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Office of CommunicationsRutgers University249 University Ave.Newark, NJ 07102
With a four-year, $2 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Assistant Professor of Nursing Rachel Jones is developing an innovative
approach to reduce the risk of HIV infection in young urban women. The tools she is using are soap operas, cells phones and real-world examples of the dilemmas women face in their relationships with male partners.
“Sexual behavior regarding the use of condoms is not going to change by reading a pamphlet,” notes Jones. “There is a complex web of thoughts, feelings and behavior that are linked together. What we want to do is promote safer behavior using the context of familiar sex scripts.”
The majority of women in the United States — 80 percent — who are HIV infected were infected through unprotected sex with a male partner. Through her previous research, Jones has found that women approach sex from one of two perspectives: a “lower power” perspective grounded in the belief that sex without condoms is necessary to keep a man, or a “higher power” perspective where women view themselves as worthy of respect.
Changing Behavior Through Soap Operas —The Latest Tool in Combating HIV By Kathleen Brunet Eagan
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Rachel Jones, assistant professor, College of Nursing, was awarded a $2 million grant to study the effectiveness of using soap operas to reduce HIV infection among young urban women.
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A Centennial Celebration Featuring Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg By Janet Donohue
For 100 years, Rutgers School of Law–Newark has been a pioneer in legal education. The school’s distinctive institutional spirit of excellence and
reform was present when the school opened its doors as the New Jersey Law School on Oct. 5, 1908 with three faculty members and 30 students. The founders drew
p. 2Head Coach Loughran Captures 100th Win
p. 3High Honors for Those Who Connect Campus and Community
p. 4You Are What You Watch
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking at the dedication of the Center for Law and Justice in 1998.
The most successful run in the history of Rutgers University in Newark men’s basketball program is what Joe Loughran
has put together during his eight-year tenure as head coach.
Loughran recently captured his 100th career victory, the most wins in the NCAA Division III era of the men’s basketball program. The victory came as the Scarlet Raiders earned a thrilling come-from-behind win against rival Ramapo on Dec. 3.
Under his leadership, the Scarlet Raiders basketball team has reeled off five straight winning regular seasons and made the field for three consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournaments, reaching the semifinal round for three straight years (2005, 2006 and 2007).
As the athletic academic coordinator, Loughran also has been instrumental in the outstanding overall performance of Rutgers student-athletes. Over the past six years, nearly 50 percent of student-athletes have earned Academic Achievement Awards for attaining a 3.0 grade point average or better while completing a full-time course load.
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This often-cited quote applies equally to students attending Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 2009 as those who attended its
predecessor, the New Jersey Law School, in 1908. While the purpose has remained the same for more than 100 years, Rutgers School of Law-Newark’s methodology, curriculum, student body and faculty have evolved with the changing times and trends to achieve the venerable goal of training law students to think like lawyers. Dean Stuart L. Deutsch, who will be returning to the faculty after having served nine years as dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark, reflects on the evolution of legal education at Rutgers in Newark since the law school’s inception more than a century ago.
“While we continue to expose students to a wide range of substantive law through case law analysis,” notes Deutsch, “in the 1960s, the law school began offering practice-oriented, skills-training opportunities, such as law clinics, trial advocacy and appellate advocacy, to give students direct, hands-on
experience.” The experiential approach makes law more relevant to public life by immersing students in the actual representation of real clients with real legal problems.
Also, to address the globalization of today’s society, the law school now offers courses in comparative and international law. According to Deutsch, the expanded curriculum helps students develop a broader perspective on a variety of cross-border legal issues in areas such as human rights, intellectual property and commercial transactions.
“Not only have there been changes in what we teach and how we teach it, there have been significant changes relative to the individuals being taught and those doing the teaching,” says Deutsch. Over the past four decades, the number of minority and women students attending the law school has increased with each succeeding year. Currently, approximately 40 percent of the students attending the law school are minorities and 50 percent are women. Notably, Rutgers School of Law-Newark was the first law school in the country to reach female-to-male parity, a goal accomplished in the mid-1970s. Of the professors, approximately 35 percent are women and nearly 25 percent are minorities.
To learn more about Rutgers School of Law-Newark, visit law.newark.rutgers.edu.
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To encourage higher power behavior, Jones is working with a professional filmmaker, students from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and a crew of young actors to create a series of 12 soap operas. The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey also has provided a $154,400 grant for the project. When completed, the soap operas will be delivered via cell
phones to a pilot group of women to determine the videos’ effectiveness in changing behavior.
