November 2019

‌ ‌ In This Issue Dean's Note A Lasting Tribute and Legacy A New Home for the Journal of Applied Social Science Students Participate at AACS Conference UT at AECT Graduate Students Receive Funding Local Judge Shares Experiences with Students Elliot Mincberg at UT Alumni Spotlight Faculty News Upcoming Events Donate Now Sign-Up for Our Newsletter Dear Friends of SSME: With the Thanksgiving holiday now clearly in view, both students and faculty are beginning to think about the end of the semester. It’s hard to believe how fast the fall semester progressed, with plans for our upcoming winter commencement beginning to occupy more and more of my time. But while the semester moved swiftly, the activity and productivity of our faculty and students have been nothing short of impressive. So I invite you to explore the articles below highlighting our students’ research and experiential engagement outside of the classroom, as well as our faculty scholarship.   However, I want to bring to your attention two special and noteworthy developments that occurred this fall semester that I am excited about. First, is the establishment of the Janet R. Matthews Ph.D. Endowed Chair of Psychology. As you will read, Drs. Lee and Janet Matthews were both undergraduates at UT in the 1960’s where they met, married and had renowned careers as psychologists. With Janet’s passing earlier this year, Lee decided to honor his wife's memory, as well as all of the former UT faculty members who supported and mentored both of them with a gift to establish the first endowed chair in the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education. What a wonderful tribute and lasting legacy to Dr. Janet R. Matthews, who as you will read, had a remarkable career as an academic psychologist. The second noteworthy development is that in October at the annual meeting of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, the editorial board of the association’s journal, the Journal of Applied Social Science, appointed UT Associate Professor Bruce Friesen as their new Editor-in-Chief. As a result, beginning on January 1, 2020, The University of Tampa will be the new editorial home of the journal. I want to personally congratulate Dr. Friesen on his appointment, as it both speaks well of his standing, as well of the standing of all our faculty colleagues who teach in our nationally-accredited program in Applied Sociology. Lastly, for those students who will soon be leaving for their Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday breaks, I hope you will stay focused and prepare well for your final examinations. Of course I wish you safe travels to wherever home happens to be. And for those seniors who I will see at our December 13 Winter Commencement Ceremony, I want to sincerely congratulate you on your upcoming graduation. I know and have observed the hard work and persistence you have exhibited and I wish you all the best as you enter the next chapter of your life and career. Please stay in touch and return often to your alma mater.  Sincerely, Jack M. Geller, Ph.D., Dean

A Lasting Tribute and Legacy

Janet and Lee Matthews met as freshmen at The University of Tampa in 1962, were married as undergraduates and went on to become established and renowned clinical and academic psychologists. More than 55 years after meeting, Janet and Lee had planned to make a significant gift to UT and, in honor of Janet who passed away last March, have established the Janet R. Matthews Ph.D. Endowed Chair of Psychology. The endowed chair is the first in UT’s history to be named after a UT alumna or alumnus, and the first endowed chair in the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education. “Impacting both our faculty and students, it constitutes the largest and most comprehensive gift to the college to date,” noted Jack Geller, Dean of the college. “We will conduct a national search in the 2020-2021 academic year for this new position which will begin in fall 2021.”

Drs. Lee and Janet Matthews

“This gift is to honor all of our former professors at The University of Tampa, who not only encouraged us, but set an example of the meaning of what it was to be an undergraduate teacher and mentor,” Lee Matthews said. “And, the ‘non-academic lessons’ that Janet and I obtained such as supporting the local community, building relationships and supporting future generations were all values that we learned at The University of Tampa.” Janet was a university professor at two other prestigious universities. Thirty-five of her former undergraduate students went on to receive doctoral degrees, and one student became a future president of the American Psychological Association (APA). She served on more than 50 different boards, committees and task forces for the APA, including membership on its Board of Directors.  “Endowed chairs are among the most generous and critical gifts in higher education and support academic excellence,” said Ronald Vaughn, UT president. “And having it named after two esteemed psychologists brings prestige to the University and will certainly help us attract outstanding faculty. In recognition of the gift, UT has also established the Drs. Janet and Lee Matthews Psychology Award, which will be given annually to an outstanding rising senior psychology major.

