Digital Commons Network^™

College Majors And Unemployment Rates, Anna M. Gellerman, Harshita Ahuja

Publications and Research

College undergraduates often face the question of whether their major and related job force have high unemployment rates. The perceived high unemployment rates of certain majors due to circulating misinformation presents a need for comprehensive research on college majors and their associated unemployment rate. This paper dives into a ten year trend of unemployment rates by college major, and state to state variabilities of majors and their rates.

Intra-Participant And Inter-Analyst Cacophony: Working The Hyphen Between Modalities Using Provocative Reflexivity, David A. Caicedo, Andrea Nikté Juarez Mendoza, Miguel Pinedo

Publications and Research

Multimodal psychological research highlights the benefit of using complementary approaches to the phenomenological study of lived experience. Rather than focus on any individual method, this study attempts to concentrate on the transition, or hyphen, between them, as a place for reflexivity, ethics, and theory. Participants were 14 adults, recruited from ‘New York Community College’ and ‘New Jersey Community College’ in the U.S., who engaged in focus groups where they completed two activities: drawing a map of their personal journey to the college or of their self-identity, and their definitions for the immigration-related terms illegal and undocumented. Results demonstrated that …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Distinguish Violent Juvenile Sexual Offenders’ Victim Typologies, Michael T. Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Juvenile perpetrators account for over 25% of all sexual offenses, and over one-third of such offenses are against victims under the age of 18. Given empirical connections between adverse childhood experience (ACE) exposure and perpetration of violence, we create victim typologies based on the juveniles’ relationship to their victims among 5539 justice-involved adolescents who have committed violent against-person sexual felonies. Multinomial logistic regression is used to assess which covariates, including individual ACE exposures and cumulative traumatic exposures, are associated with victim typologies. This approach allows for better targeting of violence prevention efforts, as a more nuanced understanding of the increased …

Shooting Trends Vary Across Areas Of New York City, Jeffrey A. Butts, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

Recent reports point to slight reductions in New York City’s recent surge of shooting incidents. The number of shooting incidents was higher in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019, but the rate of increase appeared to be slowing. The degree of change varied across areas of the city.

Hostile, Quick-Tempered, And Exposed To Dangerous Environments: Exploring The Link Between Temperament And Street Code Adherence, Kevin T. Wolff, Sharron Spriggs, Jonathan Intravia, Michael T. Baglivio, Matt Delisi

Publications and Research

Although Elijah Anderson’s (1999) code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of Delisi and Vaughn’s difficult temperament index in the adoption of the street code among a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. Results indicated youth with more difficult temperaments, characterized by lower levels of effortful control and higher levels of negative emotionality, were …

Police Officers’ Best Friend?: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Effect Of Service Dogs On Perceived Organizational Support In Policing, Kenneth M. Quick, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

This study explored the effectiveness of a novel technique for police departments to support their officers and promote wellness: the use of service dogs. We evaluated officer perceptions in two mid-sized, municipal police departments that have wellness programs with a service dog that is permanently assigned to a full-time police officer handler: Groton and Naugatuck, Connecticut. We assessed 6 factors believed to influence police officer wellness including: operational and organizational stress using the Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006); topical stressors including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, police use of force and community relations, and police reform efforts; …

Our Year Of Remote Reference: Covid19’S Impact On Reference Services And Librarians, Sarah B. Cohn, Rebecca Hyams

Publications and Research

After a full year of providing fully remote library reference due to the COVID-19 pandemic campus closures, this exploratory study looks at reference practices of libraries, and librarian response to those practices, at a large, urban, public university. This article focuses on the impact COVID-19 had on reference services themselves, as well as the perceptions of those who provide them.

Advancing Gender Equity Through Legislation: Overview Of Select Laws Passed From 2014–2020, Maria J. D’Agostino, Nicole M. Elias

Publications and Research

Advancing Gender Equity through Legislation: A Compilation of Laws Passed from 2014 - 2020 aims to provide New York City residents with information about legislation passed under the de Blasio administration that aims to promote gender equity in the city.

