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In This Issue
Dean's Note
Student News
Faculty News
Alumni Spotlight
Upcoming Events
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Dear Friends of CSSME:
The spring semester is now one week old and already I notice both students and faculty falling back into the familiar patterns of teaching, studying and learning. Sometimes I think that our winter/holiday break is a bit too long, but I’m sure many students would disagree with my assessment. However it’s good to see how quickly students get back into the academic mode. This tells me that they fully understand what’s most important and why they are here.
As you will see from the articles below, it has been quite a busy time for both faculty and students. I am particularly pleased to announce that three of our Assistant Professors successfully earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor beginning in the fall 2019 semester. They are Dr. Enilda Romero-Hall (Education); Dr. Renee Patrick (Psychology); and Dr. Erica Yuen (Psychology). In addition, three of our current Associate Professors were successfully promoted to full professorship beginning in the fall 2019 semester. They are Dr. Ryan Cragun (Sociology); Dr. Mary Anderson (Political Science); and Dr. Kevin Fridy (Political Science). As noted by committee member Professor Terry Parssinen, “This was one of the most accomplished cohorts of promotion candidates I have seen here in all my years at UT.” So congratulation to these faculty members on this achievement.
As you will see in many of the articles below, our students also continue to shine in their activities and accomplishments as well. Whether it be in Political Science, Mathematics, History, Criminology, Psychology or Education (just to name a few), our students are performing at an extraordinarily level. I strongly believe that it is the experiential nature of their education here at UT that makes the difference. Simply put, our students just don’t learn about the subject matter, they fully engage in the subject matter. Whether it’s engaging in a mentored research project or engaging in a community-based internship, it is this “learning-by-doing” strategy that is becoming the hallmark of a University of Tampa education. So I again give my heartfelt congratulations to all of our faculty and students on their accomplishments and achievements.
Wishing everyone a successful spring semester.
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Jack M. Geller, Ph.D., Dean
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Political Science Students
Present Their Talking Points
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Congratulations to our students who had the opportunity to present their research at the Georgia Political Science Association's annual meeting in Savannah, GA on November 8 - 10, 2018.
Lexie Pierre presented "NGOs in Authoritarian States: The Impact on Revolutionary Movements" and
Marianne Ntagungira presented "What Factors Determine the Success of NGOs in the Promotion of Democracy?" in the Pajari Panel for Best Undergraduate Research Paper. Congratulations to Ntagungira for winning the Pajari Award and $250! This award is presented in recognition of undergraduate excellence and exceptional research.
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Marianne Ntagungira (left) and Lexie Pierre (right) present their research during the Pajari Panel for Best Undergraduate Research Paper.
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Katie Russo presented "Corruption in NGOs" and
Shelby Denney presented "Are Partnerships Between Northern NGOs and Southern NGOs Helpful in Achieving Development and Humanitarian Goals?" during a student research panel.
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Alexis Laroe, Courtney Wilson, Mary Anderson and Haley Hill at the State Capitol Building in Austin, TX.
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At the Southern Political Science Association's Annual Meeting in Austin, TX on January 17 - 19, Chair/Associate Professor
Mary Anderson and students
Haley Hill,
Alexis Laroe and
Courtney Wilson presented "Confidence and Politics" as part of a panel discussion entitled "Gender and Political Participation."
Upon reflection about their participation in the conference, Laroe said "participating in this conference allowed us to experience the different aspects of research including preparing for publication. We are thankful for the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Anderson and understand that this opportunity has prepared us well for our future endeavors."
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Fall 2018 History Poster Exhibition
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On the afternoon of November 29, 2018, 55 students from two world history classes presented 36 posters on ancient and early modern historical documents. The poster documents ranged from lesser known documents, such as the Amarna letters, diplomatic correspondence written on clay tablets between and sent between the administration of New Kingdom Egypt and its representatives in Canaan, to the well-known
Magna Carta signed at Runnymede by King John of England in 1215. Winner of Division I History and Society was
The Secret Life of the Mongols researched by
Darlene Simmons,
Kim Kaucic and
Zeeshaan Ahmed. Winner of Division II History and Culture was
Erica Ragan for her poster on early troubadour Jauffrè Rudel and his poems highlighting ‘love from afar.’ Judges included Dr. Daniel Dooghan, Dr. Stephen McFarland, Dr. James Lopez, Dr. Joseph Letter, Dr. Spencer Segalla and Dr. Edward Pompeian.
