in Criminal Justice Symposium will view the video-tapes of the panel discussions and sync them up with the transcriptions the first week in December. This work is being done so we can publish the proceedings of the symposium both online and in hard copy format. 

- Nina Barbieri’s manuscript, “Examining general strain: Using subjective and objective measures of academic strain to predict delinquency,” based upon her dissertation, was published in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice. 

- Heather Goltz and the team she works with in the Association of Social Work Sexuality Special Interest Group presented a 3-hour Clinical Practice Intensive related to cancer and sexual minorities and received notice of their peer-reviewed selection and invitation to present a  90 minute Learning Institute during the 2018 AOSW meeting.  

- Yu-Han Hung’s  manuscript, “Exploration of teacher life stories: Taiwanese history teachers’ curricular gatekeeping of controversial public issues,” was published in Teaching and Teacher Education.  This is the first of several works she will publish from her dissertation. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer’s manuscript, “Gendered outcomes in prostitution arrests in Houston, Texas” has been accepted for publication in Crime and Delinquency. 

- Shahnaz Savani’s proposal, “The role of researcher’s program discipline and communicative style in designing a successful focus group interview: A case study,” was accepted for presentation at the 30th Annual Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference. 

- Matt Fugate was elected Vice-Chair of the Research Division for the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. 

- Krista Gehring published another work, Social Disorganization Theory, in her Crimcomics series for Oxford University Press. This is the fourth in a series of thirteen works to be published.

- Heather Goltz has been nominated to serve on the Field of Study Advisory Committee representing Social Work, to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

- Laura Mitchell was selected to be on the Inclusion Council for Fielding Graduate University. The goal of the group is to create a diversity plan for Fielding Graduate University with a collaborative process for including cultural competence for faculty and staff as they interact with students. 

- The Attorney General granted funding for the Diversion Program; a collaborative effort between the Harris County District Attorney’s office and Rebecca Pfeffer.

- Shahnaz Savani and student representatives from the Social Work Program and the Social Work Students Community Advocacy Network and Leigh and Jerry Van Horn participated in the Aga Khan Foundation Walk on November 4!

- On November 11th the College of Public Service participated in the Hero’s Run from City Hall. We hosted an information table for our Criminal Justice programs and participated in the run. Attending the event were Beth Sanders, Rebecca Pfeffer, Christal Burnett, Mike Cavanaugh, Ana Esparza, Angie Goins, Mercedes Gonzales, Cynthia Hartman, Sharon Noel, Ryan Robinson, Leigh Van Horn, and Steven Bracken and the Cadets of the UHD-Criminal Justice training center who ran with their new flag. 

- Matt Fugate’s paper, “Teaching gifted children: Success strategies for teaching high ability learners,” was accepted for presentation at the National Association for Gifted Children conference.

- Barbara Belbot and Krista Gehring will serve on the new UHD Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) Course Innovation Subcommittee. 

- Laura Mitchell’s paper, “The impact of a service learning project involving pre-service teachers working with incarcerated students ,” was accepted for presentation at the Annual International Conference of Educational Research and Innovation. 

- Ashley Blackburn’s paper, “An examination of physical health problems among incarcerated women,” was accepted for presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference. 

- Matt Fugate’s papers, “Instrumentation for gifted education research and programming: A free repository for practitioners and researchers,” “Attention divergent hyperactive giftedness: Creativity as a habit,” “You have a friend request: Giftedness in the age of social media,” and “Equity and access – fair outcomes, treatment and opportunities,” were accepted for presentation at the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented annual conference. 

- Judith Harris’ poster, “The evolution of a service learning course,” was accepted for presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference. 

- Krista Gehring’s paper, “Rapid resiliency: Stopping entry for justice involved women,” was accepted for presentation at the Association for Justice Involved Females and Organizations conference. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer’s students in CJ 4316, Human Trafficking, hosted an event showcasing posters highlighting their research on the human trafficking problem in countries around the world. The event was held on November 28th at A 2nd Cup of Coffee Shop in the Heights. 

- Judith Harris’ students in the Senior Seminar service learning course dedicated to re-entry and recovery will host their final presentation commemorating community-based projects and class completion on December 12th. Special guests include CEO Nadine Scamp and Recovery Coach, Amelia Murphy of Santa Maria Hostel,  and Senator John Whitmire as well as representatives from Work Faith Connection, Unlimited Visions, Angela House, Houston Food Bank, and SER-Jobs Programs.

- Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society, Tau Delta Chapter held their Induction Ceremony on December 5th. Dana Smith, Phi Alpha Advisor welcomed new members and officers Regina Johnson and Penelope Thacker and new student members, Anila Ashraf, Armando Villegas, Demetra Douglas, Otha Norton, Tillman Richards, Sonia Opara, Marissa Jimenez, Sarah Setliff, Annette Howard, Dana Rose, Jasmyne Williams, Roberta Jennings, Vivian Taylor, Shalean Williams, and Evelyn Bueno. Outstanding Social Work Field Instructors honored and inducted were Angela Martinez from March of Dimes and Pamela Walker from Harris County Protective Services. 

- Nina Barbieri is serving as a research mentor for an Advanced Prep student attending Carnegie Vanguard High School. The student is taking a capstone research class and his topic and research question focus on the role and social effects of juveniles in Mexican cartels. She will meet with the student to provide feedback on the topic, assistance in locating resources, and help with data collection and analysis. 

- The UHD-Criminal Justice Training Center Law Enforcement Academy recently reported that they have 21 sponsored cadets; these are cadets who are already employed and whose agencies are paying the tuition and sponsoring them in our program. 

- Maria Bhattacharjee’s students who are teacher candidates in Urban Education will have an exhibit and a theater presentation of picture books written in collaboration with young students in a classroom of the Energized Early Childhood Center on December 12, 2017. 

- On Saturday, December 16th Beverly Alford, Nina Barbieri, Barbara Belbot, and Jacqueline Sack will serve as marshals in the Commencement Ceremony. Barbara Belbot will represent the college as our banner carrier.