Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Presenting…
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) delivered a talk on
“How Addicts Can Develop Character” to patients at the Addiction Institute of New York
at Roosevelt Hospital on July 20. She addressed the importance of integrating aspects of
critical thinking as a means of positive reintegration into society after drug treatment.
Ann A. Huse (English) presented a talk on “Monmouth County Sites in Philip Freneau's
Poetry” to the Atlantic Highlands Historical Society in New Jersey on May 20.
Howard Pflanzer (Communication and Theatre Arts) presented a lecture with video
clips, "Jerzy Grotowski, Judith Malina and The Living Theatre and Alternative Theatre in
the U.S." under the auspices of The Theatre of the 8th Day as part of the Malta
International Theatre Festival in Poznan, Poland, on June 25.
Lorie Nicholas (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) delivered a
presentation on prisoner re-entry at the "Safe in Our Brothers' Arms": Black Male Mental
Health and Wellness Symposium held at John Jay on May 1. The event was hosted by the
New York Association of Black Psychologists.
Andrew Majeske (English) had his new book Justice, Women, and Power in English
Renaissance Drama published in June by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. The
edited collection includes Majeske’s essay "Striking a Deal: Portia's Trial Strategy in
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice."
Nivedita Majumdar (English) had her edited book The Other Side of Terror: Writings
on Terrorism in South Asia published by Oxford University Press earlier this year.
Peer Review
David Green (Sociology) attended the British Society of Criminology conference in
Cardiff, Wales, in late June, where he received the society's 2009 Book Prize for When
Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political Culture.
Jane Katz (Health and Physical Education) recently competed with the USA Masters
Swim Team at the 18th World Maccabiah Games in Israel, wehre she won 10 first-place
gold medals and three silver medals. Katz, who has participated in the Maccabiah Games
since 1957, had the opportunity to meet Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak, who lit the
torch at Ramat Gan Stadium to open the Maccabiah Games.
Paul Brenner (Audiovisual Services) was elected as a member of the Online Film Critics
Society.
(Published in @John Jay on May 13, 2009)
Presenting
Benjamin Lapidus (Art and Music) performed his recent work Herencia Judía on March
29 at the Eldridge Street Museum in Manhattan. On April 4, he performed with his Latin
jazz band Sonido Isleño at the Bronx Library Center.
Ellen Belcher (Library) was a panelist on the Feminist Archaeologist Panel at the
Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art on March 14. The
panel was presented in conjunction with the Fertile Goddess in the Herstory Gallery, an
exhibit that runs through May 31, for which Belcher was a consultant.
Peter Moskos (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) spoke on the
Baltimore Ghetto at the Yale University Urban Ethnography Project Mini-Conference,
"The Urban Ghetto: Then and Now," during the Eastern Sociological Society’s annual
meeting in Baltimore, MD, on March 20.
Martin Wallenstein (Communication and Theatre Arts) presented two papers at the
centennial meeting of the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) from April 22-26
in Philadelphia. The first, titled “Freedom of Speech 1909-1919: The Dark Decade,” was
an invited paper. The second, “The Big Chill: First Amendment and the War on Terror,”
was peer-reviewed and received an award as Top Paper in Communication Law and
Ethics. Wallenstein was also elected chairperson of the ECA Communication Law and
Ethics Interest Group.
John Staines (English) gave a paper on “Violence and Generic Experiment in Thomas
Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller” at the meeting of the Renaissance Society of America
in Los Angeles on March 21. He also attended the Shakespeare Society of America
conference in Washington, DC, where on April 11 he presented a paper on religious
controversial prose of the 1590s, “Comic Violence” and “Martin’s Reforming Word in the
Marprelate Tracts."
Howard Pflanzer (Communication and Theatre Arts) had a staged reading of his play
Living with History: Camus Sartre De Beauvoir presented May 5 and 6 at the Medicine
Show Theatre in Manhattan.
Stephen Handelman (Center on Media, Crime and Justice) delivered a talk on "How do
Organized Criminals Hijack State Activities?" at a special seminar on organized crime
and corruption hosted by the RAND Corporation in Arlington, VA, on May 1.