The video scripts are based on true stories told to Jones and her team of researchers, stories about men engaging in risky behavior, and women who have yet to realize their own power. In the soap operas, viewers watch as the female actors transition from lower power thinking to higher power behavior and begin making safer choices.
“What we’re doing is communicating through stories how women can change their sex scripts to protect themselves,” says Jones. “By grounding the stories in reality, we believe that viewers will identify with the heroine’s choice to make more powerful choices.”
To view the pilot video, go to www.stophiv.newark.rutgers.edu.
Changing Behavior Through Soap Operas… from page 1
Head Coach Loughran Captures 100th Win at Rutgers-Newark
inspiration from New Jersey’s groundbreaking legal traditions to establish the law school as a center for innovation. One of their early advances was to create a legal education program for women.
Fittingly, a premier event marking the school’s Centennial Celebration will be the Feb. 13 symposium
“Rutgers School of Law–Newark Celebrates Women Reshaping American Law.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will return to the law school to give the keynote address. It was as a member of the faculty from 1963 to 1972 that Justice Ginsburg began to develop into a leading women’s rights scholar and advocate. The symposium also will feature Fred Strebeigh, author of the new book Equal: Women Reshape American Law, and more than a dozen women, several with ties to Rutgers, who have been pioneers in addressing gender discrimination in the legal system and the profession.
Other anniversary events that celebrate the school’s core values of teaching, scholarship, service and opportunity include last October’s Centennial Seminar on the school’s successful commitment to racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and gender diversity, and the upcoming April 3 conference, “The Legacy of Arthur Kinoy and the Inspirational and Collaborative Dimensions of Clinical Legal Education: Honoring 40 Years of Clinics at Rutgers–Newark.” A gala to increase scholarship funding also is being planned to cap the Centennial Celebration.
A Centennial Celebration… from page 1
Reflections on a Century-Long Tradition of Teaching Students to Think Like Lawyers By Ferlanda Fox Nixon
“You come in here with a skull full of mush, and you leave thinking like a lawyer.” -Charles W. Kingsfield Jr., the imperious, fictional, Harvard law professor portrayed by John Houseman in the 1973 movie The Paper Chase
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Dean Stuart L. Deutsch
Two plans are available. The business program allows each R-N department to receive one departmental card, whereby department members can register through the departmental “Approved Drivers” roster. Applicable fees are billed monthly. Under the individual plan, R-N participants pay a one-time $25 registration fee, a $100 refundable security deposit, and $50 annual membership fee.
Both plans charge a rental fee of $10 per hour, or $75 per day, which covers gas, insurance and any applicable taxes. To register, go to www.EZRide.org.
To Help and Honor Those Who Have Served Their Nation
A University-wide initiative is reaching out to students who are veterans of the American armed forces to better meet their special needs.
As part of this effort, Rutgers University in Newark veterans were honored at a special reception, where they also were introduced to administrators who work with veterans through offices such as the Registrar and the Business Office. In addition, a Veterans Association is being formed at Rutgers in Newark, according to Gerald Massenburg, Assistant Chancellor for Student Life. Massenburg is working with student veterans Andrew Koltunowicz and Matt Halligan to make the group a reality during the spring semester.
Massenburg also serves on a University-wide committee seeking to better serve student veterans. The committee has been meeting with veterans to hear first-hand what their needs are and studying veterans programs at other institutions as possible models. Among the items under exploration: special orientation sessions, academic and psychological counseling services for vets, and easing the transfer of college credits for veterans who have moved frequently and thus switched colleges often, as well as the awarding of credit for military experience. Efforts also are underway to establish Volunteer Veteran-Mentoring programs throughout the University.
High Honors for Those Who Connect Campus and Community
In November, Rutgers University in Newark recognized “exemplary leadership in connecting the campus with the community.” In announcing the 2008 Chancellor’s Community Engagement Awards, Chancellor Steven J. Diner observed, “The campus is very fortunate to have so many dedicated faculty, staff and students working with community agencies and populations.”
The winners of the second annual awards are:
Associate Professor Robert Snyder, journalism and American studies, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Community Engagement in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Award, for founding The Newark Metro, a web magazine that uses writings from students, people who live in, work in, or simply care about the Newark area.
Professor Judith Weis, Biological Sciences, Faculty Community Research Award, for her three decades of research investigating the biology of organisms living in stressed, industrially contaminated estuaries of Northern New Jersey.
Samantha Johnston and Rosalie Uyola, doctoral students and teaching assistants, American Studies Program, Student Community Research Award, for their collaboration in producing a documentary video, “Art for All,” about the Special Collections of prints at the Newark Public Library. The video is accessible at www.NewarkMetro.rutgers.edu.
