November 2022

Left to right: (Thesis Committee: Dr. Chivon Fitch, Dr. Gabriel Paez, Kehara Coates and Thesis Chair; Dr. Timothy Hart)

Left to right: (Thesis Committee: Dr. Chivon Fitch,

Dr. Rhissa Robinson, Flavia Mandatori and

Thesis Chair; Dr. Gabriel Paez)

The Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice is pleased to recognize two graduate students who recently defended their first-ever theses at UT. Kehara Coates successfully defended her thesis titled: Using “Barriers” in Kernel Density Estimation to Improve the Predictive Accuracy of Crime Forecasts: A Case Study of Three Florida Cities. Kehara examined whether the predictive accuracy of crime forecasts based on Kernel density estimation improved when barriers to crime are incorporated into the analytic process. Flavia Mandatori successfully defended her thesis title: Comparing the effects of victimization, school connectedness, and social support on heterosexual and sexual minority adolescent suicidality: A partial test of minority stress theory. Flavia examined whether minority stress theory predicted the effects of the abovementioned factors on adolescent suicidality and whether differences existed between heterosexual and sexual minority youth. Congratulations on this significant milestone in your academic career!

Students from the Criminology and Criminal Justice Club attended a private tour of the Hillsborough County Courthouse. The tour was led by Judge Thomas Palermo who is a member of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department's Advisory Board. There, students were able to get an inside look at the courtroom and learned the various roles of individuals who are involved in the courtroom work group. Students also got a special opportunity to witness a swearing-in ceremony led by Judge Palermo and to sit in the Judge's seat on the bench.

On November 3, Professor Hilinski-Rosick's CRM 421:Special Issues class was visited by Lorne and Barley, two of the Voices for Children Courthouse Dogs, along with their handlers Dayle Urquhart and Kelsey Grimmer. Students learned about the Guardian ad Litem program, Voices for Children, and the benefits of the courthouse dogs. Voices for Children partners with Hillsborough County Guardian ad Litem to improve a child's life in the dependency court system. Their goal is to provide these children with the resources and enrichment opportunities they require to feel safe, loved, and cared for. Their courthouse dog program is the first in the state of Florida and its aims to provide emotional support for traumatized children during stressful and difficult situations, so they can find their voice and share their stories. The Courthouse Facility Dogs have assisted children in courtroom testimony, forensic interviews, depositions and medical exams. Their presence is crucial to help calm our children when they are experiencing these very scary situations. Voices for Children is committed to providing the safest and highest level of care to vulnerable children who are victims of abuse, abandonment, and neglect.  

On Sunday, September 25th, seventeen new members were welcomed into the Kappa Tau Chapter of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education at UT. The ceremony began with a welcome address from their faculty advisor, Professor Beaudoin, and was followed by a speech from guest speaker, Dr. Adrianne Wilson.

KDPi Inductees

Students in Dr. Davey’s Human Development and Learning class became brain architects this week! They learned the powerful role of experiences in early brain development. They also learned what promotes brain development and how easily stress and trauma can hinder it. Students gained a deeper understanding of the importance of childhood experiences on lifelong well-being!

Prof. Patrick O'Brien's "Patriots and Loyalists" confer and debate the politics of revolution in 1775 New York City.

Her Excellency the Nizam of Hyderabad (played by HIstory Minor Ciara Watson) speaks to rally her supporters against a communist insurgency in the princely state of Hyderabad, an insurgency later crushed by the army of India's new government. 

Prof. Pat O'Brien and Prof. Spencer Segalla's History classes engaged in weeks-long historical role-playing re-enactments based on Reacting to the Past experiential learning systems developed at Barnard College.  Rooted in reading and argumentation based on historical primary sources, Reacting to the Past combines role-playing and public speaking elements similar to Model United Nations with the historical contingency of die-roll games. Three sections of O'Brien's HIS 122 "U.S. History to 1877" played the game "Patriots and Loyalists in New York City, 1775-1776." Two sections of Segalla's HIS 103 "World History from 1500" played "Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence."