Adina Schwartz (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) made a
Continuing Legal Education presentation, “Biting the Bullet: Challenging Firearms
Evidence,” as part of the Fifth Annual Indigent Criminal Defense Seminar: Advanced
Skills for the Experienced Practitioner, sponsored by the Supreme Court of Virginia and
the Virginia State Bar, in Richmond, VA, on April 3.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) recently spoke to a
group of female inmates who are enrolled in the Going Out by Going In prisoner reentry
program at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Los Angeles. In addition, she
spoke to 35 at-risk youth in the Vital Intervention Directional Alternative program at the
Lennox Station campus in Watts.
Delores Jones-Brown (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) served
on a panel titled “Prosecutorial Discretion: From Mistake to Misconduct,” sponsored by
the Diversity Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Other invited talks
include “Police Brutality: In the 10 Years Since the Death of Amadou Diallo” for the
Women’s City Club of New York, and a presentation at the Russell Sage Foundation for
the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity.
Kathleen Collins (Library) had her new book, Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of
Television Cooking Shows, published this month by Continuum.
Diana E. Friedland (Sciences) has published a manuscript in the February 2009 issue of
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta: Genes and Regulatory Mechanisms. The title of the paper
is “Characterization of pokeweed antiviral protein binding to mRNA cap analogs:
Competition with nucleotides and enhancement by translation initiation factor
iso4G.” Friedland presented this work with student researchers from John Jay and Pace
University.
Andrew Karmen (Sociology) had the seventh edition of his book Crime Victims: An
Introduction To Victimology, published recently by Wadsworth/Cengage. The original
edition, published in 1984, was the first and only comprehensive textbook in the
victimology field at that time.
Peer Review
Robert McCrie (Protection Management) received the Eugene R. Fink Memorial Award
from the Associated Licensed Detectives of the State of New York at the group’s annual
banquet in New York.
Isabelle Curro (Security) received one of the New York State Bar Association’s
President’s Pro Bono Service Awards on May 1, in recognition of her work in promoting
pro bono service as a path to achieving equal access to justice.
Jane Katz (Health and Physical Education) competed in the recent Albatross Open
masters’ swim meet held in North Bethesda, MD, by the Montgomery Ancient Mariners.
She won the 50-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke events, setting a new meet
record in the 100-meter race.
Roddrick Colvin (Public Management) was recently elected as the incoming President
of the New York State Political Science Association.
(Published in @John Jay on April 1, 2009)
Peer Review
John Matteson (English) is one of the judges of the 2009 Dashiell Hammett Prize,
awarded annually for literary excellence in crime writing. Matteson also accepted an
invitation to give the Class Day address at the Columbia University School of General
Studies in May.
Presenting…
Betsy Hegeman (Anthropology) presented "Culture-Bound Syndromes and Diagnosis"
to the Grand Rounds of Upstate Medical School Departments of Psychiatry and
Psychology in Syracuse, NY, on March 26. She also met with the Psychoanalytic Study
Group of Syracuse and presented "MPD and Spirit Possession: the Influence of Culture."
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) presented a paper on
"Methamphetamine Abuse and Treatment in Rural America" at the 2009 annual meeting
of the Southern Rural Sociological Association in Atlanta, GA, on January 31-February 3.
Kwando M. Kinshasa (African American Studies) was invited to Saginaw Valley State
University in Michigan from February 16-19 as their 2009 King-Chavez-Parks
Visiting Scholar. As the visiting scholar, Kinshasa gave lectures on African American
history, criminal justice, global migration policies, sociology and social policy. He
also presented a paper titled "History and One's Sociological Memory: A Contemporary
Interactive Perspective," in which he revisited and discussed the sociological and
economic implications of the 1955-1956 Montgomery, AL, Bus Boycott.
Michael Pfeifer (History) served as commentator on a panel titled "Race, the Courts, and
Public Spectacle in Louisiana" at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical
Association in Monroe, LA, on March 19.
Klaus von Lampe (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was an
invited speaker at the 12th European Police Congress in Berlin on February 11. He spoke
on "The European Dimensions of Organized Crime: Some Remarks from a
Criminological Perspective."
Gloria Proni and Elise Champeil (Sciences) presented a paper titled “Assessment of
Students' Likeability of the ‘Clicker’ and ‘Wiley Plus’ Technologies in Organic Chemistry
at the CUNY IT Conference on December 5, 2008.
