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In This Issue
Dean's Note
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Dear Friends of CSSME:
Welcome to the 2021-2022 Academic Year! The fall 2021 semester began on August 30 after a week of students moving back into the residence halls, student orientation, new faculty orientation, and the typical activities we go through in the process of launching a new academic year. A healthy growth spurt in our student enrollment this year has also led to subsequent growth among our faculty ranks. So, I would encourage you to read below about some of our new faculty colleagues.
I am also proud to report that over the summer three of our assistant professors in Psychology and Criminology applied for National Science Foundation research grants. While applying for a National Science Foundation grant is not particularly new, having three such proposals submitted over the summer is actually quite unusual. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed for Drs. Festini (PSY), Fitch (CRM), and Marsh (PSY), in their efforts to secure nationally competitive research funds. Good luck to all.
As you will read below, our students and faculty never truly rest in their pursuit of scholarship and engagement. In spite of a pandemic, students and faculty alike are actively engaged and both presenting and publishing their scholarship. So please take the time to read about their pursuits and accomplishments.
And finally, I suppose it goes without saying that we are all disappointed that Covid-19 is still affecting our normal operations here on campus for a third academic year. However, I am very proud of the way our students, faculty, and staff have adapted and complied with our Spartan Shield Safety Plan. Of course, I am reminded that we went all last year with an indoor mask requirement and many similar safety restrictions. Let’s all hope that this academic year will be the last in which these important safety measures will have to be employed.
Sincerely,
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Jack M. Geller, Ph.D., Dean |
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Students Present at the APS Conference |
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Psychology Minors, Danusia Mryczko and Tina Brown presented a poster at the virtual 33rd annual Association for Psychological Science National Conference, titled Busyness & Cognition in Undergraduate Students: End-of-Semester Versus Beginning-of-Semester Cognitive Performance. Their research was supported by a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry. Mryczko and Brown were mentored by Assistant Professor of Psychology, Sara Festini.
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Assistant Professor Sarah Orban and Psychology majors, Ashley Barall and Madelyn Sandone presented at the virtual 33rd annual Association for Psychological Science National Conference, titled Media Multitasking in Young Adults: Exploring ADHA symptoms and Executive Functioning. This study examines associations between medial-multitasking, self-reported symptoms, inattention/impulsivity, and performance-based measures of working memory, inhibitory control, and task switching. |
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Assistant Professor Sarah Orban, Alumna Izahni Rosa (B.A. '20), and Psychology majors, Ashley Barall and Madelyn Sandone presented an additional poster at the 33rd annual Association for Psychological Science Conference, titled The Relation Between Inattention, Impulsivity, and Smartphone Use Among College Students. This study examines the relationship between objectively recorded smartphone use and both self-reported and performance-based measures of inattention and impulsivity in a sample of college students.
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Spring Clean up with the Sociology Club
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The Sociology Club accompanied by Assistant Teaching Professor Katie Cooper partnered with Keeping Tampa Bay Beautiful at Plant Park to continue its mission of improving and beautifying its community environment. Both groups walked along the Hillsborough River and around the downtown area ensuring that all spaces were free from debris. Keep America beautiful brings people together to transform public spaces into beautiful spaces. What a wonderful way to give back to your community!
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Criminology & Criminal Justice |
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Assistant Professor Cedric Michel co-authored Juveniles arrested for Murder: A latent class analysis of male offenders that was published in Behavioral Sciences & the Law. This study aimed to address the limitations of prior research on typologies of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) by examining latent heterogeneity among JHOs, their victims, and incident characteristics. This work generated six distinct subtypes of male JHOs that may be used to enhance interventions and prevention programs. |
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Assistant Professor Chivon Fitch and Professor/Assistant Dean Kathryn Branch's article Navigating student resistance in the classroom: Strategies for faculty was published in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Special Issue Teaching about Victimization in the #MeToo Era. This study explored the experiences of female college instructors navigating problematic student behaviors, such as interruptions and challenges to classroom management. Their findings demonstrate that instructors who self-identify as female experience a variety of behaviors that are hostile and problematic from students in their delivery of course content |
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Published in the Tech Trends journal's special issue focused on visual literacy in a global learning context, Dr. Suzanne Ensmann contributed " Digital Games to improve Learning in Haiti," funded with the UT Research Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) grant funds 2019-2020. Providing interactive digital game-based learning to children whose school closes due to political unrest or a pandemic offers new and continued learning to expand minds and opportunities. |
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Part-Time Professor Tavis Myrick was featured on Fox 13 News for his non-profit Gentleman's Quest that teaches young boys how to become men. This program aims to teach problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and collaboration skills to young boys. View more
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Dr. Enilda Romero-Hall and Education- Elementary major, Caldeira Ripine published the open-access journal article titled "Hybrid flexible instruction: Exploring faculty preparedness" in the most recent issue of the Online Learning journal. The aim of this investigation was to survey faculty members on their perceived level of preparedness to design and implement hybrid flexible (HyFlex) instruction.
