History minor, Vitoria Perez's story, "Laughing Like She Was In Life" was published in the New York Times's Modern Love's "Tiny Love Stories" on February 22, 2022. (Read the full story here). She is a Louisiana-born writer and a freelance editor whose writing has been featured in a variety of publications that include Modern Love, Umbra, and Expanded Field.

Political Science major, Jessica Abate has secured a judicial internship in the Domestic/Family Law Division with the Honorable Greg Green, who is a Circuit Court Judge in Hillsborough County. Abate is currently observing and assisting with marital and family law cases such as divorces, custody matters, alimony and child support matters, and other family law cases.

"I am truly learning so much about myself and what I would like to do in my future. I have been able to see cases pertaining to divorce, custody, name changes, and surrogacy. Judge Green and his fellow judges are an excellent resource to gain a better understanding of how and why these decisions are made. I am so excited to continue on with this journey in the world of law" said Jessica.

Assistant Professor Nathan Connealy co-authored "The Effect of the Seattle Police-Free CHOP Zone on Crime: A Microsynthetic Control Evaluation" published in Criminology & Public Policy. The article details the nightly confrontations that transpired between protestors and officers outside of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD’s) East precinct in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. A microsynthetic control group method was used to analyze the effect of CHOP on crime during the 24-day occupation. Results indicate crime significantly increased in the CHOP zone, the encompassing 2-block area, and the overall East precinct service area. The current study found comparatively stronger effects than the general literature on de-policing. The significant crime increase is particularly noteworthy given the short time frame of the CHOP occupation and retreat of police from the area theoretically making it more challenging for crimes to be reported by citizens and/or proactively discovered by officers. This suggests that police abolition, the most extreme form of the police defunding movement, may significantly compromise public safety.

Drs. Johnna Yealy and Suzanne Ensmann joined forces between the UT Physician Assistant and the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) Programs to develop a Community Paramedicine Training Program for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. Offering graduate students class projects to collaborate and prepare paramedic training in interactive e-Learning modules gave them real-world experience while serving a need in the community. Newly hired paramedics will use this training program to smoothly onboard with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay to further improve access to care. (Read the full story here.)

Dr. Yvonne Franco was elected President of the Florida Association of Teacher Educators (FATE) for 2022-2023, during the December 2021 FATE conference held here at the University of Tampa. Dr. Franco’s vision for this year includes growing the organization to represent education programs throughout all colleges/universities and PK-12 education throughout our state, as well as leveraging the current board’s skill-set to offer high quality, professional development state-wide, in accordance with state education initiatives.

Further, Dr. Franco presented research this January (11-15) at the Association for Science Teacher Educators (ASTE) conference, held in Greenville, SC. The presentation titled, “Mentorship for Professional Preparation and Development of Science Teacher Educators,” highlighted her unique design of a professional development model to mentor doctoral students to become science teacher educators. In collaboration, two doctoral students at the presentation shared the learning, challenges, and tensions they experienced during the professional learning experience.

Dr. Adrianne Wilson recently presented at the annual Florida Association of Teachers Educators (FATE) conference. Her presentation entitled, Mind Over Matter: Integrating Mindfulness into Teacher Prep, discussed practical mindfulness approaches that can be integrated into education programs to effectively prepare future teachers.

Dr. Myers and his co-author, Dr. Davia Downey at the University of Memphis, were invited to present "Effective Communication in Times of Crisis: The Case of COVID-19 Face Mask Mandates in the United States" on February 14 as part of Public Administration Review's Virtual Workshop Symposium on "The nexus between emergency management, public health, and equity: Responding to the crisis, and mitigating future hazards."

Dr. Myers was also invited to give a presentation to Atheists of Florida on Sunday, February 20, entitled "Fascism in the United States: The Media, Crisis, and Democratic Collapse." The presentation provided an extended discussion of the crucial role that the media plays in perpetuating crises, how that feeds into fascist strategies and goals, and the increasingly fragile state of American democracy.

Associate Professor/Director of Applied Sociology J.E. Sumerau recently published two new research based short stories "The House of Joy" and "Metro Coffeehouse & Pub" in the literary journal, Hearth & Coffin. In addition to the publication of these short stories, Dr. Sumerau's "Metro Coffeehouse & Pub" is an editor's choice for the journal issue.