Simon Baatz (History) is the author of the foreword to a new edition of Clarence
Darrow’s Crime: Its Cause and Treatment published in the Kaplan Classics of Law
series.
(Published in @John Jay on March 11, 2009)
Presenting
Miriam Ehrenberg (Psychology) gave an invited address at the annual conference of
Globalisation for the Common Good, held in Melbourne, Australia. Her paper, “Applying
Psychotherapy Techniques to Religious and Ethnic Conflict,” covered both western and
Islamic psychotherapy approaches and the implications of each for conflict resolution.
Jeremy Travis (President) was the keynote speaker at the Public Service Conference on
the Future of Community Justice in Wisconsin at Marquette Law School on February 20.
His remarks focused on “Building Communities with Justice: Overcoming the Tyranny of
the Funnel.”
Peter Moskos (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was a panelist
at the New York Academy of Medicine’s “Harm Reduction” conference on January 23.
He was also a featured speaker at the annual conference of Students for Sensible Drug
Policy, held in College Park, MD, on November 23.
Joseph King (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published his
article "Policing after Peel: the Government Moves to Centralize” in the Turkish Journal
of Police Studies in 2008. His article “Police Problems: Labor Relations in the Early
Police Service of the United Kingdom” appeared in the January 2009 issue of Police
Forum, published by the Police Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
Alisse Waterston (Anthropology) has had two new edited volumes published: An
Anthropology of War: Views from the Frontline (Berghahn Books, 2009) and
Anthropology off the Shelf: Anthropologists on Writing (Wiley Blackwell, 2009, Maria D.
Vesperi, co-editor). An Anthropology of War includes Waterston’s introduction, “On War
and Accountability.” Anthropology off the Shelf includes a chapter by Waterston titled
“Writing Poverty, Drawing Readers: Stories in Love, Sorrow and Rage.” Waterston serves
as chair of the American Anthropological Association’s Committee on the Future of Print
and Electronic Publishing to guide the digital transition of scholarly publishing. In
November, Waterston presented a talk at the association’s annual meeting on “The
Academy, the Market-State and the Dissemination of Anthropological Knowledge in the
Digital Age.”
Peter Moskos (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) had his book
review of Hugh Holton’s The Thin Black Line: True Stories by Black Law Enforcement
Officers Policing America’s Meanest Streets published in The Washington Post on
January 11.
(Published in @John Jay on February 18, 2009)
On Board
Ben Jorgensen (Physical Education and Athletics) was named as the College’s new head
men’s tennis coach. Jorgensen, who has been a tennis instructor for more than 15 years,
was the top singles player as a member of the men’s tennis team at New York University
in 1989 and 1990. He is also a working actor who has appeared in several films and
daytime soap operas.
Simon Baatz (History) had his book, For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder
that Shocked Chicago (HarperCollins), chosen as a finalist for the Edgar Allen Poe Award
for Best Non-Fiction Crime Book in 2008. The award will be presented by the Mystery
Writers of America on April 30.
David Brotherton (Sociology) had his book Keeping Out the Other: A Critical
Introduction to Immigration Enforcement Today (Columbia University Press) cited as
"Outstanding Academic Title for 2008" by Choice, the review magazine of the American
Library Association. Brotherton co-edited the book along with Philip Kretsedemas of the
University of Massachusetts.
Presenting…
Adina Schwartz (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) made a
Continuing Legal Education presentation on “Daubert Challenges to Firearms
Identification” on January 10 at the Fifth National Seminar on Forensic Science and the
Law, sponsored by the Office of Defender Services of the Administrative Office of the
U.S. Courts.
Ellen Belcher (Library) presented a paper titled “Is There a Halaf Bead and Pendant
Typology? A Look at the Evidence” at the Bead Technology Workshop hosted by the
British Museum in London, England, on January 12-13.
Jane Katz (Physical Education and Athletics) conducted one-day clinics on “Swimming
for Total Fitness and Swim Basics” at the Jewish Community Center in Tucson, AZ, on
January 4 and The Club for Women, an all-women health club in Phoenix, on January 6.
Peer Review
Staci Strobl (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) is one of the
finalists for the Richard J. Terrill Paper of the Year Award to be presented in March by the
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Strobl was nominated for her paper “The
Women's Police Directorate in Bahrain,” which appeared in the International Criminal
Justice Review Journal.