A New Home for the Journal of Applied Social Science

Beginning on January 1, 2020 the Journal of Applied Social Sciences will have a new academic home in the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education. At its most recent annual meeting of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, the journal’s editorial board approved the appointment of UT Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Bruce Friesen as the journal’s new Editor-in-Chief. With this appointment the journal’s management and editorial office will have a new home at the University of Tampa.  "It is right and good that the Journal of Applied Social Science (JASS) has found a new home at the University of Tampa. I am honored to serve as chief editor”, noted Dr. Friesen. “Its focus nicely compliments the mission of our nationally accredited program in Applied Sociology, as well as the quality work being produced by UT faculty in other disciplines. We welcome manuscripts that describe a demonstrable improvement in some social condition or propose to do so, based on social science research. This includes work in organizations, interventions, law, health, and social policy (See https://journals.sagepub.com/aims-scope/JAX). Bringing the journal to UT would not have been possible without the support of Dean Geller, for which I am grateful."

Students Participate at AACS Conference

Applied sociology majors Christina Pasca, Thais Gobbi, and Tiffany Maziarz participated in the annual Client Problem Competition at this year's Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) Annual Conference in Portland, OR. The team of students were tasked with developing and presenting potential solutions for non-profit organizations seeking to provide and maintain housing options for homeless populations. The team received positive feedback and praise for their insightful recommendations from applied sociologists in attendance from around the country. Assistant Professor J. Sumerau served as faculty advisor to the team. In a session organized by Associate Professor Bruce Friesen, Bridget Maloney delivered her paper titled "The Global Impacts of Capitalism on Climate Change" and sociology alumnus  Morgan Tamayo, who is now working on her M.A. in sociology at the University of Alabama, presented "Applied Gender Studies." Friesen presented on "Sociological Theory in Applied Research: A Content Analysis."

Left to right: Bridget Maloney, J. Sumerau, Tiffany Maziarz, Thais Gobbi, Christina Pasca

UT at AECT

UT Instructional Design & Technology faculty, graduate students, and alumni attended the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) International Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada this past October. UT IDT proud participants gained insights into research and networked with individuals in the field throughout the conference. Assistant Professor Suzanne Ensmann presented "Assessing Dispositions of the Online Learner (DOL): To Improve Learning Gains." Her presentation was based on research conducted with Assistant Professor Adrianne Wilson on assessing dispositions of online learners in order to support learners' success and inspire learning professionals. Associate Professor Enilda Romero-Hall presented "Our Syllabuses Tell their Story: The Social Media for Collaborative Curriculum." Through the analysis of syllabuses, Romero-Hall and instructional design and technology student Linlin Li explored the learning objectives and assessment methods of courses focused on social media for collaborative learning. Romero-Hall presented "Designing a Short-Term Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program Focused on Teaching and Learning Innovation." In her presentation, Romero-Hall shared her experiences designing and developing a short-term faculty-led study abroad program for undergraduate and graduate students to Switzerland. Romero-Hall participated in the panel discussion "Narrowing Down Your Research Interests and Being Productive." She, along with other university faculty members, discussed their experiences with narrowing down their research ideas for their dissertations. Romero-Hall also participated in the panel discussion "Provocations to Envision the Future of the Educational Technology Field." Presenters in the panel addressed questions and criticisms about the educational technology field as a scientific community. Instructional design and technology student Penni Eggers presented "Augmented Reality in Paramedic Training: A Pilot Study." Eggers' case study analyzed the application of augmented reality (AR) in paramedic instruction as compared to the traditional classroom. IDT alumni, Niki Watson and Jennifer DeLarm presented "IDs in IT: Inspiring Instructional Designers Shift from Higher Ed to Corporate." Current UT IDT Graduate Student, Anu Brahim, volunteered as part of the AECT Technology Support Team.

Left to Right: Kat Klein, Associate Professor Enilda Romero-Hall and Ana Brahim Assistant Professor Suzanne Ensmann presenting her research. IDT alumnae Niki Watson (left) and Jennifer DeLarm (right) presenting at AECT conference.

