April 2017

- Tream Charvis, Mercedes Gonzales, and Lee Smith attended a National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Conference. They are now making formal presentations of what they learned to their fellow advisors in the college and at an upcoming Advising Symposium at UHD. This is the model of professional development we are piloting for staff in the College of Public Service. Our plan is to use what has been learned to inform and advance our work, to implement ideas and collect data on the results, and then, to make original presentations at future conferences on advising and retention. 

- Ron Beebe, Kasi Bundoc, Teryana Lamb, Sharon Noel, and Dana Smith are now serving as the TK20 Phase I Implementation Team for the College of Public Service. As we move into Phase 2 and 3, members may rotate off the team and additional representatives may be added. During the university wide meeting it was noted that Urban Education and Social Work have the most comprehensive and well-developed practice of the areas that will be migrated and implemented in Phase I.

- During the March session, one hundred and one (101) students participated in one-to-tone interviews for full admission into the Urban Education Program. Please thank Kasi Bundoc, Christal Burnett, Matt Fugate, Amelia Hewitt, John Kelly, Laura Mitchell, and Jacqueline Sack who conducted interviews at UHD; Kasi Bundoc, Diane Miller, and Laura Mitchell who conducted interviews at Northwest; and Susie Nelson who conducted the interviews at Kingwood!

- Congratulations to Ashley Blackburn who has been elected to serve as Trustee-At-Large on the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Executive Board. She attended her first official meeting on the Board on Friday, March 24th in Kansas City!

- Michael Connell and colleague, Sergei Abramovich from State University of New York at Potsdam, received the Best Paper Award from the Mathematics Education Special Interest Group at the 28th International Conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. The paper title is "Stamping Functions: A Technology Immune Technology Enabled Problem Within and Action on Objects Framework."

- Jace Valcore's paper, "Gender is Gender Identity: The Exclusion and Othering of Non-Binary Persons" was accepted for presentation at the Critical Intersections of Crime and Social Justice Conference. 

- Ron Beebe has published a chapter, "Evolving Notions of Impact in an Urban PDS/Residency Program" in Working Together: Enhancing Urban Educator Quality Through School-University Partnerships, a volume in the Advances in Teacher Education Series published by Information Age Publishing, Inc.

- Heather Goltz is presenting a workshop on "Sexuality and Cancer Patients and Survivors" and a paper entitled, "Improving Sexual Health: Unique Needs and Clinical Practice with Sexual Minorities at the Association of Oncology Social Work Conference. She is also chairing the survivorship working group sessions and co-chairing a survivorship scientific session at the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Think Tank.

- Congratulations to Rebecca Pfeffer and Hsiao-Ming Wang for the stories on their work in Human Trafficking and Community Policing as reported in feature articles by Skyline reporters. 

- Two students from the Department of Criminal Justice and Social Work will be representing posters at the Student Research Conference at UHD: Maria Bitgood, a Criminal Justice student who is sponsored by Ashley Blackburn will present her poster, "Vicarious Trauma and the Court Interpreter: Assessing its Physiological, Psychological, and Emotional Impact," and Christy Rehbein, a Social Work student who is sponsored by Josh Reynolds will present her poster, "Community Assessment: A Blended Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Urban Development." Christy Rehbein will present along with her co-authors, recent UHD alumni, Valeria Olmedo, Lashunda Robinson, and Evan Semones. 

- Officer Pam Minchew and Corporal Brandon Stewart of the Patton Village Police Department were recognized by Chief Sharp for their work on March 5, 2017 in helping to save the life of a non-breathing, non-responsive infant. Chief Sharp, Corporal Stewart, and Officer Minchew were all graduates of the UHD - Criminal Justice Training Center in the College of Public Service. Pam Minchew is a recent graduate who has received the Rex white Scholarship to assist her with tuition in the BAAS - Criminal Justice degree program here in the college. 

- Nikea Bradford-McGee will attend the National Council of University Research Administrators Fundamentals of Sponsored Project Administration for Professional Development in late May, 2017. 

- John Kelly received a Delphian award for the Literacy Project conducted by Pre-service teachers from UHD and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department's Excell Charter School. The award will fund books and a resource center. 

- Myrna Cohen received a Delphian award to purchase a set of key texts for loan to students in Urban Education who are unable to purchase or rent textbooks. 

- Leigh Van Horn was invited panelists on the mentorship of leaders for their Harris County Public Library. This panel is a part of an ongoing effort by the library system to identify and mentor those in leadership roles. 

- Congratulations and best wishes again to Faculty Awards Finalists in the College of Public Service

Excellence in Teaching: Judith Harris, Criminal Justice
Excellence in Service: Maria Bhattacharjee, Urban Education
Excellence in Service: Ashley Blackburn, Criminal Justice
Outstanding Lecturer: Angela Goins, Social Work
Outstanding Adjunct: Charles Pelz, Criminal Justice

Outstanding Adjunct: Joshua Reynolds, Social Work