Patricia Kettenring, director, Business and the Arts Program, Faculty/Staff Community Service Award, for her work as director and founder of GlassRoots, an organization that teaches Newark-area children glass making, graphic design and business skills.
Jason Khurdan, political science, Class of 2009, Student Community Service Award, for founding The Guardian Fellowship, a non-profit mentoring
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organization dedicated to “the betterment of society through connecting individuals and groups to youth in the downtown Newark area.”
Rutgers Social Work Department, Academic Program/Unit Award, for its field work and internships, its Baccalaureate Child Welfare Program, annual programs such as its agency fair and symposia on topics such as social welfare policy, and the volunteer efforts of both the Social Work Student Organization and department faculty, and other programs.
The MCJ Amelior Foundation, Community Partner Award, for its “sustained and outstanding commitment to creating college access and opportunity for Newark youth” through two joint initiatives with Rutgers in Newark, the READY Program and the R U READY FOR WORK program.
Be an Easy Rider
You don’t own a car but you have an off-campus meeting and can’t get there by mass transit. What to do? The answer is easy: EZ Ride, a partnership between Rutgers-Newark’s Commuter Transit and Parking Services and Meadowlink, a non-profit organization, that allows individuals to share a hybrid Honda Accord. Drivers 21 years or older can reserve the car for as little as an hour or for an entire day after first registering to become an EZ Ride member. The car is accessible 24 hours, seven days a week.
ON THE PLAZA
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(l-r) Chancellor Steven J. Diner with Barbara Bell Coleman, Suzanne Spero, Tai Beauchamp, Nichelle Holder, Vaughn Crowe and Charlie Rubin of the Amelior Foundation.
The F.M. Kirby Foundation, a Morristown-based family organization, has awarded a $750,000 grant to the Rutgers College of Nursing to support the education of 10 doctoral fellows who are New Jersey residents. The grant will also fund the work of a faculty member who is committed to teaching, research and service in the best academic tradition, said Interim Dean Lucille Joel.
The 10 students awarded F.M. Kirby Foundation fellowships are: Jill Cox, River Vale; Mary Johansen, Hillsdale; Janice O’Brien, Teaneck; Tresa Dusaj, Belle Mead; Janine Pezzino, Bloomfield; Donna Ho-Shing, Union; Kathleen Boreale, Mountainside; Cecil Almendra, Dumont; Elizabeth Kleber, Kendall Park; and Dorothy Carolina, Piscataway.
“It is our expectation that these doctoral fellows and their faculty mentors will contribute notably to the expansion of nursing knowledge and ultimately improve the human condition of New Jersey residents and beyond,” Joel said.
The Rutgers College of Nursing was the first to introduce a nursing doctoral program in New Jersey. In the fall of 2006, the college also introduced the first online and blended Ph.D. program at Rutgers University to meet the needs of nurses interested in a doctoral program who cannot attend a traditional setting because of family and work demands.
The college also introduced the doctor of nursing practice program (DNP) in the spring 2007
semester. The DNP program differs from a nursing Ph.D. program in that it focuses on the practice of nursing and the application of research, rather than the development and testing of original research.
F.M. Kirby Foundation Contributes $750,000 for Nursing Doctoral Fellowships By Miguel Tersy
(l-r) Mary Johansen, Janine Pezzino, Dorothy Carolina, Janice O’Brien and Donna Ho-Shing were among the 10 doctoral nursing students recently granted fellowships through a $750,000 grant from the F.M. Kirby Foundation.
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History Professor Annette Gordon-Reed won the 2008 National Book Award for nonfiction for her landmark history of an American slave family, The Hemingses of Monticello. The National Book Award
citation described The Hemingses of Monticello as “at once a painstaking history of slavery, an unflinching gaze at the ways it has defined us, and a humane exploration of lives – grand and humble – that ‘our peculiar institution’ conjoined.” Gordon-Reed received the award at a ceremony in New York City on Nov. 19.
Clement Alexander Price, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History, was appointed to a key role on President Barack Obama’s transition team. Price, who has earned national distinction for his many leadership roles in higher education, and the arts and humanities,
is chairing the Obama transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Long-time faculty member Myroslava T. Znayenko received a prestigious Fulbright Scholar award and is doing research at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Institute of Literature, through June 2009. Znayenko, associate professor, Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures, and co-director, Central and East European Studies Program, is studying the impact of Western European ideals upon Taras Shevchenko, a major Ukranian literary and cultural figure.
www.newark.rutgers.edu4
Keep ConnectedConnections is published by the Office of Communications. Your comments are welcome.