Nishan Parlakian (Communication and Theatre Arts, emeritus) received the St. Vartan
Award from the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), for his lifelong
achievements in the performing arts. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese said, “It is through individuals like [Parlakian] that the future of Armenian
theater will remain vibrant among the next generation of Armenian Americans.”
(Published in @John Jay on January 28, 2009)
Jock Young (Sociology) had his new book, Cultural Criminology: An Invitation, written
with Jeff Ferrell and Keith Hayward, published by Sage. The book was launched in
November at the American Society of Criminology meeting in St. Louis.
Jane Katz (Physical Education and Athletics) had her article “Joint-Friendly Water
Workout” in the October/November 2008 issue of Arthritis Health Monitor. Her article
on “The Healthy Swimmer” appeared in the November/December issue of USMS
Swimmer magazine.
Adina Schwartz (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published
Parts 1 and 2 of her article “Challenging Firearms and Toolmark Identification” in the
October and November/December issues of The Champion, the journal of the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Part 1 was the cover story in the October
issue. The articles are also scheduled to be reprinted in The California Defender.
Presenting…
Michael Pfeifer (History) presented a paper titled “The Midwestern Making of Racial
Lynching: The Lynching of African-Americans in the Civil War and Reconstruction” at
the American Historical Association meeting in New York City on January 3. Pfeifer
previously presented a paper, "Lynching, Law, and Sectional Identity in the Antebellum
Border States,” on October 25 in Louisville, KY, at the Filson Institute Academic
Conference on Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.
Jock Young (Sociology) gave a series of six lectures during a recent visit to Argentina.
He was the introductory plenary speaker at the international seminar on “Rethinking the
Role of the State in Crime Prevention,” hosted by the Federal Secretariat of Public Safety.
He addressed the Social Cabinet of the Province of Santa Fe on policies of social
inclusion in the field of crime control; spoke at the Universities of Buenos Aires and
Rosario on his recent book The Vertigo of Late Modernity; and presented his research on
multiagency crime prevention to the UN Development Program on local initiatives in this
area. While there, he also had productive meetings with the National Director of Criminal
Policy and the director of the UN program regarding future research on crime and social
exclusion.
Jane Katz (Physical Education and Athletics) presented a talk on “Health and Exercise
Through the Holidays” on December 17 as part of the David Rogers Health Policy
Colloquium at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Howard Pflanzer (Communication and Theatre Arts) had readings of his plays UFO
Story and The Flowers Sing: Strindberg’s Dream performed by the Living Theatre in
Manhattan on December 2.
Peer Review
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was appointed to the
board of directors of OPEN Inc. (Offender Preparation & Education Network, Inc.), a
correctional service agency founded in Dallas, TX, in 1979. “We are thrilled Dr. Kimora
has agreed to serve on our board,” said the organization’s executive director, Ned Rollo.
“She brings a national and academic perspective to us.”
Duane Green (Facilities Management) won the heavyweight title in the biennial
Tournament of Champions amateur boxing competition held at Nassau Coliseum in
December. Green, who trains at the Young Boxing Association (YBA) gym in the Bronx,
chalked up two technical knockouts and one decision en route to the championship. In the
first round, he scored a TKO over the fighter who had defeated him for the title two years
ago.
(Published in @John Jay on December 10, 2008)
On Board
Michelle Rahmeh (Physical Education and Athletics) was named as the College’s new
head athletic trainer. Rahmeh, a New Jersey native who holds bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from the University of Akron, brings to the position a diverse résumé in the fields
of health, health education and physical therapy.
Presenting…
Elizabeth Hegeman (Anthropology) spoke at the American Red Cross on November 13
on "Post-Traumatic Growth: Organizational and Individual Perspectives." She addressed
the issues of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction for mental health workers
facing disaster.
Simon Baatz (History) gave the annual Lawrence J. Gutter Literary Lecture at North
Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL, in November.
Anissa Hélie (History) was recently invited by the University of the Philippines, in
Manila, to lecture on issues of religious fundamentalism and present research undertaken
by the group Women Living Under Muslim Laws. The lecture, “The Great Ancestors:
Women Asserting Rights in Muslim Contexts,” highlighted the lives and deeds of women
throughout history who have promoted gender equality in diverse Muslim countries and
communities, including the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Muslim Spain, India, Pakistan,
Algeria, Iran, Turkey, Central Asia, Nigeria and Indonesia.
