Alumnus Dr. Eric Bates (Ph.D. 2014) has been awarded the prestigious and highly competitive Part Time Faculty Excellence in Instruction Award for 2016 at Northern Kentucky University, where he teaches in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy. As award recipient, Dr. Bates will receive a Certificate presented in person by NKU President Dr. Geoffrey S. Mearns as well as his choice of a cash award or professional development credit of $1500. Congratulations, Eric!
Looking for funding to attend ILA’s 17th Annual Conference in Barcelona?
If you are a student or recent graduate (within 1-year), submit your paper to the Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award. If your paper wins, you’ll receive a free trip to ILA’s 17th annual global conference in Barcelona (air, hotel, and conference registration) PLUS a $1,000 cash prize PLUS a guaranteed presentation slot in the program to share your research.
See complete submission details at: http://goo.gl/QUDwQ9
The International Leadership Association (ILA) is pleased to join with the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) to co-sponsor the annual Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award to recognize outstanding unpublished papers by undergraduate and graduate students. The award is named in honor of the distinguished scholar and former Chief Executive Officer of CCL.
Looking for additional opportunities for students at ILA Barcelona?
Fredric M. Jablin Doctoral Dissertation Award (Deadline July 6) Details: http://goo.gl/V40Tzg
9th Annual Student Case Competition (Sign-Up by Sep. 13) Details: http://goo.gl/gaRNqo
P.S. Registration for ILA Barcelona is now open. Visit the conference home page at http://goo.gl/CMvyzj for details.
Good news,
Dr. Ricardo Smith and his research is featured in this week’s City Beat. Although the article does not credit Union for his dissertation, it is good exposure for the important work Dr. Smith is doing. I really enjoyed meeting him and telling his story.
In addition to the City Beat feature, he was profiled on our web and interviewed by a local radio station.
Here is the link to City Beat http://npaper-wehaa.com/city-beat//#2015/06/03/?article=2527984&dpg=1&z=92
Here is the link to blog profile https://www.myunion.edu/spotlight-on-alumnus-dr-ricardo-y-smith/
Here is the link to his radio article http://wvxu.org/post/small-study-points-problems-local-prison-re-entry#stream/0
What are the most critical issues facing post-prison African-American men in Hamilton and Butler counties?
Employment
Housing
Registering to vote
Alumnus Dr. Ricardo Y. Smith (Ph.D. 2014) gives voice to local men facing these issues in his 2014 doctoral dissertation, No Way Out: Giving Voice to the Post-Prison Experiences of African-American Men in Two Ohio Counties.
Dr. Ricardo Smith is a Gulf War Veteran (1990-1994), a distinguished honor graduate from the United States Army Signal School in Augusta, Georgia, and an adjunct instructor in psychology at Cincinnati State Technical & Community College. Dr. Smith spent three and a half years researching and two months interviewing 10 formerly incarcerated African American men from Hamilton and Butler counties. A critical interpretative analysis conducted through in-depth interviews that examined the post-prison lives of African American men, his study addressed the post-prison obstacles of ex-offenders as they struggled to find employment, housing, and registering to vote. Dr. Smith examined the problems and the impact of labeling prisoners and investigated the issues of prison debt and prison money-making plots. The policy restraints impacting the lives of ex-offenders (who usually come from targeted poor communities) are described as an apparatus of social control, particularly upon African-American men. He found that ex-offenders often experience a post-prison system of no way out that has become a type of social incarceration.
Dr. Smith’s research questions focused on the post-prison impact on the lived experiences of 10 African American men. His hope was to give voice to these men as they attempt to rebuild their lives after prison, particularly as it relates to two questions:
• When returning to communities where social barriers exist and persist, what barriers do the men recognize? To what extent do these barriers affect their lives post-prison?
• To what extent do the men recognize the impact of the criminal label (criminal for life) on their lives post-prison? How does this label affect them when they are seeking employment, permanent housing, and trying to vote?
Dr. Smith hopes that scholars can better understand the dynamics of what it means to (re)live life post-prison. His recommendations for future research include the necessity to examine how and why the lack of employment remains the number one problem for returning citizens after prison. The men he interviewed returned to communities where jobs and housing remain scarce. If the returning citizen does not go to a halfway house or have family housing support, there are very few housing options through public assistance. Not being able to find housing or employment has been shown to lead to significant relapse implications and high probable rates of recidivism.
Dr. Smith points out that the ethnic minority prison population continues to rise. As a people, African Americans make up less than 15 percent of the U.S. population but almost 43 percent of the U.S. prison population. Are African Americans more criminal? Dr. Smith says the answer is no, but does answer yes to the fact that black persons are convicted and sent to prison statistically more often than other ethnic groups, particularly for federal drug convictions. He sees it as a racialized mechanism of incarceration that has produced a major social problem for young black teens and men.