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Associate Professor Leslie Jones was a speaker at MathFest 2021 for a special session titled Mathematics in Action. Professor Jones' talk Mathematical Measurement in Data Science examined various metrics used to compare vectors and the pros and cons of each. This session aimed to show the connections between mathematics and other fields of interest to students. |
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Professor McAnally is also an editor for a special edition in the journal Partial Differential Equations in Applied Mathematics titled Soliton Theory and Applications.
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Associate Professor/Director, Actuarial Science Program Khyam Paneru and Assistant Professor Durga Kutal, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater presented their work, Mixture and Non-Mixture cure models for Right-Censored Data with Modified Gompertz Distribution at the 2021 Joint Statistics Meetings. The project introduced in this article considers mixture and non-mixture cure models for the right censored data.
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Associate Professor William Myer's article Covid-19 Policy Executive (In)Action in Florida and Michigan was accepted in Wayne Law Review. This article discusses varying policy responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
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Nathan Connealy is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. His research and teaching are focused on policing and crime prevention, police technology, as well as statistics and quantitative research design. He is currently working with local-level law enforcement in Chicago, IL, Kansas City, MO and Newark, NJ on evaluating programming related to gunshot detection systems and body worn cameras. Before entering academia, Nate worked as a crime analyst for several midwestern police departments. |
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Brandon Dulisse, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Tampa. He comes from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he served for the last five years as an assistant professor and assistant chair. Before that, he received his Ph.D. in 2015 at the University of Cincinnati in Criminology with a focus on Corrections. His research interests include empirical testing of criminological theory, institutional and community corrections, correctional policy and rehabilitation, and the impact of cyberharassment and victimization in society. |
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Dr. Lori Jacques is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science. Her current research interests focus on computer science education, especially with under-represented groups. Prior to joining UT, she worked at Louisiana Tech in both CS and education. |
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Dr. Abhilash Kancharla is an Assistant Teaching professor in the field of Computer science. Prior to teaching at UT, he has taught introduction to Computer Science courses at Oklahoma State University where he received his Doctoral and Master's degree in Computer Science. Dr. Kancharla’s primary area of research is focused on blockchain – the technology behind the famous cryptocurrency, BitCoin. His secondary area of research is focused on BigData. |
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Dr. Franco is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at the University of Tampa. She earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Science Education, and a concentration in teacher preparation, from the University of South Florida. Yvonne's research agenda is focused on the cultivation of an inquiry stance among teacher candidates and the novice teacher, to approach problems of practice in the classroom, and widen the angle of equitable, high-quality, responsive instruction for students across disciplines. Dr. Franco currently serves as president elect for the Florida Association of Teacher Educators (FATE), and most recently received the 2020 Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award from the University of South Florida. Dr. Franco is also a proud UT alumna, having earned the 2003 Outstanding Educator Award during her time as a teacher candidate in our Department of Education.