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Assistant Professor Stephen McFarland asks Devon Espinoza about Aristotle’s Politics, Book I.
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History Graduate Presents Research
Recent history graduate
Giacomo Mattei has just been invited to present his original research paper, "The British Government's Response to the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1938," at the annual meeting of the Florida Conference of Historians that will be held at the New College of Florida in Sarasota on February 22 and 23. Mattei is headed for graduate school in political science next fall.
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Department of Education Welcomes New Elementary Education Majors
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Freshman elementary education major Isabella Ciferno
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Clinical Education Director Merrie Tankersley speaks to new elementary education majors.
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The Plant Hall Music Room was packed on Monday, December 3, for the Department of Education's reception to welcome its freshmen and sophomore elementary education majors. Guest speakers for the evening included Principal Debra Fitzpatrick from Lewis Elementary School, Principal Deborah Anderson from Mitchell Elementary School. Department of Education alumni Thomas Brill from Trinity School for Children, Nicolette Barone from Sulfur Springs Elementary and Michele Bubley Wiehagen from Miles Elementary School also spoke to the new education majors.
T-shirts designed by J1 education majors were raffled-off to the new elementary education majors.
Thank you to Merrie Tankersley, the mentors of Kappa Delta Pi, the Elementary Committee, and Shenise Tyson for organizing the event.
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Congratulations to the following CSSME faculty members who have been approved by the UT Board of Trustees to receive tenure and/or promotion beginning in the Fall 2019 semester.
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Approved for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor:
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Renee Patrick, Ph.D.
Psychology
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Enilda Romero-Hall, Ph.D.
Education
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Erica Yuen, Ph.D.
Psychology
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Approved for promotion to Professor:
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Mary Anderson, Ph.D.
Political Science and International Studies
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Ryan Cragun, Ph.D.
Sociology
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Kevin Fridy, Ph.D.
Political Science and International Studies
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Criminology & Criminal Justice
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Faculty members from the UT Criminology and Criminal Justice department presented their research at The American Society of Criminology annual meeting on November 14 -17, 2018 in Atlanta, GA.
Assistant Professor
Sorle Diih and Associate Professor
Christopher Capsambelis presented "The Relationship between Job Benefits, Police Equipment and Police Officers' Job Satisfaction."
Sorle Diih also served as a discussant in a roundtable session entitled "Challenges of Democratic Policing: The Case of Nigeria."
Assistant Professor
Gabriel Paez co-presented "Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: A Social Bond Theory Perspective."
Assistant Professor
Cedric Michel and UT alumna
Alejandra Barrios presented "The Impact of Information about Victimization Effects on Public Response to Rape and White-Collar Crime."
Cedric Michel also co-presented "Juveniles Arrested for Murder: A Statistical Typology of Male Offenders."
Associate Professor
Carly Hilinski-Rosick co-presented "Inmate Misconduct: A Test of the Importation and Deprivation Theories."
Chair/Associate Professor
Mary Anderson served as a discussant in a special panel entitled "Mentoring Women to Communicate Effectively Across All Levels of the Profession."
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A SoleMate for young girls and future runners
The course for the 56th JFK 50 Mile, an ultra-marathon held annually since the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, was muddy due to the rain and snow that had recently fallen in Washington County, Md. It wound through parts of the...
Read more
www.tampabay.com
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Part-Time Professor
Thomas Santarlas has been appointed to the
International Association of Chiefs of Police's (IACP) Education & Training Committee for 2019 - 2020. The IACP is the world’s largest and most influential professional association for police leaders.
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Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Andrea Walker co-authored "
Paying to Be Punished: A Statutory Analysis of Sex Offender Registration Fees" that was published in
Criminal Justice Ethics. Using a statutory analysis within the United States, this research finds and quantifies the imposition of a registration fee on offenders who are legally compelled to pay these registration costs, regardless of whether they are still currently under community supervision.
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Assistant Professor of Education
Suzanne Ensmann’s chapter "The Effects of Wearable Devices on Performance in Education: Serving The Whole Student With Focused Attention on Health and Wellness" has been accepted for publication in A
New Focus for Learning: Educational Technology Beyond Content, Springer-Verlag, New York. The public release date is scheduled for November 2019.