Graduate Students Receive Funding

Awarded funding from the Spring 2019 UT Education Department Special Project funds for Developing Graduate Students into Published Scholars, Assistant Professor Suzanne Ensmann worked with students to submit proposals for their articles to be published in various journals. Research for the articles stemmed from their Inquiry and Measurement course in Fall 2018. The award covered travel for two students to attend the Association for Education and Communications Technology (AECT) 2019 Summer Research Symposium (SRS) in Indiana to experience the peer-review process. AECT invited Penni Eggers and Rachel Brotherton as lead authors to participate in this symposium.

Photo of Connect Lunch offered by the Vice President of Student Affairs and the Dean of Students, celebrating lead authors invited to the next phase of the peer review process. Left to Right: Wuraola Ogunsanya, Penni Eggers, Assistant Professor Suzanne Ensmann, Rachel Brotherton

IDT Student Networking Social On Friday, November 8, current graduate students, alumni, and faculty from the Instructional Design and Technology program gathered at Coppertail Brewing Co. in Tampa for an evening of casual conversation and networking in an effort to create contacts and share ideas related to, their passion, instructional design.

Students Investigate Crime Scene Criminology and forensic majors took part in two days of forensic and mock crime scenes with local forensic experts, including UT graduate and Pinellas County Forensics Specialist Danielle Dixon. Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Tony LaRose designed the event to assess critical thinking skills and build teamwork among the students.  Right: Students receiving direction from Forensics Specialist Danielle Dixon.

Local Judge Shares Experiences with Students

Judge Jessica Costello with students in CRM 421: Women and Crime

On October 28, Judge Jessica Costello visited Associate Professor Carly Hilinski-Rosick's RM 421: Women and Crime class to discuss her experiences as one of the youngest female judges in Hillsborough County. Judge Costello talked about her experiences as a prosecutor and how those experiences helped her prepare for her role as a judge. She also talked about the cases she handles on a day-to-day basis, things that she loves about her job and things she wishes she could change about the system. She also shared some life advice and career advice for the students.  Students in the class responded positively to Judge Costello's presentation. “It was a pleasure getting to meet Judge Costello and hearing her talk about her life and experience as a judge. Especially being a women of color, it gave me hope that I can achieve my life-long dreams and beyond that.” “I thought it was really inspiring, both in terms of her being a woman and her being the first African American female judge in the last 20 years to be appointed in Hillsborough County. She also gave great life advice, and was truthful about how her days go.” “She was truly inspiring and well-spoken. I loved how honest she was with us about how the life she lives can be difficult and hectic but rewarding.”

Elliot Mincberg at UT

On Friday, September 13, Elliot Mincberg, senior fellow at People for the American Way spoke to an audience of students, faculty and staff about judicial nominations and civil liberties. Associate Professor William Myers guided the discussion with questions for Mincberg. Mincberg described how outside groups, such as The Federalist Society and People for the American Way, identify and support or oppose nominees for judicial positions. He discussed the implications of the removal of guard rails in judicial nominations and compared nominations under different Presidential administrations. Mincberg also discussed civil liberties in regard to the free exercise of religion and LGBTQ issues. After the discussion, Mincberg answered questions from members of the audience.

Elliot Mincberg speaking to students in Sykes Chapel.

Alumni Spotlight

Doha Madani graduated from UT in 2015 with bachelor degrees in journalism and government and world affairs. Doha worked on The Minaret staff during college, creating video content as well as writing news articles.  Her advice for students is to find where their interests intersect in life because doing work you love, work that fails to bore you, is the only way to find real success.  “I was interested in politics from the time I was 7 but my passion was writing and talking to people about their experiences. Journalism was the perfect way to combine both my interests, so I went for it even when people told me it was impractical.”  After graduating from UT, Madani earned a master's degree in international reporting from the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. She’s previously reported for The Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon, and at HuffPost in New York City. Today, she is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Faculty News

Criminology & Criminal Justice

Assistant Professor Timothy Hart continues to advance his research agenda in the area of innovative quantitative analytic methods. He recently authored a paper titled, " Identifying Situational Clustering and Quantifying Its Magnitude in Dominant Case Configurations: New Methods for Conjunctive Analysis" that was published in the journal Crime & Delinquency. His article presents two new analytic methods researchers can use when conducting Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC) (Hart, 2019). These methods enable researchers to determine whether data used to populate CACC truth tables cluster significantly within dominant case configurations, and to apply an established metric from the economics literature to quantify the relative magnitude of clustering when it is observed. Hart worked with scholars at the Universitas Miguel Hernandez's Criminal Research Center in Spain to develop a new software application based on these new methods. The software application is free and available online as a R-package (Esteve, Moneva, & Hart, 2019).