Stephen Handelman (Center on Media, Crime and Justice) appeared on the CUNY TV
“Independent Sources” program on December 3, where he discussed the New York City
Police Department’s press accreditation policies. In October, Handelman delivered a talk
on U.S. media and criminal justice issues to a group of more than 100 army, police and
security officials from Latin America and the Caribbean — this year’s class of the Inter-
American Defense College — at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New
York.
Monica Varsanyi (Government) published a paper in the December 2008 issue of the
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, the flagship journal in the academic
field of geography. Her paper, “Rescaling the ‘Alien,’ Rescaling Personhood:
Neoliberalism, Immigration and the State,” was the lead article in the journal’s human
geography subsection.
Eugene O’Donnell (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published
a commentary, “Shot in the Dark: Why Was Crime Overlooked in This Campaign,” in the
November 3 issue of Newsweek magazine. The article, which appeared just before the
recent presidential election, said “it would be a crime” for the next President not to make
criminal justice matters a priority.
Peer Review
Isabelle Curro (Security) was named winner of the 2009 Commitment to Justice Award
for Outstanding Solo Practitioner by inMotion, an organization that provides low-income
women with free legal services in matrimonial, family and immigration law. Curro, an
attorney, was cited for her “commitment to pro bono legal services.” The award will be
formally presented at a gala in early February.
(Published in @John Jay on November 19, 2008)
On Board
Diane Ramirez (Physical Education and Athletics) was named head coach of women’s
basketball and equipment manager. Ramirez is a 2007 graduate of Baruch College, where
she served as assistant women’s basketball coach for the past two seasons, and played for
three seasons prior to that.
Presenting…
George Andreopoulos (Government) presented a paper on “The Regulation of Corporate
Activities Under Human Rights Treaties” at the annual conference of the International
Academy of Business and Economics in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 19-22. The paper
was co-authored with Giuliana Campanelli and Alexandros Panayides of William
Paterson University.
Adina Schwartz (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) presented “
‘I Know It When I See It’ and Criminalistics” at the annual meeting of the Northeastern
Association of Forensic Scientists meeting on October 3, during a general session on
“Debating the Forensic Science in Forensic Science.” On October 23, Schwartz made a
Continuing Legal Education presentation on “Firearms & Tool Marks” at the Texas
Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s annual forensics seminar in Dallas, TX.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) addressed a group of
students from the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry at the Martin Luther
King, Jr. Educational Campus about self-esteem enhancement and choosing an academic
career over criminal activity on October 15.
Peer Review
Miriam Ehrenberg (Psychology), in her role as executive director of the Institute for
Human Identity (a nonprofit psychotherapy center in Manhattan), was awarded a grant
from the New York State Department of Health for Family Q, a five-year innovative
program that offers free workshops to gay and lesbian parents and prospective parents on
the emotional issues involved in alternate family building. The grant also provides
counseling training for selected interns on the special issues such parents face in raising
families. (Students who might be interested in applying for the program should visit
www.ihi-therapycenter.org/familyq and contact Professor Ehrenberg.)
(Published in @John Jay on October 29, 2008)
Presenting…
M. Victoria Pérez-Ríos (Government) presented a paper, “On the Effectiveness of
International Tribunals (ICTY and ICTR),” at the American Political Science
Association’s annual meeting in Boston, MA, August 28-31. She also presented two
papers — “Investing in Renewable Energies: Are Some Third-Generation Human Rights
More than Wishful Thinking?” and “Accountability for Disappearances: The Role of
Regional Courts” — at the annual meeting of the Research Committee on Sociology of
Law in Milan-Como, Italy, in July.
Rosemary Barberet (Sociology) and Andrés Rengifo, a graduate of the PhD program in
criminal justice and currently an assistant professor at the University of Missouri-St.
Louis, were part of a Commission of Independent Experts selected by the Colombian
statistics agency, DANE, to evaluate crime statistics produced by the National Police of
Colombia, from September 15-19.