More research is needed to evaluate and gauge the success of reentry and reintegration. Without statistics and stories to measure work and housing efficacy of ex-offenders, how can reintegration or rehabilitation be effective in terms of successful reentry? Without a permanent address, being registered to vote becomes another barrier of reintegration. Dr. Smith explains that ex-offenders need a second chance to redeem themselves and become contributing citizens in society. First steps of viable employment, housing, and the opportunity to vote will give the returning citizen a chance of true reintegration into the community. Reinvestment in people will increase public safety and reduce recidivism for the collective betterment of society and all communities.
In addition to his 2014 Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute & University, Dr. Smith holds a master’s degree in Human Relations (Applied Psychology) from the University of Oklahoma, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati.
Dr. Smith’s dissertation about post-prison experiences of African Americans was featured on WVXU radio in Cincinnati in April 2015.
Learn more about Union’s Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies program.
PHILOSOPHY Born To Struggle XXII 2015 Annual Meeting
HOW CLASS WORKS – 2016
A Conference at SUNY Stony Brook
June 9-11, 2016
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
The Center for Study of Working Class Life is pleased to announce the How Class Works
– 2016 Conference, to be held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, June
9-11, 2016. Proposals for papers, presentations, and sessions are welcome until
December 9, 2015, according to the guidelines below. For more information, visit our
Web site at <www.stonybrook.edu/workingclass>.
Purpose and orientation: This conference explores ways in which an explicit
recognition of class helps to understand the social world in which we live, and the variety
of ways in which analysis of societies can deepen our understanding of class as a social
relationship across the globe. Theoretical and historical presentations should take as their
point of reference the lived experience of class in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,
within nations and internationally. Presentations are welcome from people outside
academic life when they sum up and reflect upon social experience in ways that
contribute to conference themes and discussion. Formal papers are welcome but are not
required. All presentations should be accessible to an interdisciplinary audience.
Conference themes: The conference welcomes proposals for sessions and presentations
that advance our understanding of any of the following themes:
The mosaic of class, race, and gender: To explore how class shapes racial, gender, and
ethnic experience, and how different racial, gender, and ethnic experiences within various
classes shape the meaning of class.
Class, power, and social structure: To explore how the social lives of working, middle,
and capitalist classes are structured by various forms of power; to explore ways in which
class dynamics shape power structures in workplaces and across broader societies.
Class in an age of income inequality: To explore the implications and consequences
of the growing income gap between top earners and the rest for the lived experience in
class in different corners of the world.
Class, Community, and the Environment: To explore ways in which class informs
communities and environmental conditions where people work as well as where they
live; also to consider questions of “home,” community formation and sustenance, and
environmental justice.
Class in a global economy: To explore how class identity and class dynamics are
influenced by globalization, including the transnational movements of industry, capital,
and capitalist elites; the experience of cross-border labor migration and organizing; and
international labor and environmental standards.
Middle class? Working class? What’s the difference and why does it matter? To
explore the claim that the U.S. and other developed nations have become middle class
societies, contrasting with the notion that the working class is the majority; to unpack the
relationships between the middle class and capitalist, working and other subordinate
classes both in the developed and the developing world.
Class, public policy, and electoral politics: To explore how class affects public
deliberations and policy in a variety of nations around the world, with special attention to
health care, the criminal justice system, labor law, poverty, tax and other economic
policy, housing, and education; to explore the place of electoral politics in the
arrangement of class forces on policy matters.
Class and culture: To explore ways in which cultures and subcultures transmit, sustain,
and transform class dynamics around the world.
Pedagogy of class: To explore techniques and materials useful for teaching about class,
at K-12 levels, in college and university courses, and in labor studies and adult education
courses.
How to submit proposals for How Class Works – 2016 Conference: We encourage
proposals for panel sessions (three or four papers) and roundtables that bring diverse
perspectives and experiences into dialogue: scholars with activists; those working on
similar themes in different disciplines; as well as those working on similar issues in
different parts of the world. Proposals for individual presentations are also welcome.
Proposals for presentations must include the following information [for session
proposals this information must be included for all proposed presentations, as well as
indication of presenters’ willingness to participate]: a) short descriptive title; b) which of
the conference themes will be addressed; c) a maximum 250 word summary of the main
subject matter, points, and methodology; d) relevant personal information indicating
institutional affiliation (if any) and what training or experience the presenter brings to the
proposal; e) presenter’s name, address, telephone, fax, and e-mail address. A person may
present in at most two conference sessions. To allow time for discussion, sessions will be
limited to three twenty-minute or four fifteen-minute principal presentations. Sessions
will not include official discussants.
