-
Justice and Safety Institute(JASI).” [JASI] has
wonderfulcontacts with people who canhelp us identify the
criticalissues where research and theorycan help policy makers,”
saidMacKenzie. “I want to bridgeresearch and community to
helpdecision makers.”
An informal colloquium with thedoctoral students will be
heldfollowing her lecture.
Doris MacKenzie will be thefirst speaker for the
2009-2010academic year Beto ChairLecture Series scheduled
forFriday, September 18, 2009 at9:30 am in the CJ Courtroom.Her
presentation is titled, “WhatWorks in Corrections:Implications for
Reentry andRehabilitation Planning inCorrections.”
Doris Layton MacKenzie, Ph.D.,is the Founding Director
ofPennsylvania State University'sCriminal Justice Research
Centerand Professor in the Departmentof Sociology and Crime,
Law,and Justice.
Carrying out basic research incriminology and helping
local,state, federal, and internationalcommunities with
criminaljustice-related policy decisionsare the aims of the new
PennState Justice Center for Research.A joint venture of the
College ofthe Liberal Arts and Penn StateOutreach’s Justice and
Safety
Institute (JASI), the centerdebuted September 1, 2009.
Dr. John McCarthy, head of theDepartment of Sociology andCrime,
Law, and Justice, wherethe center is housed, said hisvision is for
the center to makePenn State “even more widelyknown
nationally,internationally and to people inthe Commonwealth for its
basicand applied research incriminology.”
Dr. Doris Layton MacKenzie,formerly a professor ofcriminology
and criminal justiceat the University of Maryland,has been
appointed the center¹sfounding research director.
A criminal justice expert whoseresearch focuses on
correctionsand correctional policy, Dr.MacKenzie said , “the
centerwill seek grants to fund researchand will collaborate with
facultyand students university-wide, aswell as work closely with
the
Beto Chair Lecturer—Dr. Doris MacKenzie
2009 Conference NewsThe SouthwesternAssociation of
CriminalJustice (SWACJ) will host itsannual meeting on October
8-10, 2009 in Laredo, Texas atthe La Posada Hotel. Thisyear’s theme
is “CriminalJustice Legislation in the 21stCentury: Is Justice
Blind? HasJustice Ever Been Blind?”
“Criminology and Criminal JusticePolicy” is the theme for this
year’sannual meeting of the AmericanSociety of Criminology
(ASC).The 2009 meeting will take placeNovember 4-7, 2009
inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania at thePhiladelphia Marriott
DowntownHotel. Students presentingpapers at the conference
include:
Kadir Akyuz, Lisa Bowman, RandaEmbry, Beth Freeman, Timur
Guclu,Nick Harpster, Kyung Yon Jhi, ShawnKeller, Hee-Joo Kim,
Jeonglim Kim,Jiletta Kubena, Yung Lien Lai, HoonLee, Scott
MacMillan, Claire Nolasco,Napoleon Reyes, Pierre Rivolta, JiSeun
Sohn, Natalia Tapia, Chi-FangTsai, Siny Tsang, Chantal Bergeron,and
Ling Wu.
SAM HOUSTONSTATE
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OFCRIMINAL JUSTICE
September 2009Volume VII
CJ Grad Newsletter
Inside this issue:
A Word from theAssistant Deanfor GraduateStudies
2
GraduateEnrollment
2
ResearchCollaborations
3
Fridays at Belvin 4
Alumni News 4
Important Dates 4
Dean’s Advisory CouncilNatalia Tapia,Kadir Akyuz, andBrian
Schaefer
-
In my capacity as Assistant Dean forGraduate Studies, I look
forward toadvancing the programs in a similardirection as my former
colleagues. In thisrespect, kudos go to Drs. Larry Hoover,Janet
Mullings, and Vickie Titterington forhanding off to me our group of
graduateprograms that are strong and vibrant.
As the College has decidedly turnedmore research-oriented the
last fewyears, several objectives are currentlybeing implemented
for the doctoralprogram. One is the abolition of thewritten
comprehensive exams that havebeen replaced by the research
assessmentportfolio. .The idea with the portfolio isthat a typical
Ph.D. student amasses agreat deal of written work during
theircoursework, and some of this work,while working with faculty
mentors,should be published. Simply put, thegoal of the portfolio
is to get as manyPh.D. students published in high-qualityjournals
prior to the beginning of theirjob search. The portfolio should
helpprepare students for more sophisticateddissertations, and,
ultimately, elevate ourstudents into better criminal justice
andcriminology jobs, because potentialemployers expect fresh Ph.D.s
to have a
publication record when entering the jobmarket. While not losing
sight of theirdissertation, the most important piece ofwork as a
graduate student, the portfolio isa way to enhance ABDs on the job
market.