Mangai Natarajan (Sociology) had her newest book, Women Police in a Changing
Society: Back Door to Equality, published by Ashgate Publishing in September 2008. The
book focuses on a unique and highly successful experiment begun in Tamil Nadu, India,
in 1992, in which all-female police units were established as a way of enhancing the
confidence and professionalism of woman officers.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) was named
contributing editor of Getting Out by Going In (GOGI), a monthly newsletter published
by a nonprofit organization of the same name. GOGI educates federal, state and juvenile
offenders in California and Arizona. In addition, Professor Kimora wrote the foreword for
Mara Leigh Taylor's book Women in Prison: Women Finding Freedom. In May, Kimora
visited female inmates at the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood, CA, where
she spoke about the importance of the GOGI program.
Edward Snajdr (Anthropology) had his book, Nature Protests: The End of Ecology in
Slovakia published by Washington University Press. The ethnographic study investigates
why Slovakia’s ecology movement, so strong under socialism, fell apart so rapidly
despite the persistence of serious environmental problems in the region.
Barry Luby (Emeritus, Foreign Languages & Literatures) recently published a new
book, The Uncertainties in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Analytic Thought:
Miguel de Unamuno the Precursor. The work was published in September by Juan de la
Cuesta-Hispanic Monographs.
Peer Review
Susan Opotow (Sociology) was presented with the Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution
Award at the 2008 American Psychological Association Convention in Boston this past
August. The award, presented by the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and
Violence (Division 48 of the APA) recognizes Opotow “for her outstanding contributions
as a scholar, teacher, and mentor.”
(Published in @John Jay on October 8, 2008)
Peer Review
Jeremy Travis (President) was named chair of the New York State Juvenile Justice Task
Force by the Hon. David Paterson, Governor of New York State. Over the coming year,
the newly constituted task force is charged with developing strategies for transforming
the state’s juvenile justice system and developing what Travis hopes will be “a more
comprehensive and less punitive approach” to handling juvenile offenders.
Maria Volpe (Sociology) won the 2008 Lawrence Cooke Peace Innovator Award,
presented by the New York State Dispute Resolution Association in collaboration with
the New York State Unified Court System Office of ADR and Court Improvement
Programs. Volpe will also be the honoree at the Network for Peace Through Dialogue
recognition night on October 30 in New York City.
Joseph King (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) won the 2008
Roberta Thornton Award, presented by the CUNY Graduate Center’s PhD Alumni
Association in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a criminal justice
practitioner and scholar.
Presenting…
Keith A. Markus (Psychology) spent five weeks visiting the University of Canterbury in
Christchurch, New Zealand, on an Erskine Fellowship to work with Professor Brian Haig
on a joint methodological research project. While there, he presented a colloquium on
"Construct Validity and Causal Modeling." Closer to home, at the annual convention of
the American Psychological Association in Boston, Markus presented a poster titled
“Abductive Inferences to Psychological Variables: Weighting Competing Criteria”
coauthored by Samuel W. Hawes, a John Jay alumnus, and Rula J. Thasites, a current
John Jay student.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) published an article
titled “The Punishment Potlach: A Way Out” in the fall 2008 issue of Insights, a
publication of the Offender Preparation and Education Network Inc. In the article,
Kimora and her coauthor, attorney Mark Hazelbaker, contend that this punishment
potlach in the United States has ignored the cost of criminal justice, and they advocate an
aggressive program of intervention for incarcerated individuals.
Larry Sullivan (Library) had his article “Prison is Dull Today: Prison Libraries and the
Irony of Pious Reading” published in the May 2008 issue of PMLA, the journal of the
Modern Language Association. His review essay of The Encyclopedia of the Library of
Congress appeared in the April 2008 issue of Library Quarterly.
PRESENTING…
Effie Papatzikou Cochran (English) was the lead discussant on a panel titled “Four
Interrogating Concepts and Cases: Family, Law, and Language” at the Law and Society
Annual Conference in Montreal, Canada, on May 31.
Elise Champeil and Gloria Proni (Sciences) co-authored the lecture “Use of NMR
Spectroscopy for the Detection of Opioids in Human Fluids” that was presented at the
American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia in late
August. Donna Wilson, a recent graduate of the master’s degree program in forensic
science, worked on this project as a fulfillment of her thesis requirement.
