February 2025
Emerging Criminal Justice and Victimization Institute launches faculty affiliate network
Colleagues from CSU Sociology, Political Science, English, the School of Social Work, the School of Public Health, and MarComm as well as from the University of Northern Colorado and Larimer County Community Corrections gathered around their shared interest to increase cross-departmental collaboration, advance rigorous research on the criminal legal system and victimization, and develop partnerships with community and government organizations to translate research into policy and practice reforms.
Tara Opsal, Jeff Nowacki, and Jessie Harney (Political Science) received CSU Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) funding to reestablish The Center for the Study of Crime and Justice as an interdisciplinary and community-rooted institute that will bring together faculty, students, practitioners, agencies, and stakeholders across Colorado. Ph.D. student Anne Uhlman is the project manager. Community stakeholders will convene next, and a virtual platform is in the works to further enhance long-term transdisciplinary connections.
Joshua Sbicca interviewed by New World Republic
"Even a 10 or 20 percent reduction in the agricultural workforce would put enormous pressure on growers to meet their production goals. 'So they’re going to look to other places to try to solve that problem,' Sbicca says, adding that incarcerated people are 'a population who, for a long time, have served as a reserve army of labor when it serves the interest of the state or various private interests.'"
Congratulations, Azmal Hassan!
Ph.D. student Azmal Hossan has been accepted for a Graduate Visitor Program (GVP) Fellowship under the Advanced Study Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The GVP fellowship is for advanced Masters and Ph.D. students in good standing at their home institution with focuses on atmospheric and related Earth and geospace sciences, space weather, engineering, social sciences, and scientific computing. The NSF NCAR Advanced Study GVP Fellowship is an excellent way for graduate students to spend time at NSF NCAR working on parts of their thesis, or final project equivalent, with guidance from NSF NCAR scientists and engineers.
Dr. Golash-Boza visits to present gentrification research
Dr. Tanya Golash-Boza visited campus and presented research from her latest book, “Before Gentrification: The Creation of DC’s Racial Wealth Gap,” that draws a direct line between redlining, incarceration, and gentrification in an American city and has implications for all US cities.
Dr. Golash-Boza is the Executive Director of the University of California Washington Center and a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Merced.
Many thanks to Janelle Viera for inviting Dr. Golash-Boza and coordinating her visit and to all department members who extended a warm welcome and participated in this spring's Sociology-in-Progress Colloquim.
SOC 356 students collectively examine court cases
Students in Erin O'Callaghan's SOC 356: Inequality in Criminal Sentencing class worked in groups to answer on-the-board prompts as they discussed Chapter 2 of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Groups identified which court case discussed in the chapter stood out to them the most and why. "It's important to have students discuss their thoughts together as groups and build group skills!" – Doc Erin
Alum Ranae Call ('22) recognized for entrepreneurship and resiliency
"My biggest accomplishment has to be winning the BBB Spark Award for Entrepreneurship in 2023. That award was the culmination of years of struggle and perseverance. If a time traveler told me when I was 18 living in my car that I would not only start a small business, but that my business would also be successful enough to win a prestigious award at age 25, I would not have believed it." – Ranae Call, Owner and founder of PawsClawsScales Transport LLC, veterinary assistant and receptionist at The Meadows Veterinary Center
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