On the monetary side, the College wasfortunate this fall to
award 37 separatestudents with graduate assistantshipassignments,
where both M.A., forensicscience, and Ph.D. students work
withfaculty members on teaching or research.Faculty grants
supported assistantships fornine additional students. The
CrimeVictims Institute, CorrectionalManagement Institute of Texas,
LawEnforcement Management Institute ofTexas, Police Research
Center, and TexasRegional Community Policing Institutesupported
another 11 studentassistantships. In addition, 17 of our
Ph.D.students are teaching undergraduatecourses. The College
continues to enjoygenerous funding for our graduate studentsfrom
the University Administration here atSam. We have quality graduate
programs,and we are recognized for them. It is anexciting time here
at Sam, and the bestyears are ahead for the College ofCriminal
Justice graduate programs.
A Word from the Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies
Graduate Enrollment
The College of Criminal Justice would like to welcome all newand
returning students for the fall 2009-2010 academic year.Graduate
enrollment for the College increased by 21.53%. Twohundred
thirty-seven graduate students are currently enrolled. Theincrease
in graduate enrollment is largely due to the new Master ofScience
in Leadership and Management online degree. Studentsare able to
complete one course in a 7 ½ week format.
New Ph.D. students 12New M.A. students 12New M.S. Weekend 25New
M.S. Online 30New University Center students 5New Forensic Science
students 13New Security Studies students 11
Don’t forget to
check CJ Grad
Share for current
information, job
announcements,
policies, and
other general
information.
Page 2 CJ Grad Newsletter
-
The College has initiated aMajor Cities Research Initiative,an
effort complementingLEMIT’s Major Cities SeminarSeries. The
Initiative is beingconducted by the PoliceResearch Center, and
includesfaculty members LarryHoover, Hee-Jong Joo, LingRen, Bill
Wells, Yan Zhang,Solomon Zhao, and programmanager Jamie Tillerson.
Theresearch team is assessing tworelated programs. The first
isDallas’ “Hot Spots” Program,involving assignment of officersto 21
designated high-crimeareas during at-risk times. Thesecond is
Houston’s CrimeReduction Unit. The 70-officerteam is directed to
interdict“gangs, guns, and drugs” inHouston’s worst
neighborhoods.
The Research Team includesdoctoral students SeksanKhruakham,
Edward Lai,Hoon Lee, Joongyeup Lee, andLing Wu. Their
initialassignment will be participationin a meta-analysis of the
effect ofGIS upon crime reduction
strategies. Led by Dr. Zhang,and including Drs. Zhao andHoover,
the effort is an elementof the international CampbellCollaborative
Research Program.Campbell analyses are systematicreviews of
literature to identify“what works” in a given socialintervention
effort. Anexhaustive search of a givenliterature base is conducted
toidentify findings with a solidmethodological base. Thosestudies
are then subjected to aquantitative meta-analysis toascertain
effect size. TheCampbell Collaborative researchin policing endeavor
iscoordinated by George MasonUniversity. SHSU received a$50,000
grant to investigatewhether an independent effect ofemploying GIS
can be identified.The grant effort melds with theDallas/Houston
targeted responsedeployment assessments.
Dr. Todd Armstrong iscurrently working with ShawnRyals-Keller
and ScottMacMillan on a project titled,“Understanding the
Resting
Heart Rate/Antisocial BehaviorRelationship.” The project isbased
on an earlier finding thatmeasures of autonomic nervoussystem
arousal, including restingheart rate, are consistently relatedto
measures of antisocialbehavior, including crime anddelinquency.
While therelationship between resting heartrate and antisocial
behavior iswell-documented, little isunderstood about the nature
ofthis relationship. In their researchproject, they are collecting
datafrom student's at Sam HoustonState University. This data
willhelp them to determine whyresting heart rate is related to
anti-social behavior.
Drs. Jeffrey Bouffard andLeana Bouffard are the co-editors for
the WesternCriminology Review (WCR),which is a peer-reviewed,
on-linejournal. It is the flagship journalfor the Western Society
ofCriminology. The WCR is aforum for the publication anddiscussion
of theory, research,policy, and practice in the rapidlychanging and
interdisciplinaryfields of criminology andcriminal justice. The
journal isintended to reflect local(Western), national,
andinternational concerns. Historicaland contemporary
perspectivesare encouraged, as are diversemethodological
approaches. Thegoal of the WCR is to provide anattractive and
meaningful outletfor academic and policy-relatedpublication and
dialogue in awide variety of substantive areasin criminology and
criminaljustice. Sadie Doll, Master ofArts student, is currently
servingas the managing editor of theWCR. Graduate students
areencouraged to submit theirresearch for publicationconsideration.
