CPS August Newsletter

NEWSLETTER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023

WELCOME BACK! It is refreshing to see our students fill the halls here at the College of Public Service. I hope you had an enjoyable summer and are ready to engage in both your classes and activities in the College and at the University this semester.

We have a lot planned! If you haven’t, I also hope you explore our College of Public Service Student Groups. Please take a look below to read about people/things you likely will not find about anywhere else. And remember, we are here for you. Stay connected and let us know how we can make life at the College of Public Service the best it can be for you.

Some Tips for Success

SPEAK UP: Dr. Cynae Punch Brown, says: “Speak up: If you are having challenges, or have questions, don'twait for someone else to ask. You have the right to ask questions on your road to success. 🙂🙂”

Some Tips for Success

ASK FOR HELP Similarly, Dr. Diane Miller suggests you “Ask for help.

Your professors are ready to help, but they can’t help if they aren’t aware of your specific need.”

Some Tips for Success FIND A BUDDY

STAY ORGANIZED

Dr. Miller also suggests you “Find a buddy (or two…or three!) on the first day of class and exchange contact information. This is helpful to have—especially when you get caught in traffic or want to check on a detail from class.

Stay organized and save the important stuff (and isn’t it all “important stuff”?!?) in multiple places(e.g., not just on the 5 yr.-old flash drive that swims at the bottom of your backpack).

KEEP EVERYTHING!

ASK ABOUT RESOURCES

For many degree programs, the classes build upon one another, even if they’re not listed formally as prerequisites. Notes or assignments from previous semesters often prove to be useful resources for later classes.

Ask the professor about the relevance of textbooks to future classes before you sell everything back at the end of the semester. Some resources will continue to be useful until graduation…and beyond.

GOOD NEWS! Room C-222, located diagonally across from the second floor elevators is now a space for students to study, work on group projects, or just sit and relax. The room currently has three computers, a projector, whiteboards, and desks and chairs that can be arranged as needed.

Effective August 21, 2023, this room will be available to students as a study lounge from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. The room will remain unlocked during those hours.

WELCOME TO

Commerce Connects!

Commerce Connects is dedicated to providing volunteer opportunities for all UHD students especially for freshman in the fields of Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Urban Education while they are taking their core classes. We want you to experience, first-hand, through project-based opportunities, what life is like in those career fields. As the Student Program Coordinator, I provide volunteer opportunities and recruit students to gain experience in their preferred CPS major. I contact nonprofits and agencies to coordinate volunteer events for our students. I am regularly present during outreach events such as welcome weeks and resources fairs, providing students with information on the organization.

Commerce Connects allows students to experience unique volunteer opportunities to explore the worlds of Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Urban Education.

Student Groups

SWSCAN is a social work-based organization dedicated to contributing to our campus, community, and each other.

SWSCAN’s core values consist of valuing community service, volunteering, networking, and peer support. Though SWSCAN is social work-based, students of all majors are welcome to join!

Student Groups

Highlights: Graduation cord for active members, along with service, networking, and leadership opportunities. If you’re interested in joining SWSCAN, please email the officers at uhdswscan@gmail.com for more information!

Student Groups The purpose of Phi Alpha is to provide a closer bond among social work students and promote humanitarian goals and ideals. Phi Alpha fosters high standards of education for social workers and invites into membership those who have attained excellence in scholarship and achievement in social work.

To join Phi Alpha, you must have completed 9 credit hours in the Bachelor of Social Work program and have a GPA in the top 35% of all social work majors. You will receive an email from the Chapter President inviting you to join if you have qualified. If you have more questions, please contact the officers at uhdphialphaofficers@gmail.com for more information!

Student Groups

Highlights: Some highlights of being a member of Phi Alpha are an induction ceremony to honor new members on their accomplishments, a certificate of membership, a membership pin, and graduation honor cords, along with service, networking, and leadership opportunities.

Student Groups Alpha Phi Sigma is a national honors society for criminal justice students.

The purpose of Alpha Phi Sigma is to promote academic excellence, educational leadership, unity, and community service. Membership is open to undergraduate and graduate criminal justice students. To qualify for membership undergraduate students must have completed 12 hours of undergraduate criminal justice coursework, maintain a 3.2 GPA in criminal justice courses, and maintain an overall GPA of 3.2. Graduate students must complete 9 hours of criminal justice graduate courses, maintain a 3.4 GPA in criminal justice coursework, and an overall GPA of 3.4. Members of Alpha Phi Sigma have the unique opportunity to network with other criminal justice students as well as professionals in the field of criminal justice. Someone that qualifies for membership of Alpha Phi Sigma at UHD will gain access to all our chapte revents and can wear the Alpha Phi Sigma regalia at graduation if they maintain a good standing with the organization.

Student Groups Alpha Phi Sigma over the last year has had the opportunity to tour the Gulfton Opportunity Center, the Forensic Science Center, attend a College Safety Day event at Crime Stoppers Houston, and participate in numerous volunteer opportunities with Crime Stoppers Houston. One of the largest volunteer opportunities with Crime Stoppers Houston was helping pack backpacks and hand them out at the Crime Stoppers Houston Backpack donation drive. All of this is in addition to our own chapter events like our Meet and Greet. As well as our biannual end of semester Banquet to recognize our new and graduating members.