Submit proposals as an e-mail attachment to michael.zweig@stonybrook.edu or as hard
copy by mail to the How Class Works – 2016 Conference, Center for Study of Working
Class Life, Department of Economics, SUNY, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384.
Timetable: Proposals must be received by December 9, 2015. After review by the
program committee, notifications will be mailed by the end of January 2016. The
conference will be at SUNY Stony Brook June 9-11, 2016. Conference registration and
housing reservations will be possible after March 7, 2016. Details and updates will be
posted at http://www.stonybrook.edu/workingclass
Conference coordinator:
Michael Zweig
Director, Center for Study of Working Class Life
Department of Economics
State University of New York
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384
631.632.7536
michael.zweig@stonybrook.edu
Call for Papers – African Studies at the 2015 Midwest Popular Culture Association (MPCA)
Submission Deadline: April 30, 2015
African Studies
The African Studies area of the Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association is now accepting proposals for its 2015 conference in Cincinnati, OH. We are looking for papers that examine any aspect of African studies relevant to culture, from any time period, using any scholarly method.
Please click the link below for full details.
It is a great privilege to invite you to participate in the World Annual Educational Conference on Effect of Child Labour, Trafficking of Women and Children, Sexual Violence against Children. The International Conference is hosted by the Organization for Human Rights Benefit. The Annual Educational Conference will take place from May 25th– 30th 2015 in California United States.
The Organization for Human Rights Benefit hosting the Annual Educational Conference event is responsible for all visa arrangements to the United States, free air round trip tickets and traveling assistance to interested delegates wishing to contribute and share their opinion on how we can stop Sexual Violence against Women and Children, Abuse of Child Labour.
Registration is open and free to all interested participants; the interested participants should contact the conference registration department directly via email: orghumanrigtsbenefit@mail2california.com / orghumanrightbenefit@aim.com
Our Financial Aid Office passed along the following:
The links below have free online financial literacy webinars provided by NELNET, a student loan servicer.
MONEY MONDAYS
Our Money Mondays webinar series for students covers basic financial literacy topics such as budgeting, credit, loans, and more. These occur on Mondays at 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (ET).
This session will review the basic principles of personal finance and give students information to better manage their finances.
Date: Monday, March 2, 2015 Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, March 2, 2015 Time: 4:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015 Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015 Time: 4:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
MONEY MONDAYS
Our Money Mondays webinar series for students covers basic financial literacy topics such as budgeting, credit, loans, and more. These occur on Mondays at 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (ET).
In this session, students will learn why it’s important to have a budget, how to create a budget, and how to stick to it.
Date: Monday, April 6, 2015 Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, April 6, 2015 Time: 4:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, April 13, 2015 Time: 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Date: Monday, April 13, 2015 Time: 4:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Register now
Dr. Elden Golden will be presenting this week as part of the MA Program’s first Faculty Research Forum. Dr. Golden’s presentation on “Reality TV and the Meaning of Creativity” will take place over GoToMeeting on Thursday, February 12 at 7 pm EST. In order to view his presentation, you MUST register! And please register as soon as possible so that we can have an accurate head count for our technology.
BIO: Elden Golden joined the graduate faculty of Union Institute & University in 2007. He teaches primarily in the Creativity Studies section of the Master of Arts program and most semesters teaches the critical thinking and writing class Elements of Scholarship. His academic background is broadly interdisciplinary with degrees in music theory (BA, MM), law (JD), and humanities (MA, PhD). For his dissertation he composed the music for a chamber ballet on the medieval story of the Burghers of Calais. His research interests include the relationship between opera and culture and the history of concepts of creativity, particularly in the eighteenth century. He and his wife live near Louisville, Kentucky.
Please register for MA Program’s Faculty Research Forum on Feb 12, 2015 7:00 PM EST at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/968071973877213442 Presentation by Dr. Elden Golden on After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
State MLK celebration Thursday in Columbus, Ohio
Please join at noon Thursday, Jan. 15 for the 30th annual Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Celebration at Trinity Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Third and Broad streets.
Highlights of the 30th annual celebration will be speeches given by Director Andre T. Porter of the Ohio Department of Commerce and three Ohio students who took first place in their respective age divisions at the 2014 Statewide MLK Oratorical Contest. If you have never attended the event and heard these young orators speak, you are in for a treat. The messages shared by the students are inspiring, as is the entire event. In addition, seven Ohioans will be recognized for carrying on King’s legacy.
The event and the oratorical contest are sponsored by the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission, which receives administrative support from the Equal Opportunity Division.
Cohort Compendium 