Submissions andinquiries may be sent [email protected].
Research Collaborations
Page 3Volume VII
Summer Research Fellowships dueOctober 1
Twenty doctoral students were awarded summer researchfellowships
to produce co-authored refereed articles with full-time CJ faculty
members to be published in an academic journal.Michael Cavanaugh,
Beth Freeman, Nick Harpster,Young Oh Jo, Yung Lien Lai, Hoon Lee,
Claire Nolasco,Napoleon Reyes, Chantal Bergeron, and Ling Wu
wereall awarded summer research fellowships. Articles must
becompleted by October 1, 2009 and submitted to Dr.
Vaughnaccompanied by a letter/email from the journal showing
thatthe article has been submitted and is under peer-review.
KadirAkyuz, Hee-Joo Kim, Jeong Lim Kim, David Rembert,Chi-Fang
Tsai, Joshua Hill, Billy Humphrey, KrisKawucha, Seksan Khruakham
and Kyung Jhi receivedmini-fellowships, which are also due by
October 1, 2009.Doctoral Research Fellowships may be offered again
nextsummer if funding is available.
Khruakham
Lai
Hoon Lee
Joongyeup Lee
Wu
Ryals-Keller
MacMillan
Doll
-
Graduate ProgramsP.O. Box 2296
Huntsville, Texas 77341
Phone: 936-294-3637Fax: 936-294-4055
E-mail: [email protected]
FRIDAY LUNCHES AT BELVIN
Graduate students are cordially invited to have lunch with
faculty at Belvin cafeteria. Lunches are
scheduled for September 11 and 25, October 2, 16, 30, November
13, and December 4. This is a
great opportunity to meet faculty in an informal setting and
discuss criminal justice issues, policy, and
emerging trends. The classroom is not the only place where
graduate students and faculty can engage
in dialogue about research in the field. The goal of the lunch
series is to provide a forum for faculty
to discuss their research and obtain valuable feedback, as well
as to further educate graduate students
about professional research and writing.
SAM HOUSTONSTATE
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OFCRIMINAL JUSTICE
09/18 Beto Chair Lecture—Dr. Doris MacKenzie 9:30 am
Courtroom
09/23 SWACJ Practice Presentations 12-5:00 pm Bates Room
10/1 Doctoral Summer Fellowships Due Dr. Vaughn
10/2 Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Workshop 9:00 am Bates
Room
10/5 & 7 Doctoral Comprehensive Examinations 8:00-1:00 pm CJ
Grad Lab
10/8-10 SWACJ Annual Meeting Laredo, Texas
10/9 Brown Bag with Dr. Solomon Zhao 12:00 noon Texas Room
10/19-20 ASC Practice Presentations All Day Flag Room
10/21 SWACJ Post-Conference Roundtable 3:00 pm Friel Room
10/27 Academic Employment Workshop 3:00 pm Strecher Room
11/4-7 ASC Annual Meeting Philadelphia, PA
11/10 ASC Post-Conference Roundtable 3:00 pm Bates Room
Important Dates/Reminders
WWW.CJCENTER.ORG
Don’t forgetto check
your studentmailbox!
Alumni/Student News
Deirdre Warren (‘09) has accepted aposition of Assistant
Professor withKent State University-Stark in theDepartment of
Justice Studies.
Jake Nelson (‘09), a Security Studiesgraduate, recently was
selected by theATF for an Investigator position and willbe heading
to the Federal LawEnforcement Training Center (FLETC) inGlencoe,
Georgia, in about two weeks.Upon graduation, Nelson will be
movingto Lubbock, Texas, to start his job.
Congratulationsto AshleyBlackburn (‘06)and ShannonFowler
(‘07).The two weremarried in July2009 in Cabo SanLucas,
Mexico.Ashley is an assistant professor at theUniversity of North
Texas and Shannon is anassistant professor at the University
ofTexas— Arlington.
Siny Tsang successfully defended her thesis prospectus on
Wednesday,September 16, 2009. Her thesis is titled, “The ‘Self” in
Psychopathy: AnExamination of Psychopaths’ Self-Construals.” Her
chair is Dr. Phillip Lyonsand committee members are Drs. Glen
Kercher and Holly Miller.
Thesis
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