Several faculty members from the criminology and criminal justice department presented their research at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting in San Francisco on November 13-16. Assistant Professor Sorle Diih presented "Decentralization of Policing: The Case of Nigeria" that he co-authored with colleagues from Albany State University and Georgia College & State University. Diih and colleagues discussed their research into the challenges and effects of centralized policing in Nigeria and presented a case for decentralization of policing in Nigeria. Diih also served as a discussant in the roundtable session titled "The Development of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: The Politics of Criminalization of Some Heads of State Around the World." Assistant Professor Timothy Hart presented "Identifying situational clustering and quantifying its magnitude in dominant case configurations: New methods for conjunctive analysis." Hart presented two new statistical methods for use when conducting Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC). Hart also presented "A comparison of time-based estimates of crime rates in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States" with colleagues from Texas State University and University College London. Assistant Professor Roshni Ladny presented "Examining the Roles of Childhood Maltreatment Typologies and Social Support Systems on Violent Offending" that she co-authored with a colleague from Indiana University East. Using a sample of youth who were court-ordered to a Florida juvenile justice community supervision program, their study examined the effect of four types of maltreatment on youth violent offending. The impact of social attachments on the relationship between the different forms of maltreatment and violence were explored as well. Ladny and colleague also presented "Of Contagion and Epidemics: Examining the Spread of Opioid Abuse in the Midwest and South." They addressed how opioids, heroin, and fentanyl have spread across affected areas in the Midwest and South over the last 10 years (2006-2017). They used epidemiological criminology and methods to investigate this spread – otherwise known as a “contagion effect.” Assistant Professor Cedric Michel, along with Professor of Management Bella Galperin, presented "Profiling the Modern White-Collar Criminal: An Overview of Utah’s White-Collar Crime Registry." Their study profiled individuals on Utah's online registry for white-collar offenders. They discussed the results of statistical analyses and implications of their findings. Michel also presented "Perceptions of Blameworthiness and Punitiveness Towards Government Officials and Corporate Executives in State-Corporate Crime Cases." Michel discussed the results of his investigation into blame attribution to state versus corporation in preventable death cases and the choice of sanctions against political and corporate actors and the implications of the findings.

Education

Congratulations to Associate Professor Enilda Romero-Hall. She received the 2019 Immersive Learning Award in the non-linear category from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology's (AECT) Division of Emerging Learning Technologies. She was presented with her award at the AECT Annual Conference in Las Vegas on October 23. Romero-Hall was selected for her outstanding work on a role-playing, web-based simulation to increase undergraduate students' understanding of the aging process.

History, Geography & Legal Studies

On October 24, Assistant Professor Kelly Palmer presented “Quaker Relief and Rescue: Roswell and Marjorie McClelland’s Work in World War II Europe” at the Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education, which was held at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Palmer examined how the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) provided relief and emigration assistance to European Jews facing Nazi persecution in Italy, France and Switzerland by focusing on the efforts of Roswell and Marjorie McClelland from 1941-1943.

Political Science & International Studies

Assistant Professor Ryan Welch co-authored " The Path of the Boomerang: Human Rights Campaigns, Third-Party Pressure, and Human Rights"that was published in International Studies Quarterly. In this paper, Welch and colleagues provide a comprehensive analysis of how nongovernmental human rights organization activities and pressure from third parties work together in the larger chain of causal events to influence human rights conditions. Welch also served as a guest editor for a special issue of Conflict Management and Peace Science. The special issue titled " Will H. Moore’s enduring contribution to peace and conflict studies" contains five articles dedicated to Will H. Moore, former Professor of Political Science at Florida State University and Arizona State University and contributor to the study of peace science.

Psychology

Assistant Professor Sara Festini presented "Directed Forgetting Reduces Proactive Interference Within Working Memory Beyond a Baseline Encode-Only Condition" at the Psychonomic Society's annual meeting that was held in Montreal, Canada on November 14-17. Festini presented her research on directed forgetting within a working memory paradigm. Her experiment included a proactive interference for words that were previously encoded, but that did not receive either a forget cue or a remember instruction.

