February 2017

- Congratulations to our College of Public Service Advisors for their success with our students who have been on probation. In Fall 2016 we had 46 students on Probation 1 in our college; 30 are now back in good standing. 

- Further congratulations to our College of Public Service Advisors for taking and keeping the lead among all the colleges in the high percentage of students enrolled for the Spring, 2017 semester. The advisors developed individualized contact methods and schedules of contact for our students and this has helped to boost enrollment in the college. 

- Kevin Buckler, Editor of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Law, published the first issue of the first online journal to be housed at the University of Houston-Downtown. The journal went online on Monday, January 23, 2016!

- Barbara Belbot is on the Editorial Board of the Journal fo Criminal Justice and Law.

- Paulina Gamino assisted Dr. Buckler in creating the cover design and the site for the journal. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer, Special Issue Editor, conceived, organized, wrote the introduction for, and published an issue on Organizational Partnerships: How Collaboration Strengthens Families and Communities for the Journal of Family Strengths. 

- Dawn McCarty's paper, "The empowering effects of cooperative development among indigenous women in southern Mexico". was published in the Journal of Family Strengths. She co-authored this chapter with Damaris Cortez. 

- Bernardo Pohl's interview, "Voices from the field: Exploring partnerships with the African American Library at Gregory School in Houston, Texas" was published in the Journal of Family Strengths. 

- Judith Harris, Rebecca Pfeffer, Bernardo Pohl, Myrna Cohen, and Leigh Van Horn co-authored a paper, "Developing understanding of collaborative partnerships between university and community," published in the Journal of Family Strengths. 

- Irene Chen's chapter, "The impacts and implications of green technology on United States K-12 education" was published in an edited book titled, Green Technology in E-Learning and Human Capital: Global Perspectives. She co-authored the chapter with Tina Nixon who is an assistant principal and an adjunct for the technology courses in Urban Education. 

- Michael Connell has been asked to join the Editorial Advisory Board for Open Mathematical Education Notes, an international journal whose main goal is to foster interactivity among mathematicians and mathematics educators worldwide through high quality publications emphasizing mathematics education as a field of inquiry. 

- Michael Connell is now serving as the co-editor of the mathematics section of Computers in Schools. He serves with Sergei Abramovich, a faculty member at the SUNY Potsdam School of Education and Professional Studies. 

- Barbara Belbot was awarded a faculty development award to attend the 2017 Teaching Professor Conference: Cutting Edge Learning for Exceptional Educators. 

- Lori Lovins was awarded a faculty development award to participate in a panel presentation at the 35th International Academy of Law and Mental Health Conference. 

- Krista Gehring received a faculty development award to attend the 2017 Teaching Professor Conference: Cutting Edge Learning for Exceptional Educators.

- Irene Chen received a faculty development award to attend the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education conference. 

- Judith Harris received an award from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning for her service learning course proposal for CJ 4370

- Angie Goins received an award from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning for her service learning course proposal for SOCW 3331.

- Laura Mitchell received an award from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning for her service learning course proposal for PED 3314. 

- Maria Bhattacharjee and Irene Chen received an award from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning for their service learning course proposal for PED 3314. 

- Krista Gehring received a Faculty Involved in Research/Studies with Students for Transformation (FIRST) Grant to make a presentation with Alpha Phi Sigma students at the Academy of Criminal Justice Science Annual Meeting. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer received a Faculty Involved in Research/Studies with Students for Transformation (FIRST) Grant to make a panel presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Science Annual Meeting with Renee Lamberton, whose thesis she chaired. The presentation is titled "Investigating Whether Gang Resistance Education Training (GREAT) Impacts Perceptions of Police Officers," and is featured on a panel titled, "Gender, Juveniles, and the Police".

- Diane Miller's presentation, "Scaling Up Advocacy Efforts" was accepted for presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English conference. 

- Ashley Blackburn's paper, "The Effect of Prior Victimization on Female Inmate Mental Health" was accepted for presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Annual Meeting. 

- Maria Bhattacharjee's paper, Supporting the quest of young children to become literate by using an e-bilingual library" was accepted for presentation at the National Association for Bilingual Education conference. 

- Kevin Buckler's paper, "Mandating Collection of Police Use of Force Data" was accepted for presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Science Annual Meeting. 

- Dana Smith's paper, "U.S. Student's Admissions and Exit Narratives: The Use of Qualitative Data for Curriculum Planning" has been accepted for presentation at the European Association of Schools of Social Work-Union Nationale des Acteurs de Formation et de Recherche Intervention Sociale Conference. 

- Bernardo Pohl's paper, "Narrative from the Field: A Case Study Examining the Mentoring and Inductions Experience" has been accepted for presentation at the Critical Questions in Education Conference. 

- The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs featuring Krista Gehring in CRIMCOMICS: An Innovative Approach to Criminological Theory as part of their Spring 2017 Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Showcase Series. The event takes place 2:30 - 4:00 on Tuesday, February 28th in the Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Auditorium. 

- Ron Beebe was chosen to serve on the 2016-2017 Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research. 

- Ron Beebe has been elected as the Treasurer for the Texas Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. 

- Our Social Work Program had a successful site visit for the reaffirmation of the program by the Council of Social Work Education. We will receive the full report in a few weeks and notification in early June. Our program is one of the first to go up for reaffirmation under the new 2015 standards and has already been recognized for the strength of its approach to assessment. 

- The College of Public Service received another $10,000 in funding from Union Pacific Railroad for projects conducted at the House of Tiny Treasures pre/primary school for homeless children. Project proposals are being solicited. Union Pacific Railroad has provided us with a total of $60,000 in funding for this site. 

- On February 8, 2017 vitalvoices the College of Public Service Speaker Series hosted scholar, lawyer, and activist for juvenile justice, Michelle Deitch. Steven Villano welcomed the standing room only crowd and Barbara Belbot, a colleague of Michelle Deitch and the contact for this event, introduced the speaker. 

- Welcome to Damaris Cortez who joins us as a lecturer in Social Work. 

- Welcome to Pakeithe Saavedra who joins us as a Lecturer in Criminal Justice.