Faculty in the Spotlight By Carla Capizzi
Judging by the most recent accolades earned by scholars at Rutgers University in Newark,
the term “distinguished faculty” couldn’t be more appropriate. Four members of the campus community were recently recognized for their rich contributions to the law, to history and scholarship, and to public service.
Public acclaim of the accomplishments of Stuart L. Deutsch as law dean is growing. Deutsch, who is stepping down as dean in June, was honored in October by the New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center. Appleseed hosted a special recognition of Deutsch during its annual awards gala in October, featuring tributes by Newark campus Chancellor Steven J. Diner and Rutgers School of Law-Newark Professor Robert Holmes. Their remarks recognized the dean’s achievements during the nine years of his leadership, as well as his contributions to the legal profession. After leaving the dean’s office, Deutsch will return to the faculty as an environmental law professor after a one-year leave. The 100-year-old law school is a national leader in diversifying the legal profession, in clinical legal education, and in public interest law.
Professor Annette Gordon-Reed poses with her National Book Award presented for the best nonfiction of the year, The Hemingses of Monticello.
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When it comes to violence in the media and its influence on violent behavior in young people, you are what you
watch, according to a new paper, lead-authored by Psychology Professor Paul Boxer. The paper, published in February in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, provides new evidence that violent media does indeed impact adolescent behavior. In fact, the research found that even when other factors are considered, such as academic skills, encounters with community violence or emotional problems, “childhood and adolescent violent media preferences contributed significantly to the prediction of violence and general aggression” in the study subjects.
Boxer, assistant professor of psychology, has been involved since 2004 in research funded by the Centers for Disease Control into media violence and its relation to serious youth violence and criminal behavior. Although such a relationship has been acknowledged for some 40 years, most research was done in a laboratory setting, not in the field, with little emphasis on documenting links between media violence and actual engagement in serious violent and antisocial behavior, explains Boxer. “Our research program more broadly looks at violence in a number of different social contexts.”
The paper reports the results of extensive interviews with 820 adolescents in Michigan – 430 high school students from rural, suburban and urban communities, and 390 juvenile delinquents held in county and state facilities. Boxer believes the results can be used to assess, intervene and
treat young people displaying aggressive behavior. He also knows more detailed research is needed, such as analyzing the impact on behavior when violent interactive video games are banned.
Boxer is co-investigator on the grant; principal investigator is Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan; the other co-investigator is Brad Bushman, University of Michigan.
The study is online at www.springerlink.com/content/4788773215243487/fulltext.html.
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You Are What You Watch By Carla Capizzi
Celebrating Those Who Opened the Doors for ManyThe Rutgers University in Newark community will celebrate several significant anniversaries in February that paved the way for greater access and equality.
The Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series • Feb. 21 — The 29th annual Marion
Thompson Wright Lecture Series, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Lincoln, the NAACP, and the World They Created,” will acknowledge the significance of the bicentennial anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth and the centennial anniversary of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Deborah Gray White, Rutgers Board of Governors Professor of History, and Bob Herbert, columnist for The New York Times, will give the keynote address. The conference starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Paul Robeson Campus Center. For additional information, go to http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu.
The Occupation of Conklin Hall A series of free public events has been scheduled to recognize the occupation of Conklin Hall 40 years ago by the Black Organization of Students. That event began the transformation of Rutgers into a nationally recognized multicultural and inclusive institution. Upcoming celebrations include: • Feb. 23 — Juke Joint Poetry Jam
11:30 a.m. – 12:50 p.m., Paul Robeson Campus Center, a celebration of diversity featuring students and alumni.
• Feb. 24 — A Look Back, A Leap Forward, 1 – 5 p.m., Paul Robeson Campus Center, documentary screening and a performance by Unity Theater.
• Feb. 27 — 40 Years: Liberation of Conklin Hall Reunion, 6 – 10 p.m., Paul Robeson Campus Center, closing ceremonies celebrating the historic 1969 Conklin Hall Takeover.
For news on other faculty achievements, please go to: www.newark.rutgers.edu/oc/pubs/connections.php
Helen Paxton Senior Editor [email protected]
Kathleen Brunet Eagan Managing Editor [email protected]
Carla Capizzi Editor [email protected]
Janet Donohue Contributor [email protected]
Ferlanda Fox Nixon Contributor [email protected]
Miguel Tersy Contributor
249 University Ave., Newark, NJ 07102 phone 973/353-5262 fax 973/353-1050
For current and back issues and article search, visit www.newark.rutgers.edu/oc/pubs/connections.
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