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Ken Houghton is a New York native and earned his Doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from SUNY Binghamton, where he developed a program of research in text and discourse processing. In his research, Ken investigates reader inference making, the effects of misinformation on readers’ memory, and the ways story characters can influence readers’ processing of stories. Naturally, his program of research centered on reading and memory guides his pedagogy. In the classroom, Ken prioritizes that students grow to become critical consumers and effective communicators of scientific information. |
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Dr. Ruth Chananie earned her bachelor's and master's in sociology from Middle Tennessee State University, and her doctorate from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She taught as an adjunct at UT for 5 years before she was hired as an Assistant Teaching Professor. Her interest areas are gender and sexuality, social movements, sociology of sport, and deviant behavior. Earlier this year, she received the UT Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Award. In her spare time she enjoys reading sci-fi and crime novels. |
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Dr. David Zeller is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Sociology in the Department of History, Sociology, Geography & Legal Studies. David’s areas of expertise and interest include social psychology, social movements, environmental sociology, urban sociology, deviance, theory, and research methods. His hobbies include watching sports, spending time with dogs, and listening to music.
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Congratulations to Dr. Marquis Holley (M.S. '14) who successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled Waive it away: Systematic injustices against Black and Brown faculty and staff professionals, past and present. Dr. Marquis Holley graduated from the Educational Innovation Program at the University of South Florida. |
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Congratulations to Dr. Nikisha Watson (M.S. '14) who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled Towards failure-based instructional design: A phenomenological study of the perceptions of drone pilots about the use of simulations to promoted failure-based learning. Dr. Nikisha Watson graduated from the Instructional Design and Technology program at Old Dominion University. |
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Alumna (B.A. '21), Julia Ingram's capstone paper “Everyday Nationalism: The Easter Rising of 1916 and the Making of Modern Irish Independence” was published in the Q Journal of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry, Volume 2. This essay addresses how the nationalist organizations and the Catholic Church strategically framed the Easter Rising to garner public support and consequently, how the public internalized the nationalistic fervor in their personal letters and diaries. Ingram's work was written under the guidance of Assistant Teaching Professor of History, Kelly Palmer. |
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Emory Bogardus Chapter of the Year Award 2020-2021 Recipients |
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The Emory Bogardus Chapter of the Year Award has been established to recognize and reward chapter achievement in fulfilling the general purposes of Alpha Kappa Delta: to acknowledge and promote excellence in scholarship in the study of sociology, the research of social problems, and such other social and intellectual activities as will lead to improvement in the human condition.
Congratulations to the Theta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta for being the recipient of the 2020-2021 Chapter of the Year Award! The chapter was awarded $500 for support of chapter development and service activities. AKD is the International Sociology Honor Society that promotes scholarship, career education and focuses on community-based activities. Assistant Professor Pina Holway serves as their current faculty advisor and chapter representative. |
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UT RISE Grant Award 2021-2022 Recipients |
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Associate Professor of Education Enilda Romero-Hall and Assistant Professor of Public Relations Lina Gomez-Vazquez are recipients of the 2021-2022 RISE Grant Award for their research project titled Leveraging connections: Using social media for professional networking, academic support, and self-branding. This project explores how scholars use social media for networking, academic support, and branding. |
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Dr. Ensmann and Dr. Aimee Whiteside were awarded the UT RISE grant for "Pandemics, Paradigms, and Disruptive Technologies: Exploring Student Learning with Dynamic Discussion Community Building Platform Designed with Social Presence, Engagement, Interaction, and Gamification" during the 2021-2022 year. This study explores the connections, if any, among social presence, disruptive innovation, and gamification using a community-building platform called Yellowdig coupled with pedgagogy, research, and practice. Yellowdig was highlighted by the internationally renowned Online Learning Consortium (OLC) at its annual conference, where Ensmann and Whiteside presented research findings from their interdisciplinary study on students' experience with remote learning. |
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Providing our students with outstanding out-of-classroom experiences is a hallmark of the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Education. This may include participating in an overseas travel course; being mentored on an undergraduate research project; or traveling with faculty mentors to present research findings at an academic conference. But of course, these important out-of-classroom activities take additional resources. The College of Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Education is committed to assisting all students to gain the benefits of these experiences. Help support these experiences for all students. Make a small contribution today. |
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If you have an upcoming event that you would like advertised in the newsletter, please send your event information to Sasha Cunillera at scunillera@ut.edu
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Sept 17 – Last day to withdraw from classes
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Sept 20 – Employer Spotlight: Raymond James (SFB RM117)
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Sept 29 – Internship Fair
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Oct 1 – UT Fall Weekend
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