CAA Quarterly Newsletter
February 2009
Department of Criminal Justice (Continued) Graduate Student Accomplishments THESES DEFENSES Roberto Rojas successfully defended his thesis (November 2008), "Language as a Barrier to Equality: Assessing the Gap between a Sample of English Speaking and Non-English Speaking Defendants in Travis County, Texas." It was chaired by Dr. Donna Vandiver; the other members included Drs. Scott Bowman and Jeffrey Cancino. Karly Watson successfully defended her thesis (November 2008), " Perceptions of Sexual Activity from Staff and Youth in a State Juvenile Facility." It was chaired by Dr. Bill Stone; the other members included Drs. Stephen Dietz and Michael Supancic. SCHOLARSHIPS Sarah Scott was awarded the 2007-2008 Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year for the College of Applied Arts and the Celebrity Classic Scholarship and the Graduate College Scholarship for the 2008-2009 academic year. PUBLICATIONS Sarah Scott was the second author on the study guide, instructor’s manual, and all supplemental materials for Dr. Joycelyn Pollock's textbook, "Crime & Justice in America: An Introduction to Criminal Justice" in 2008. CONFERENCE/PANEL ORGANIZERS Jennifer Carreon arranged and coordinated the 18th & 19th annual Hostage Negotiation Training Competition & Seminar with Dr. Wayman Mullins, at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Held on January 8-10, 2008 & January 13-15, 2008.
Criminal Justice Ph D Update On March 27th, the Department of Criminal Justice will host three professors from outside the University and a representative of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) who will assess the department’s Ph.D. proposal. All of the Criminal Justice faculty members and staff, and many administrators and staff across campus, have worked very hard for many years to bring the proposal to fruition. If approved, it would be the 9th Ph.D. program at Texas State University. The Ph.D. students in Criminal Justice would join about 800 undergraduate majors and over 100 Master’s students in the department.
The American Society of Criminology held it's annual meeting in St. Louis Missouri November 11-15th. The following faculty and students gave presentations: * Dr. Jeffrey Cancino co-presented "Immigration and Neighborhood Crime," "The Spatial and Social Dynamics of Immigration and Homicide," and "Examining the Differential Impact of Neighborhood Context on Disparities in Racial/Ethnic-Specific Patterns of Robbery Victimization" * Dr. Joycelyn Pollock co-presented "Preliminary Findings of 'Gendered Violence and Safety: A Contextual Approach to Improving Security in Women's Faciliites." * Dr. Kim Rossmo presented "Criminal Investigative Failures." * Dr. Quint Thurman organized two panel sessions, "Applying Theories to Understand Terrorism" and "Comparing Terrorism and Extremism in the U.S. with Terroristic Organizations and Behavior in Middle Eastern Cultures."