BETWEEN THE COVERS
Benjamin Lapidus (Art and Music) will have his new book, Origins of Cuban Music
and Dance: Changüí, published by The Scarecrow Press on October 28. The book is the
first in-depth study of changüí, a style of music and dance in Guantánamo, Cuba, that
contributed to the development of salsa.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) and Michael
Aman (Communication and Theatre Arts) co-authored an article, “No Country for Old
Men: Psychopathic Elements in an Academy-Award-Winning Film,” in which they stress
the importance of criminal justice professionals learning elements of psychopathy from
the film. The article appeared in the July/August issue of Community Corrections Report
on Law and Corrections Practice.
PEER REVIEW
Robert Garot (Sociology) has won a faculty fellowship for the spring 2009 semester at
the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College. The fellowship will
help facilitate Garot’s research project on “Immigrants and the Law in Contemporary
Tuscany.”
Allison Kavey (History) has been awarded a $15,000 faculty development grant by the
City University of New York to fund her proposal, “Teaching Portfolios: An Analysis of
their Uses for History Pedagogy.”
(Published in @John Jay on August 27, 2008)
ON BOARD
Laura Drazdowski (Physical Education and Athletics) was appointed head coach of the
John Jay women’s softball team. Drazdowski, the College’s Assistant Director of
Athletics for Marketing and Promotion, served as interim softball coach for the 2008
season, leading the team to a 12-23 record and a fourth place finish in conference play.
“After the hard work the team and I put in last season, I am thrilled to be continuing on
the path of success that started last February,” she said. Over the summer, John Jay added
two other new head coaches. Carl Nedell was named head women’s tennis coach,
succeeding Amy Rowland, who resigned earlier this year. Nedell had previously coached
the John Jay men’s tennis team during the 2000 season, and has also coached for Hunter
College, James Monroe High School and Forest Hills High School. Jessica Kolackovsky
will serve as interim head coach of the women’s swimming team for the 2008-09 season,
filling in for Jane Katz, who will be on sabbatical. Kolackovsky served as a volunteer
assistant coach under Katz last season, and also serves as the College’s head lifeguard.
She was a Big East Conference Academic All-Star as an undergraduate swimmer at Seton
Hall University.
Mary Gibson (History) received a Senior Fulbright Research Grant and a National
Endowment for the Humanities' Fellowship to finish a book on the history of prisons in
modern Italy. Her article “Ai margini della cittadinanza: le detenute dopo l’Unità italiana
(1860-1915) [At the Margins of Citizenship: Women Prisoners after Italian Unification]”
was recently published in the journal Storia delle Donne [Women’s History].
Danielle Sapse (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration), Elise
Champeil and Anne-Marie Sapse (Sciences), working in collaboration with two
professors from the University of Rouen, France, had their paper "Interaction of DNA
Fragments with Methyl Lithium" accepted for publication in the journal Comptes Rendus
des Seances de L' Academie Francaise. The paper applies theoretical methods to the
study of DNA fragments interaction with methyl lithium and its possible use for criminal
investigation.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) and Michael
Aman (Speech, Theatre and Media Studies) co-authored an article, “No Country for Old
Men: Psychopathic Elements in an Academy-Award-Winning Film,” in which they stress
the importance of criminal justice professionals learning elements of psychopathy from
the film. The article appeared in the July/August issue of Community Corrections Report
on Law and Corrections Practice.
PRESENTING…
Margaret Wallace (Sciences) was an invited speaker at the Fourth Annual Conference of
the Korean Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation. Wallace’s presentation on
“Forensic Science: the Interface between Scientific and the Law” discussed the role of
forensic biology in human identification and genotyping of botanical and entomological
samples. Wallace was also appointed Foreign Editor of the Journal of the Korean
Academy of Scientific Criminal Investigation by the president of the academy.
Edgardo Diaz Diaz (Foreign Languages) addressed a full house of doctoral students and
faculty members at the University of Padova, Italy, on April 22. Diaz, an
ethnomusicologist, spoke about the meaning and influence of Italian opera in the
Caribbean.
Kimora (Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration) spoke to members of
the Correctional Services Division of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on
May 23, about the educational needs of adult offenders and the programs funded by the
National Institute of Corrections.
Maria Hartwig (Psychology) received the "Early Career Award" from the European
Association of Psychology & Law, for "her excellent track-record in peer reviewed
papers in international journals and chapters in national and international volumes, and
for being an inspiring example showing how a young researcher from a small place can
find her way to a top position in the international arena.”