Student Groups

You can find out more information about our organization on the UHD website which has information about the application process, membership fees, and other requirements for membership. You can also visit us on Instagram at @uhd_aps.

STAR Lab Wins AARP Grant The Service, Teaching, Aging, and Research (S.T.A.R.) Lab recently won a very competitive AARP grant that will provide 70 seniors at Houston’s Big Bass Apartments with 70 electronic tablets. Ten UHD students will be engaged in training and supporting the seniors in the use of the tablets through10 interactive sessions.

STAR Lab Wins AARP Grant The tablets are a means of supporting seniors to be more connected to resources and opportunities they might not be aware of. The opportunity provides our students with a way to engage with and learn from seniors in our community. The one-on-one interaction between generations is what the S.T.A.R. Lab hopes to promote through its work in the community. If you’d like to participate in other S.T.A.R. Lab initiatives, please contact Dr. Goins at goinsa@uhd.edu.

Be a STAR Teacher at UHD! The Department of Urban Education Faculty, pictured here at the Fall Faculty Retreat, is excited and ready for the 2023-2024 academic year.

They are proud to roll out the theme for this year: "Be a STAR Teacher at UHD!" You are invited to visit our 4th-floor offices to see how we are decorating and DOING with this mindset.

Urban Education & Special Education In the last decade, there has been a movement to provide adequate education to all students with special needs in general education classrooms. Data from the National Center of Educational Statistics (2021) indicate that nearly 70% of students with special educational needs receive education in general education classrooms.

However, research indicates that most general and special education teachers need to become more familiar with the special education process and procedures.

Dr. Ashwini (Ash) Tiwari's Introduction to Special Populations class PED/SPED 3301 class did a mock Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD)activity. This role-play activity involved going through the steps to determine eligibility and developing an Individualized Education Program(IEP) for special education. Students were given group assignments, and they prepared for their assigned role in a mock admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) that was presented to the class. Each group was given a reallife scenario reflecting the responsibilities and rights of the professionals, the student, and the family as they collaborated in planning an appropriate educational program for the student. Students wrote a summative and reflective paper on the ARD process in which they raved about the assignment.

Dr. Tiwari believes that for all the prospective teachers, their future roles and responsibilities would include going through ARD to provide special education services to their students. This role-play activity will provide valuable experiences that help UHD students fully prepare for their roles in the education of special education students.

SUMMER FUN at the College of Public Service

Environmental Science Summer Institute In the recent months, Dr. Albrecht, Dr. Burks, Dr. Morano, and I (Dr. Jeffrey) have been diligently working on our Let’s Go Outside – Urban Explorers Girls STEAM Academy project, which has kept our grant team busy, but filled with immense enthusiasm about the next phase of our program.

Environmental Science Summer Institute Please take a look at this video compiled

by Dr. Burks. It offers a vivid portrayal of the captivating experiences and engaging activities that were a part of our Environmental Science Summer Institute. It provides a glimpse into the essence of our initiative and the impact it has had on our school district-university partners and UHD students.

UHD Urban Education Students & Alumni Participate in

NASA Educator Workshop

NASA Educator Workshop This summer, six UHD Urban Education students and alumni participated in an in-person pilot workshop focused on NASA’s Next Gen STEM at NASA Johnson Space Center.

This inaugural workshop, developed by NASA’s Educator Professional Development (EPD) team, centered around NASA Next Gen STEM topics including the Moon, Aeronaut X, the Solar System and Beyond, and Earth. The goal of the workshop and the EPD team was to increase teachers’ confidence in using NASA STEM resources and engagement opportunities within their classrooms.

College of Public Service Student and Family Welcome Night On August 22nd, we held our 2nd Annual College of Public Service Family Night. Our newest gators and their families joined President Blanchard, Provost Bordelon, and several CPS faculty members and staff to learn more about the University and the College in particular. We enjoyed a meal together and even had a special Kids’ Corner for our future Gators!

CPS Student & Family Welcome Night

Are you thinking about Grad school ?

College of Public Service Graduate Program Information Sessions

Dr. Beth Pelz: A Dean Who Made a Difference

While it seems obvious to us now, Aristotle was the first to notice that every story has a beginning, middle, and an end. Regarding endings, he wrote that they should be “surprising, yet inevitable,” meaning that we shouldn’t see them coming, but, once they happen, it should seem as if things couldn’t have unfolded any other way.

As the 35-year career of Dr. Beth Pelz, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and former Dean of the College of Public Service (CPS), comes to a close, it is certainly surprising to take stock of all of her accomplishments here at UHD, given the fact that, many times, Dr. Pelz was often asked to, as she said, “create programs and pathways with string, glue, and tape.”

And while the outstanding results she achieved are surprising, anyone who knows Dr. Pelz’s character would say that they were inevitable given her "creative energy” (as a former dean once put it), as well as her tenacity and vision. All these qualities, along with an abiding care for students and her community, made her decades of success all but a certainty.