This month, the University of Tampa's moot court team competed in the South Atlantic Regional Tournament of the American Moot Court Association in Orlando, Florida, and did exceptionally well. Three undergraduate student pairs from UT competed in the tournament, and two of them advanced to the Sweet Sixteen on the second day out of a field of teams from colleges and universities across the nation. Team members, Asia Couillard (CSSME, History), Danielle Grote (CSSME, Criminology), Helena Baust (CSSME, History), Rachel Lane (CSSME, Criminology), Timothy Peacock (CSSME, Political Science), and N. Demitri Samarkos (SCB, Management) all had an outstanding tournament. Out of fifty-four individual competitors, N. Demitri Samarkos received the 13th-best overall score, and Asia Couillard received the 10th-best score. The team of Timothy Peacock and Asia Couillard also advanced to the Final Four, and were only eliminated after a close 2-1 judges' decision. Professor Colin Anderson, who served as the team's coach, is very proud of the students' efforts this semester and their performance in the competition!

Dominic Fanutti, a freshman actuarial science major and member of the University of Tampa Jazz and Wind Ensembles, was immediately drawn to the infinite harmonic series introduced in Calculus II. After researching the connection between the elements of the mathematical harmonic series and music theory, he shared his findings in a lecture to his class complete with visuals, singing, and a tuning device on his smartphone. It was the perfect way to start a Friday morning class.

On November 9, 2022, the Applied Sociology department held its fall Alpha Kappa Delta Induction Ceremony and welcomed twelve new members. The ceremony's opening remarks were given by Dr. Pina Holway, the faculty advisor. Alumna (M.S. '22) Alyssa Garcia delivered the keynote speech. The newest members were officially inducted by Drs. Holway, Friesen and Cooper.

Inductees

Ashley Barbosa

Kylie Buccellato

Kaylee Burbank

Sasha Davis

Christina Fast

Camden Hendrick

Marlee Mason

Shreeya Patel

Eleanor Plisko

Kerri Ravas

Kayla Rosario

Kendall Stephenson

Congratulations to Applied Sociology majors Kerri Ravas and Lincoln Cutler for winning first place in the Annual Client Problem-Solving Competition at the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology Conference (AACS) on Saturday, October 8th, 2022! The team did remarkable work applying sociological literature on regional identity and frame alignment processes to provide recommendations to the Sierra Club of Louisville, Kentucky for expanding advocacy participation in river lands preservation. A special thanks of gratitude to Dr. Damien Contessa for his efforts as the team's UT Faculty Advisor. Many thanks to UT and the Dean's office of the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Education. Without their support, participation in the annual competition would not be possible. Well done UT Sociology!

On November 2, Kathryn Branch, Assistant Dean and Professor graduated from Tampa CERT. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a program that trains citizens to be prepared for and respond to emergencies that may arise in their community. In the event of a major disaster such as a hurricane, emergency services personnel can initially become overwhelmed leaving citizens on their own. CERT training enables citizens to help themselves and their neighbors by applying the basic response and organizational skills during an emergency. CERT members can also serve as first responders to an emergency until professional emergency services arrive. This picture is with fire chief Barbara Tripp, fire chief of Tampa Fire Rescue. 

Nathan Connealy, Assistant Professor of Criminology, recently co-authored an article in Criminology titled “Situational Factors and Police Use of Force Across Micro-time Intervals: A Video Systematic Social Observation and Panel Regression Analysis.” The study analyzes police body-worn camera footage of use-of-force events to determine the verbal and physical predictors of the use of force in a police-citizen encounter. The results make several novel contributions to theory, methodology, and practice regarding police use of force.

Leo Genco, Assistant Teaching Professor of Criminology published an online article in Human Dimensions of Wildlife titled "Assessing the Impact of the Economic Structure and Ecological Consequences on the Distribution of Illegal Hunting against Terrestrial Species." The current study applies a green criminological perspective to analyze how the production institutions of the economy correlates with the trends of illegal hunting of terrestrial species across Texas counties. The results indicate that the treadmill of production does relate to illegal hunting, suggesting that there is conflict between the economy and public over the use of the wilderness.

Congratulations to Dr. Timothy Hart who is the recipient of the CJR Paper of the Year Award. Dr. Hart was given the award by the Criminal Justice Review for his published article titled "Investigating Crime Pattern Stability at Micro-Temporal Intervals: Implications for Crime Analysis and Hotspot Policing Strategies."