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Assistant Professor
Enilda Romero-Hall received an Undergraduate Research and Inquiry Grant from UT's Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry to work on a project titled “Lurking for Learning” with undergraduate student
Renata Sindicic. The aim of this investigation is to survey undergraduate students in their social media use and participation. We are comparing the benefits, challenges, participation patterns, and outcomes (informal learning) between the students’ most and least used social media.
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History, Sociology, Geography & Legal Studies
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Assistant Professor of Sociology
Giuseppina Valle Holway, along with colleagues Kathryn Harker Tillman and Karin L. Brewster (Florida State University) co-authored “Sexual and Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood” that has been accepted for publication in
Annual Review of Sociology. In their study, the researchers reviewed contemporary research on sexual and romantic relationships among young adults in the U.S., noting how relationship attitudes, expectations, and experiences have changed in response to broader social and economic developments, and how they vary by gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and sexual identity.
Holway also co-authored the book chapter “First Sexual Experience with a Same-Sex Partner in the United States: Evidence from a National Sample.” with Karin Brewster, Kathryn Harker Tillman and Karin L. Brewster that has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming
Same-Sex Unions, Health and Well-Being. This book will be part of "The Politics of Marriage and Gender: Global Issues in Local Contexts" series published by Rutgers University Press.
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Krukar was elected to the Board of Directors and appointed Secretary of the North Tampa Bar Association.
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Political Science and International Studies
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Several faculty members participated in the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) that was held on January 17 - 19 in Austin, TX.
Associate Professor
Kevin Fridy co-presented "Personality, Values, and Candidate Preference: A Conjoint Experiment from Northern Ghana" with Jaimie Bleck and Paul Friesen (University of Notre Dame) in a panel discussion on comparative politics in developing areas.
Assistant Professor
Jonathan Lewallen and Scott Mose (University of Nottingham) presented "It's In Our Hands: Multiple Referral with a Primary Committee" in a panel discussion on positive political theory. Lewallen also served as Chair of a panel discussion on legislative politics and a discussant in "Norms & Behavior." and on the SPSA Program Committee for Legislative Politics.
Associate Professor
William Myers served as Chair of a panel discussion on judicial politics. Myers also co-presented "Local Governments and Party Capability Theory: Who Wins and Why?" with Davia C Downey (Grand Valley State University).
Assistant Professors
Kathryn VanderMolen and
Jonathan Lewallen served as discussants on a panel discussion entitled "Secrets of Successful Legislators" and also presented "Legislative Error in the States" as part of a panel discussion on legislative and oversight capacity.
Assistant Professor
Ryan Welch served as discussant in a panel discussion entitled "Conflict ResolutIon: From Mediation to Peace Treaties." Welch also presented "Does Shaming Lead to the Adoption of Human Rights Institutions?" in a panel discussion on human rights in a context of war.
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Assistant Professor Jonathan Lewallen and Bartholomew H. Sparrow (University of Texas-Austin) co-authored the article "
Nothing on the Floor: Congress, the Territorial Delegates, and Political Representation" that was published in the winter issue of
Political Science Quarterly. In this article, Lewallen and Sparrow examine the legislative activities of the congressional delegates representing the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. They argue that even though delegates attract fewer cosponsors to their legislation than other House members and are not appointed to the most prestigious committees, their behavior across several indicators does not differ from that of the average House member.
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Associate Professors of Political Science and International Studies Kevin Fridy and William Myers' article "
Challenges to decentralisation in Ghana: where do citizens seek assistance?" was published online in
Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. In this article, the authors report on a four-constituency survey administered to explore and understand how citizens in Ghana choose between the options of local institutions available to them in order to solve a problem important to their community or themselves.
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At the Georgia Political Science Association's annual meeting in Savannah, GA on November 8 - 10, 2018, Associate Professor
Denis Rey served as Panel Discussant of the Current Issues in the European Union student panel. Rey also served as Chair of the Mentoring Undergraduate Research Roundtable where UT students participated as discussants.
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Instructor
Stephanie Branham presented "Effective Hybrid Teaching Strategies" on December 7 at the Mathematical Association of America Florida Section's Suncoast Regional Meeting at USF in St. Petersburg. Branham examined how online learning can apply even to the traditional mathematics classroom.
