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October 2017

- Heather Goltz has been awarded a position in the 2018 Massachusetts General Hospital Workshop on Research Methods in Supportive Oncology.

- Rebecca Pfeffer will be the lead evaluator on a Bureau of Justice assistance grant received by the Houston Police Department's Vice Unit. 

- Michael Connell's manuscript, "A technology immune technology enabled problem within an action on objects framework: Stamping functions," was published in the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. 

- The Social Work Program received an newly formed endowed scholarship in support of our social work students; the Robert Earl Givson Memorial Scholarship Endowment. 

- Ashley Blackburn’s paper, “Channels only? The emotional effect of vicarious trauma on court reporters,” was accepted for presentation at the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice conference. 

- Ash Tiwari’s manuscript, “Institutional barriers to educational participation: Examples from China and India,” was published in the International Journal of Educational Reform. 

- Dawn McCarty participated on the panel for our Town Hall on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals featured on Channels 13 and Univision 45. 

- Jace Valcore’s manuscript, “Sexual orientation in state hate crime laws: Exploring social construction and criminal law,” was published in the Journal of Homosexuality.

- Matt Fugate’s edited book, Teaching Gifted Children: Success Strategies for Teaching High Ability Learners has been published by Prufrock Press and the National Association for Gifted Children
 
- Heather Goltz’s manuscript, “Explanatory models of genetics and genetic risk among a selected group of students,” was published in Frontiers in Public Health. 

- Beth Sanders’ paper, “Assessment of New Jersey distracted driving on accidents,” was accepted for presentation at the Midwest Criminal Justice Association Conference. 

- Diane Miller’s manuscript, “Standards revisions and teachers’ voices: A story of participation politics, and passion,” was published in Language Arts. 

- Heather Goltz’s manuscript, “Exploring the reality of using patient experience data to provide resident feedback: A qualitative study of attending physician perspectives,” was published in The Permanente Journal.  

- Ash Tiwari’s manuscript, “Examining teachers’ understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” was published in the Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 

- Michael Connell’s manuscript, “Problem solving in the digital age: New ideas for secondary mathematics teacher education,” was published in the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. 

- Heather Goltz participated in the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) Think Tank Meeting where she was the only social/behavioral scientist on the Think Tank Steering Committee and the second to lead a BCAN Working Group. 

- Steven Villano attended the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities annual conference where he  continued to build on his knowledge of urban community engagement. 
 
- Dawn McCarty has been invited to give the first annual “Porres Lecture” on Latin American issues at the University of Dallas. 

- Hsiao-Ming Wang’s paper, “Prison staff’s perception of contraband prevention: An exploratory study in a southern state,” has been accepted for presentation at the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice annual meeting. 

- Judith Harris’ paper, “Service-learning: A case study of recovery coach training,” was accepted for presentation at the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice annual meeting. 

- Jace Valcore was interviewed on Channel 13’s Crossroads on the topic of the ban of transgender individuals in the military. 

- John Kelly’s paper, “The impact of a service learning project involving preservice teachers,” was accepted for presentation at the Consortium of State of Texas Teacher Education (CSOTTE) Conference. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer’s paper, “The trafficking of people with disabilities: Perception of victims and offenders culpability,” was accepted for presentation at the American Society of Criminology Conference. 

- Diane Miller, Christal Burnett, and Amelia Hewitt’s paper, “Round the clock read alouds: Stories of preservice teachers in an urban literacy project,” was accepted for presentation at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers Conference. They will be joined in the presentation by partner, Sally Swanson, Executive Director of the Houston Public Library Foundation. 

- Shanaz Savani made an oral presentation on the topic “The role of social work in the age of Islamophobia” at the National Association for Social Workers Texas Annual Conference. 

- Ron Beebe has been appointed Associate Editor for the 2018 Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research. 

- Susie Nelson is the co-sponsor for the Texas State Teachers Association – Student Program Fall Conference co-hosted by UHD-Kingwood and Kingwood College. 

- Mike Cavanaugh begins his term as Vice-President of the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice. 

- Ron Beebe begins his term as the Treasurer of the Texas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. 

- Rebecca Pfeffer received a College of Public Service – Learning Course-Based Community Engagement and Service (LEARN) award for her proposal, “Human trafficking in Houston bus tour: A high impact practice.” 

- Nina Barbieri and Matt Fugate received a College of Public Service – Learning Course-Based Community Engagement and Service (LEARN) award for their proposal, “CJ3306, STEAM, and mentorship of young men in the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program.”

- John Kelly received a College of Public Service – Learning Course-Based Community Engagement and Service (LEARN) award for his proposal, “UHD Department of Urban Education/Harris County Juvenile Probation Department Excel Academy and JJAEP Literacy Project.” 

- Beth Gilmore received a College of Public Service Conference and Research Experience for Students (CARES) award for her proposal “Police views on policing.” Through this award, UHD student James Holt will travel to the American Society of Criminology Conference and present the results of the literature review and final manuscript he developed with Dr. Gilmore during his independent study, CJ4312 Research Project.

- Kevin Buckler received a College of Public Service Conference and Research Experience for Students (CARES) award for his proposal “Criminal Justice Legislation in Texas.” Through this award, UHD student Brandon Andrews will travel to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference and present the results of the data collection, analysis, and manuscript he completed with Dr. Buckler during his independent study, CJ 4312 Research Project.

- Criminal Justice student Mirna Grant has been awarded the University of Houston – Downtown Criminal Justice Graduate Externship Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded in collaboration with the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department. 

- Houston Police Department Captain, Graduate of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice program, adjunct in the Department of Criminal Justice and Social Work, and member of the UHD-Criminal Justice Training Center Advisory Board, Captain Greg Fremin received a Congressional Certificate of Recognition from Congressman Gene Green for his valuable service to the Northeast Division of the 29th Congressional District. 

- Nina Barbieri’s paper, “Disentangling identity: An examination of colorism and its effects on criminal justice experience,” was accepted for presentation at the American Society of Criminology conference. 

- Lori Lovins’ paper, “Examination of an intervention to address jail overcrowding,” was accepted for presentation at the American Society of Criminology conference. 

- Lori Lovins’ paper, “Evaluation I: Recidivism outcomes from a youth treatment and management program,” was accepted for presentation at the Annual Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abuses conference. 

- Clete Snell’s paper, “Mental health courts: Do they improve the quality of life for participants?” was accepted for presentation at the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences conference. 

- Clete Snell’s paper, “Recidivism outcomes in mental health court: Does criminal history make a difference?” was accepted for presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting. 

- Shanaz Savani’s proposal for a poster session, “Suicide in Central Asia: Prevalence rates, risk and protective factors, and interventions” has been accepted for presentation at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research. 

- Shanaz Savani’s paper, “The role of social work education in the age of Islamophobia” has been accepted for presentation at the Council of Social Work Education conference. 

- In a university-wide survey of FTIC students who participated in Gator Gateway this summer: 
  • 83% of the CPS students said they are very excited about their major; that number ranged from 59-66% for other colleges and overall was 67%
  • For the statement, “I’m excited about getting to know students/faculty in my college,” CPS was 95%, other colleges ranged from 83 – 90% and overall was 88%
  • Except on one measure (for which CPS showed the same % as the overall average) CPS percentages  were higher than the overall. 

Congratulations to the members of the College of Public Service – students, staff, and faculty!