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News and Announcements
Happiness is a warm gun
Never mind rock ‘n’ roll, two professors from the School of Public Affairs joined forces with a professor of sociology at Colorado State University to discover the real roots of the connections between criminals and guns.
The team was led by Mark Pogrebin, professor of criminal justice, and included Paul Stretesky, a new member of the faculty at SPA, and Prabha Unnithan from CSU. The three researchers interviewed 73 felons serving time in Colorado prisons for gun-related crimes for their book, “Guns, Violence, and Criminal Behavior: The Offender’s Perspective,” to be published in July.
“Some of the participants told us about carrying guns in social situations – after work, at a party, and so on -- but a common thread that was repeated was the notion of a street code in which many of the felons believed that carrying guns was necessary for going out. Interestingly enough, nearly a third of our interviewees had been members of street gangs at some point in their lives,” Pogrebin said.
Stories about the research have appeared in Westword and The Denver Post.
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SPA is Delighted to be Adding Five New Faculty Members this Fall.
Paul Stretesky will join us in Denver as Associate Professor of Criminal Justice. His expertise is in environmental crime, the harm from lead in the environment, and broader criminal justice issues. He holds a PhD from Florida State (and an MCJ from SPA), and most recently taught at Colorado State University.
Jessica Sowa will join SPA in Denver as Associate Professor of Public Affairs. Jessica’s expertise is in nonprofit organizations, human resource management, and public management more generally. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and she most recently taught at Cleveland State University.
Tanya Heikkila will join us in Denver as Associate Professor of Public Affairs. Tanya’s expertise is in water policy, environmental policy and public management. Her PhD is from University of Arizona, and she most recently taught at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she was director of water policy for Columbia’s well-known Earth Institute.
Lonnie Schaible will join SPA, on the Colorado Springs campus, as Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. Lonnie’s expertise is in predicting patterns of crime, and the forces behind criminal behavior. His PhD is from Washington State University, and he most recently taught at Eastern Washington University.
Todd Ely will join SPA in Denver as Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, in fall 2010 (he will be a research associate with SPA’s Center for Education Policy Analysis in fall 2009). Todd’s expertise is in school finance, as well as public finance more generally, and education policy. He is finishing his PhD from the Wagner School at New York University, where he has also been a teaching fellow.
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The School of Public Affairs recently received a grant from the University’s Academic Technology office to develop online courses for the Master of Criminal Justice program. This grant, written by Criminal Justice program director, Dr. Mary Dodge, will enable the School to begin online classes in 2010 and eventually offer a completely online option for the MCJ degree.
The Denver Post recently published an article on charter schools, “Colorado's Charter Schools Enroll Fewer with Needs” that quoted SPA Assistant Dean, Kelly Hupfeld.
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Web site offers weekly updates for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(June 11, 2009) The Web site for the Center for Education Policy Analysis has become the go-to place for anyone interested in tracking or obtaining federal stimulus money under the "Race to the Top" program for education.
Artemio Cardenas, who is completing an Accelerated Masters in Public Administration in the School of Public Affairs this summer, is monitoring the rule-making and application process for the program, which is called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
He is producing weekly updates for educators, policymakers and potential applicants for what is expected to be more than $1 billion in funds coming to Colorado.
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Hart named to Homeland Security Council
U.S. Sen. Gary Hart (retired) was sworn in as vice chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council at a meeting June 5 in Albuquerque. Hart, who holds the Wirth Chair at the School of Public Affairs and is renowned for his expertise in international affairs and national security, was named to the council by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. 
read more
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We’ve launched the new Job and Professional Experience Portal! Please register to view internships, capstone projects and jobs with a variety of new features and search options. This new site is a service of the School of Public Affairs and free to students, alumni and friends of the SPA.
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Torture rebuked at forum
When Americans debate the use of waterboarding and other so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the ticking time bomb scenario frequently is central to the discussion. Citing the television series “24,” proponents of the practices often suggest that the ends justify the means, that whatever is necessary to obtain critical information that will save lives should and must be done.
No one participating in the forum “Judging Guantanamo: Does Providing International Terrorism Suspects with Constitutional Protections Compromise Our National Security?” on May 20 endorsed the ticking time bomb justification for the use of methods that are tantamount to torture. (read more)
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SPA graduate, Jaime Van Leeuwen, was quoted in the Denver Post on Denver’s Road Home, the city’s ten year plan to end homelessness. Van Leeuwen is the manager of this program and received his PhD from the School of Public Affairs in 2007.
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SPA Professor, Don Klingner, was selected to Chair a People to People delegation to India. People to People International was founded in 1956 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in an effort to better promote cultural understanding through the efforts of individuals. For more than 50 years the program has developed teams of specialists in a variety of disciplines to allow face-to-face communication among colleagues across borders.
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Graduating MPA student, Kyra Tarbell, was featured on 9 News for her efforts to increase volunteerism on the Auraria campus. Kyra just finished her MPA with a concentration in nonprofit management.
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SPA Assistant Professor Dr. Danielle Varda has won a national award for the best published public health systems research (PHSR) in 2008 for her article “Core Dimensions of Connectivity in Public Health Collaboratives.” Dr. Varda was the lead author on this article published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice with co-authors Anita Chandra, Stefanie Stern, and Nicole Lurie.
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