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Associate Professor
Kari Fowler's article "
Families of Differential Equations in the Unit Disk" was published in the
Journal of Mathematics. Fowler studied the interaction between coefficient and solution conditions for complex linear differential equations in the unit disk within the context of normal families and corresponding families of differential equations.
Fowler also presented "Nevanlinna Theory and Tropical Difference Polynomial Equations" and "Families of Complex Linear Differential Equations in the Unit Disk" at the Joint Mathematics Meeting held in Baltimore, MD on January 16 - 19.
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Associate Professor
Netra Khanal, along with Nawa Raj Pokhrel (Xavier University of Louisiana) and Chris P. Tsokos (University of South Florida) presented "A Predictive Analytical Model for Stomach Cancer Data." Khanal also presented "Cybersecurity: A New Predictive Analytical Model for Software Vulnerability Discovery Process" at the Joint Mathematics Meeting held in Baltimore, MD on January 16 - 19.
Khanal is also the organizer of the Second International Conference on Applications of Mathematics to Nonlinear Sciences to be held at Pokhara, Nepal from June 27-30, 2019
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Jon Belush, B.S. Secondary Education - Social Studies, 2016
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Secondary Education graduate Jon Belush is currently employed at
Education First (EF), a company founded by Swedish businessman, Bertil Hult (The Hult Foundation) and is accredited through Cambridge University. University. At EF, Belush is teaching conversational and fundamental English to students ages 3-17 in Shanghai, China. He teaches between 10-12 classes a week to prepare his students to attend universities in America and Europe. Belush said "I am working with people from all over the world and making connections that will last a lifetime. This has been the greatest decision of my life and it will open so many avenues for my future endeavors."
Belush added that "UT and the Department of Education really gave me the drive to be the best teacher possible..The University of Tampa taught me so much and inspired me to go further...The EDU program at UT is like a family, and no matter where I go in the world, I know they will have my back and encourage me to keep going forward."
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Lt. Col. John Wiegner, B.A. History, 1978
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John Wiegner attended UT as an active duty Army Captain and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1978. During his studies at UT, Wiegner was influenced by Emeritus Professor Stephen Speronis, whom Wiegner described as a professor who “made you think outside the box, examine the why of events.”
After graduating from UT, Wiegner continued his career in the Army. He was as member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and served as a Foreign Area Officer in Greece. During his distinguished career, Wiegner earned 35 U.S. and foreign military awards and decorations. His other assignments included
- Chief of Staff, United States Defense Representative, Greece;
- Chief, U.S. Joint Military Aid Group, Greece;
- Special U.S. Military Advisor to the Counsel General in Thessaloniki, Greece;
- U.S. Military Liaison to Hellenic National Defense General Staff in Athens, Greece; and
- Chief, National Missions, U.S. Special Operations Command.
Wiegner continued his education by earning a M.S. degree in government from Campbell University and a Ph.D. in business administration from Northcentral University.
For current students at UT, Wiegner advises that "what and when are never as important as why."
Wiegner currently resides in Valrico, FL.
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Wiegner being presented with the Legion of Merit, as Chief, National Missions, US Special Operations Command by Major General Joe Lutz, retired Chief of Staff, United States Special Operations Command, and Commander, US Army Special Forces.
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Mark your calendars for the following upcoming events at UT:
- February 1: Mathematics Lecture Series, Dr. Edward B. Saff, Professor of Mathematics at Vanderbilt University, "Minimal Energy, Soccer Balls, and Bagels," 4:00-5:00 pm, Location: GHS 104
- March 6: Mathematics Lecture Series, Dr. Emilio Toro, Associate Professor of Mathematics, The University of Tampa, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, Location: TBA
- April 3: Mathematics Lecture Series, Dr. Joseph L. Antonelli, Professor of Statistics at the University of Florida, 4:00-5:00pm, Location: TBA
- May 1: CSSME Undergraduate Research Conference, Fletcher Lounge, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
- May 3: Criminology & Criminal Justice end of semester social. Vaughn Center, Crescent Club, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
If you have an event that you would like advertised in the newsletter, please send your event information to Laura Gicker at
lgicker@ut.edu.
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