Public Administration and Urban Studies News

Dr. Lucinda Deason’s productive summer researching will bear fruit later this academic year. She has been building on her national reputation in the area of Culturally Competent Public Service. Look for the following forthcoming publications  from her:

• Deason, L.M., Adhikari, S.B., Clopton, T.M., Oches, B., and Jensen, C.  “The Ohio Cross-Cultural Tobacco Control Alliance: Understanding and Eliminating Tobacco-Related Health Disparities through the Integration of Science, Practice, and Policy” American Journal of Public Health, Fall 2009.

• Aka, P. and Deason, L.M. “Culturally Competent Public Services and English-Only Laws,” Howard Law Journal, Vol. 53(1), 2009.

• Deason, L.M. and Aka, P.C. “Culturally and Linguistically Competent Public Services in anEra of English-Only Laws.” In Diversity and Public Administration, 2nd Edition. Edited by Mitchell Rice.  ME Sharpe Inc.

Her publication in the American Journal of Public Health, one of the top tier journals in medicine and biology, is a noteworthy accomplishment. The American Journal of Public Health is widely respected and ranks highly with the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the British Medical Journal.  The American Journal of Public Health, the monthly peer-reviewed journal of the American Public Health Association, was recognized in June 2009 as one of the top 100 influential journals in biology and medicine over the last century.

Dr. RaJade M. Berry-James presented papers this past fall at two conferences. The topics and locations are as follows:

• Cultural Competence as a Standard of Care. Keynote Speaker. 2008 Council on Healthy Mothers and Babies/Caring for 2 Conference on Improving Healthcare Services in a Diverse Community, Columbus, OH, November 7, 2008.

• Successful Models of Recruiting, Graduating and Placing PhD Students.  Invited Panelist.  2008 National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Annual Conference on NASPAA Meets the Future, Charleston SC, October 16-18. Abstract Published in 2008 NASPAA Annual Conference: NASPAA Meets the Future, p. 8.

Look for this recent publication by PAUS faculty member Dr. RaJade M. Berry-James. Congratulations Jade!

• Brown, S. L. and Berry-James, R. M. 2008. Riots and Rebirth: The Role of Policy Sciences in Addressing Disparities in Healthcare. Journal of Black Political Research, 2008(3), 9-44.

Dr. RaJade M. Berry-James will speak at the March 4  Ohio Department of Alcohol, Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) annual conference for directors. The title of her talk is “Becoming a Culturally & Linguistically Competent Organization.” Jade will focus on seven core competencies that can serve as innovative tools to bring about significant changes in the provision of public goods and services.

Also, Jade will moderate and present her research as part of a panel at the annual meeting of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), being held March 20-24 in Miami, Florida. Jade’s research presentation is titled “Crucial Conversations in Human Resource Management: From Affirmative Action to Cultural Competency.”

Best wishes Jade!

Congratulations to Dr. Peggy Stephens,  former PAUS colleague Dr. Sonia Alemagno and their fellow researchers for having the following publications in print or accepted. Look for them now or in the near future.

• Alemagno, Sonia A., Stephens, Peggy, Shaffer-King, Peggy, Teasdale, Brent.  2009.  Prescription Drug Abuse of Adolescent Arrestees: Correlates and Implications. Journal of Correctional Health Care. Vol. 15, Issue 1.

• Stephens, Peggy, Sloboda, Zili, Stephens, Richard, Marquette, Jesse, Hawthorne, Richard, Williams, Joseph.  2009.  Universal School-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Programs: Modeling Targeted Mediators and Outcomes for Adolescent Cigarette, Alcohol and Marijuana Use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence (forthcoming).

• Sloboda, Zili, Stephens, Richard, Stephens, Peggy, Grey, S., Teasdale, Brent, Hawthorne, R., Williams, Joseph, and Marquette, Jessie.  2009.  The Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Study: Randomized Field Trial of a Universal Substance Abuse Prevention Program. Drug and Alcohol Dependence (forthcoming).

• Teasdale, Brent, Sloboda, Zili, Stephens, Peggy, Stephens, Richard C., Grey, Scott.  2009.  The Effect of Take Charge of Your Life on Targeted Program Mediators. Drug and Alcohol Dependence (forthcoming).

• Alemagno, Sonia, Stephens, Richard, Stephens, Peggy, Shaffer-King, Peggy, White, P. 2009. Brief Motivational Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk and to increase HIV Testing among Offenders under Community Supervision. Journal of Correctional Health Care (forthcoming).

Dr. Peggy Stephens and Margaret Baughman have received funding for a three-year ($60K per year) Cleveland Drug Court Cannabis Youth Treatment Enhancement Grant (RFA No. TI-08-007). The grant is funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Peggy and Margaret will begin collecting data from drug court enrollees to evaluate the process and outcomes for participants from 18 to 25 years old. The study focuses on male felony offenders diverted to substance abuse treatment from the Cleveland Municipal Court. The project will run through September of 2011. Congratulations Peggy and Margaret!

PAUS will be well represented at this year’s Conference on Minority Public Administrators (Feb. 8-11), with faculty, a recent graduate, and current Ph.D. students taking roles in three panel discussions.

1. Dr. RaJade M. Berry-James, Dr. Cryshanna Jackson, and Hope Moore are taking part in a panel titled Faith Based and Community Approaches to Social Engagement.
2. Jade and Cryshanna are also part of a panel titled Crucial Conversations — Seven Competencies for Public Managers.
3. Dr. Julia Beckett, Jade, and Juanita Elton will participate in a panel titled Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Disproportion Minority Contact.

Well done!

Akron City Council’s newest member is PAUS Interim Chairman Dr. Raymond Cox III. Raymond, who was seated Feb. 2, will serve out the remaining term of former Ward 8 Council Bob Keith, who resigned recently to take the position of council clerk. Congratulations Raymond! You can read about it in the Akron Beacon Journal at http://www.ohio.com/news/38844932.html.

Dr. Ramona Ortega has been appointed to the newly created University Diversity Council. She is one of fifteen members of the university community who have been asked to provide ideas regarding campus-wide diversity issues. Reconstituting the Diversity Council is one of six goals set in 2008 by Lee A. Gill, J.D., Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Equity/Chief Diversity Officer to foster diversity and inclusive excellence.

Welcome all new students, and welcome back all returning students. The halls will be bustling this semester with the addition of 50 new students to the department’s graduate programs. This semester continues an upward trend in enrollment for the department.

There are two new faces to be found among the faculty and administration in the department. We welcome Associate Dean Annabelle Foos, who is serving as interim chairperson. Dr. Foos will be in late afternoons and can be found in the corner office nearest the main entrance to the department. We also welcome Annemarie Scarisbrick-Hauser, who is serving in the role of visiting assistant professor.

You may notice that two regular faces around the department are missing. Dr. Ramona Ortega-Liston is on sabbatical for the semester. She will return in January. Also, as mentioned earlier in the newsletter, Dr. Ralph Hummel retired in May. There are reports that he can be found sailing off the coast of Maine.