The Crime Chronicles
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UNC CHARLOTTE Volume 2, Issue 1 Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology Fall 2014 THE CRIME CHRONICLES INSIDE THIS ISSUE: W ELCOME FROM THE CHAIR From the Chair 1-2 Welcome back! We are looking forward to an exciting new year. This Bank of America Award 3 past year was a busy time for the department. We sponsored Constitution Day, Finalist invited several speakers, held our 17th annual awards banquet and sponsored a job fair. In addition, the departmental faculty actively contributed to the field by en- Upcoming Events 4-5 gaging in a variety of research projects resulting in two books and twenty-one Alumni & Faculty 6-7 peer-reviewed journal articles being published. Many of the faculty also men- Spotlight tored students in their research endeavors. Several undergraduate and graduate students co-presented research with faculty mentors at local and national confer- Student Organizations 8-11 ences and also co-authored journal articles. Justice Studies Abroad 12-13 The Criminal Justice & Criminology faculty also received a variety of honors last year. For example, Dr. Lord traveled to India serving as a Fulbright 14-18 Awards Banquet Scholar. Professor Nicolaides was selected for and participated in the F.B.I.’s Spring and Summer 2014 19-20 Citizen’s Academy. Dr. Turner was promoted to full professor and Professor Graduates Hodge was promoted to senior lecturer. Our students were also active in receiving awards and recognitions. For Chancellor’s List 20 example, the Prelaw Society received the award for Outstanding Student Organi- zation Web Presence. The president of the Prelaw Society, Christina Neitzey, received the Newman Civic Fellows award. Jennifer DeVinney and Henry Tigri, both Charlotte Research Scholars, presented their research at a professional con- ference and submitted their work to peer-reviewed journals. Lucy Sellas was awarded the UNC Charlotte Distinguished Leadership Medal. Several undergrad- Special points of interest: uates and graduates were also recognized at our annual awards banquet, which • Welcome Derrick Lail; Fare- you can read about on pages 14 to 18 of this newsletter. well Joe Marinello Finally, this past year we said goodbye to a long-term friend and wel- • Congratulations Dr. Blowers comed a new faculty member. We look forward to continuing our work during this upcoming year. We already have several exciting things planned (e.g. Con- • Spotlight on Jeri Guido and stitution Day). Be sure to check our website regularly to keep abreast of our news Dr. Jen Hartman and events. Best of luck in the coming year. • Justice Studies Abroad in London, England • Congratulations Graduates The Crime Chronicles Page 2 WELCOME DERRICK LAIL We are very pleased to announce that Derrick Lail has joined our faculty as a fulltime lecturer. Mr. Lail comes to us from Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department where he has held a variety of positions including as a Community Policing Officer, a Gang Unit Liaison Of- ficer, a Criminal Intelligence Detective, a Major Crime Series Detective, and as a crime analyst. Mr. Lail was even recognized with the prestigious “Officer of the Year” award. With this impressive amount of experience, Mr. Lail has found that his passion is educating students about the criminal justice system. Mr. Lail joins our department as an instructor, an advisor and as the faculty mentor to the Criminal Justice Association. We wish him much success in his new endeav- ors. FAREWELL JOE MARINELLO Joseph Marinello, who has been with the department since 2004, retired from the department this spring. He served initially as a part-time instructor and then as both a fulltime lecturer and an academic advisor. Mr. Marinello was known around the department for his caring demean- or and his passionate advocacy for students. He is well known in the field of domestic violence and mentally ill offenders. While he will be missed, he is looking forward to spending more time with his family and having the op- portunity to travel. The Crime Chronicles Page 3 “Blowers among finalists for 2014 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence” Anita Blowers, associate professor of criminal justice and criminology, is among the five finalists for the 2014 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence, one of the University’s highest honors. She and the other finalists – Jonathan Crane, associate professor communications studies; Fumie Kato, associate professor, languages and culture studies; Tracy Rock, associate professor, reading and elementary education; and Debra Smith, associate professor, Africana studies - are being featured in Inside UNC Charlotte in advance of the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence ceremony scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5. According to Blowers, “If we want our students to become productive members in an increasingly complex soci- ety, we must move away from focusing exclusively on passively transmitting information and move towards providing an environment where