Drs. Ensmann and Whiteside presented their yearlong study using a social and gameful experiential (SAGE) approach to increase learner engagement, foster self-regulation, and improve cognition at the AECT and OLC conferences this fall. Assessing how this technology impacts learner engagement, this study employs disruptive innovation theory (Christensen et al., 2011) and suggests that Yellowdig, one such disruptive technology, can foster positive changes, such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Researchers carefully and purposefully incorporated this technology into their courses to foster social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1997) to improve learners' self-regulation, cognition, and satisfaction. The first in a series of articles has been published entitled "It Helped to Know I Wasn't Alone”: Exploring Student Satisfaction in an Online Community with a Gamified, Social Media-Like Instructional Approach revealing participants' satisfaction using this SAGE approach.

The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) invited Dr. O’Grady to serve as a state-level Individualized Education Program (IEP) facilitator in special education disputes filed with the state. Dr. O’Grady brings her extensive experience as a local and state-level Due Process Hearing Officer in Maryland and Washington, DC to the process. She joins a small cadre of leaders in the field as State Facilitators of IEPS (SFIEPs) in association with the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADRE), a federal grant initiative.

Adjunct Professor Jared Krukar, a Career Staff Attorney at the Florida Second District Court of Appeal and a Board Certified Specialist in Appellate Practice, spoke to local appellate attorneys and judges on Today’s Technology in Appellate Practice at the Hillsborough County Bar Association in October. He was joined by Judge Andrea Teves Smith, Clerk Mary Beth Kuenzel, and local appellate practitioners Sarah Lahlou-Amine, Cornelius Demps, and Mihaela Cabulea.

Binod Rimal, Assistant Professor of Data Science delivered a presentation titled "How does a machine learn new skills?" hosted by the Department of Mathematics. The presentation explored how a machine can perform a task similar to a human brain. Professor Rimal discussed the fundamental elements of neural network operation and how a Convolutional Neural Network extracts information from images and performs assigned tasks.

On Wednesday November 16, Dr. William Myers participated on a panel discussion on the impact of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v Jackson decision on abortion rights at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. The event was hosted by the Black Law Students Association and the Organization of Women Law Students. Dr. Myers discussed the politicization of judicial decision making, the decline of stare decisis, and what other rights are likely to be challenged and overturned by the Court over the next year and beyond.

On October 4, David Garlock made a campus visit to speak to students in various criminology classes and across the college and meet with the Criminology Club. More than 100 students attended the event on Tuesday evening. David is a successful returning citizen, reentry professional, and criminal justice reform advocate. He is a highly sought-after speaker who travels to colleges and universities around the country to educate the next generation of criminal justice professionals on rehabilitation and the importance of having a holistic view of the criminal justice system by sharing his experience in prison, his own reentry story, and the work that he has done.

The Office of Career Services and the Department of Mathematics recently organized an information session for UT's Data Science program.  Students had the opportunity to hear from a panel of KnowBe4 Data Scientists, expand their knowledge, and form connections.

Under Professor Lacey Johnson and Douglas Pfeffer's leadership, the Math Club has been one of many social 'lightning rods' in the Department of Mathematics this semester. Students gathered every other week to put their problem-solving skills to the test, learn origami, and play mathematical games such as al-Jabar and SET. Depicted here are students Ashton Taylor, Mathew Restrepo, and William Sanderson trying to defeat one another in a competitive game of al-Jabar – a game where they explore the mathematics behind color-addition and graph theory.

If you have an upcoming event that you would like advertised in the newsletter, please send your event information to

Sasha Cunillera at scunillera@ut.edu

• Nov 23-THANKSGIVING BREAK BEGINS (after Tuesday evening classes)
• Nov 28-CLASSES RESUME
• Nov 30-Math Department Senior Seminar Poster

Session/ Ferman Center for the Arts, Charlene and Mardy

Performance Gallery/ 4:00 PM

• Nov 30-Study Abroad Application Workshop

Vaughn Center, Reeves Theatre/ 11:00 AM

• Nov 30-2022 Years of Service and Edmund P. Sliz Awards Ceremony

Plant Hall, Fletcher Lounge/ 3:00 PM

• Dec 2-UT Holiday Party (Faculty and Staff)

Southard Family Building Patio/ 4:00 PM