Sociology

Part-Time Professor and Past President of the MSSA Ruth Chananie presenting J. Sumerau with Best Paper of the Year award.

Congratulations to Assistant Professors Brittany Harder and J Sumerau . Their article " Understanding Gender as a Fundamental Cause of Health: Simultaneous Linear Relationships between Gender, Mental Health, and Physical Health Over Time" was selected as Best Paper of the Year by Sociological Spectrum, the journal of the Mid-South Sociological Association. Sumerau was presented with the award on October 25 at the Mid-South Sociological Association's annual annual conference in Jackson, MS. Harder and Sumerau's research explored the extent to which gender is a fundamental cause of health by estimating the relationships between gender, mental health, and physical health simultaneously.

Part-Time Professor Douglas Engleman's paper titled "Endings and Beginnings: An Autoethnography of a Father's Journey Through His Son's Madness, Loss, and a Quest for Meaning" has been accepted for publication in  Humanity and Society. Engelman plans to expand his ideas into a book.

Professor Ryan Cragun presented "Are Agnostics More Likable Than Atheists? Attitudes Toward Agnostics" at the annual meeting of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in St. Louis, MO on October 25-27. The paper is based on a collaborative study with two former UT students, Alexandra Rodriguez, who is now working on a Master's in Sociology at Howard University, and Marcus Hayes, who is applying to graduate school.

Assistant Professor Pina Holway co-presented "Changing Patterns of Condom Use among Adolescents and Young Adults" with colleagues from Florida State University at the Southern Demographic Association's annual meeting in New Orleans on October 23 - 25. Holway also presided over the Emerging Areas of Research on Sexual Minorities discussion session. Congratulations to Holway, who was also recognized by the Executive Office of Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society, for her outstanding work as chapter representative. Holway was recently interviewed by the local Fox 13 news station for a story on the need for a new area code in Hillsborough County due to the growing population. Watch the interview here.

Katie Cooper

Brittany Harder

Assistant Professors Katie Cooper and Brittany Harder co-authored a book chapter with undergraduate applied sociology major Corinne Fanta. The chapter, titled “Reel Curves in the Revolution: Body Politics, Unruly Bodies, and Comedy as Resistance,” was accepted for publication and will appear in the forthcoming book Persistent Resistance: Essays on Resistance Narratives in Media (ed. Leisa A. Clark and Amanda Firestone). This chapter examines representations of bodies in popular culture and discusses the growing public resistance to dominant discourses on body weight and overweightness. Media are powerful tools in shaping public consciousness on a variety of issues, and dominant ideologies on bodies and body weight that circulate the mass media tend to assert that 1) fat bodies are unhealthy; 2) fat bodies are unproductive; and 3) fat bodies are unsightly. These dominant ideologies remain prevalent in many spheres of popular culture, such as reality television and competitive weight-loss shows, for instance. However, comedy as a particular genre within popular culture is a unique arena for revealing taken-for-granted norms and exposing the social constructedness of social life. This chapter discusses how contemporary “unruly women” such as Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer use both their onscreen comedy as well as their offscreen personas to reveal the social constructedness of body expectations and to resist cultural body shaming practices.

Donate Now Providing our students with outstanding out-of-classroom experiences is a hallmark of the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education. Help support these experiences for all students. Make a small contribution today.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars for the following upcoming events at UT: December 2: Criminology Research Symposium, Plant Hall, Music Room, 12:00-2:00 pm December 4: Sociology Brown Bag with Assistant Professor Pina Holway, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, ICB 210 December 4: Psychology Fall Research Conference, Plant Hall, Fletcher Lounge, 4:00 - 6:00 pm December 5: History Poster Expo, Plant Hall, Grand Salon, 4:00 - 6:00 pm December 12: CSSME Graduate Hooding Ceremony, Plant Hall, Grand Salon, 6:00 pm. December 13: UT Winter Commencement, Florida State Fairgrounds, 1:00 pm. If you have an upcoming event that you would like advertised in the newsletter, please send your event information to Laura Gicker at lgicker@ut.edu.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY #UTAMPA ‌ ‌