students are co-collaborators of their educational experience.” Blowers joined the Department of Criminal Justice in 1989, and she has been affiliated with the Gerontology Pro- gram and the Ph.D. in Public Policy Program. In 2013, she led the Justice Studies Abroad Program at Kingston University in England. Blowers has taught a wide range of courses at multiple levels: criminal justice policy, prosecution and adjudication, American criminal courts, and crime and justice in film. Her pedagogical approach emphasizes the use of active learning strategies where students are encouraged to solve problems, answer ques- tions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate or brainstorm during class. Employing cooperative learning strategies, in which students work in teams on problems and projects to foster more collaborative learning, Blowers argues that the professor coaches students in the skills they need to learn independently and from one another, creating an environment where student and professor are both stakeholders. This innovative approach is not lost on her students. One senior criminal justice major wrote Blowers “assumes the identity of a ‘coach,’ always pushing and encouraging her students to produce exceptional work. Due to her unwavering devotion to her research and her students’ successes, Dr. Blowers has received my admiration, appre- ciation, and deepest gratitude. ” According to colleague Vivian Lord, Blowers has a “footprint on a wide range of University initiatives that have helped to create an environment where students can achieve academic and personal success.” She has served as the director of the Office of Student Success and Retention, as a faculty fellow in the Provost’s Office and as a McNair Program mentor. Within the Freshman Seminar Program, Blowers helped lead the effort to expand the number and variety of freshman seminar courses; created the faculty development program for faculty teaching freshman seminar cours- es; assisted in the development of measures and procedures for assessment of the UNC Charlotte Learning Com- munity programs; and developed and taught a course for freshman seminar peer mentors. For her outstanding contributions to teaching and learning at UNC Charlotte, Blowers was awarded the R. Randy Rice Service Award in 2004 to recognize her contributions to the Learning Community Pro- gram at UNC Charlotte. In 2001, she received the UNC Charlotte Stu- dent Support Services Award. Source: Inside UNC Charlotte. (2014, August 18). Blowers among finalists for 2014 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence. Office of University Communications. Retrieved from http://inside.uncc.edu/ news/item/blowers-among-finalists-2014-bank-america-award- teaching-excellence CONSTITUTION DAY – 2014 Cell Phone Searches Can the Police Search Your Cell Phone? Wed Sep 17th 9:30 – 10:45 AM McKnight Hall/Cone Center PANEL PHOTOS PANEL Detective Brent Foushee CMPD MODERATORS Pre-Law Society Professor Alpha Phi Sigma Scott Broyles HOST Belk Honors Program Kathleen Nicolaides, JD Levine Scholars Charlotte School of Law REGISTER FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSION ESSAY (UAE)! GO TO CRIMINALJUSTICE.UNCC.EDU Date: 09/19/2014 CLICK ON UNDERGRADUATE ADMIS- SION ESSAY INFORMATION IN THE NEWS AND EVENTS BLOCK U A CLICK ON THE HYPERLINK ‘here’ This will redirect you to Doodle.com Undergraduate SELECT 1 PM BOX AND ENTER NAME Admission CLICK SAVE Essay Time: 1:00 PM Location: Fretwell 100 Check website for more information. CJ & C DEPT. criminaljustice.uncc.edu The Crime Chronicles Page 5 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT:J ERI G UIDO Jeri Guido, a graduate of UNC Charlotte, is passionate about teaching. She will tell you this within the first few minutes of meeting her, and she’ll also tell you how much her education at UNC Charlotte means to her. Jeri is now the Criminal Justice Program Chair at Central Piedmont Community College. She runs the undergraduate two year program, hiring faculty, attending conferences, teaching in the classroom and online and, most important, working with CPCC students. She also teaches as adjunct faculty for our department. Jeri did both her undergraduate and graduate work at UNC Charlotte, where she won the Dean Reep Memorial Scholarship and other awards. She was an honors student, as well as a Teaching Assistant, where she took on just about any task that was asked of her. What started as an internship in the District Attor- ney’s office in Stanly County as an undergraduate, turned into a long standing relationship with staff and prosecutors from that office where she was a volunteer case assistant. Last spring at CPCC, Jeri became involved in a program to educate the public about The Kilah Daven- port Child Protection Act (H.R. 3627) (The legislation directs the U.S. Attorney General to issue a state-by-state report on child abuse prevention laws within 6 months, with a particular focus on penalties for cases of severe child abuse.) The goal of the law is to highlight deficient laws and provide states with the opportunity to fix those laws before another tragedy occurs.