Review Of Alternatives To Incarceration Efforts Worldwide, Emma Barton, Charlotte Drozd, Anne Fatooh, Katelyn Ferguson, Marc Gale, Parkash Garcha, Karen Giraldo, Aimee Hanstein, Matthew Jobson, Josephine Kehm, Lindsay Lerner, Meera Martin, Devon Mcmanamon, Mervyn Payne, Brianna Rivers, Bianca Suazo, Arlinda Xhuveli, Rosemary L. Barberet

Publications and Research

Despite global interest in treating substance use disorders as a health issue, many countries choose a criminal justice response instead. The goal of this project was to research the readiness of countries to establish or expand alternatives to incarceration (ATIs) for persons with substance use disorders (SUDs) in countries around the globe. This report gathers, compiles and analyzes information on alternatives to incarceration for persons involved in the criminal justice with substance use disorders, worldwide (193 UN Member States plus Greenland, Kosovo, Palestine and Taiwan). As such, this report presents the first attempt to compile this information globally and completely. …

Shooting Surge Continuing To Slow Across New York City, Jeffrey A. Butts, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

This report looks at quarter-specific comparisons of police reported shooting incidents across New York City. Shooting incidents increased between the first and second quarters of both 2020 and 2021. However, shooting incident increases slowed between quarters 1 (January-March) and 2 (April-June) in 2021, compared to the same quarters of 2020. Quarter-specific comparisons are one way to address seasonal fluctuations in gun violence.

Dreaming Of Home: Youth Researchers Of Color Address Nyc’S Housing Crisis, Samuel Finesurrey, Waleska Cabrera, Meldis Jimenez, Brittiny Ando, Alanna Garcia, Alexander Garcia, Jayden Johnstone, Abdul Mohammed, Sheylany Paulino, Edwin Reed, Emelyn Saavedra, Gisselle Saavedra, Rajendra Singh, Aysia Smith, Marlena Syriaque

Publications and Research

New Yorkers are facing a housing crisis. Long-standing disparities of race and class in New York City have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus and the looming eviction crisis threaten working-class communities, immigrant families and youth searching for housing stability throughout the city. This report is a call to action demanding that city and state elected officials, along with civic leaders, address the housing crisis that youth are inheriting. A team of youth housing fellows, housing organizers from the Broadway Housing Communities, and CUNY academics shaped this project around the ethos, “No research about us, without us.” The work …

The Cost Of Being Black In Social Work Practicum, Nia Johnson, Paul Archibald, Anthony Estreet, Amanda Morgan

Publications and Research

The social work profession is not exempt from fueling institutional racism, which affects the provision of social work practicum education for Black social work students. This article highlights how the historical and current social cost of being Black in the United States presents itself within social work education’s signature pedagogy. Social workers who hold bachelor’s degrees in social work (BSW) are more likely to be Black than those holding master’s degrees in social work (MSW; Salsberg et al., 2017). It takes Black students longer to earn an MSW degree though they are more likely to hold a BSW while also …

Measuring Procedural Justice Policy Adherence During Use Of Force Events: The Body-Worn Camera As A Performance Monitoring Tool, Victoria A. Sytsma, Eric L. Piza, Vijay F. Chillar, Leigh S. Grossman

Publications and Research

This study capitalizes on a successful researcher–practitioner partnership to conduct a systematic social observation (SSO) of police body-worn camera (BWC) footage in Newark, NJ. To demonstrate the utility of BWCs as performance monitoring tools, we measure officer adherence to procedural justice standards throughout use of force events as mandated in the Newark Police Division’s updated policies pursuant to an ongoing federal consent decree. Overall, a slim majority of use of force events are procedurally just. However, results indicate several instances of policy noncompliance. Results are discussed, and policy recommendations related to procedural justice policy violations and BWCs for performance monitoring …

Correlates Of Exam Performance In An Introductory Statistics Course: Basic Math Skills Along With Self- Reported Psychological/Behavioral And Demographic Variables, Laura A. Rabin, Anjali Krishnan, Rose Bergdoll, Joshua Fogel

Publications and Research

This study investigated whether basic mathematics skills are associated with undergraduate psychology statistics course performance while simultaneously considering self-reported psychological/behavioral and demographic variables. Participants (n = 460) completed a Math Assessment for College Students (MACS), which included questions ranging from calculating percentages to graphical interpretation. The researchers used a discriminant correspondence analysis to reveal differences in course performance evaluated as the average of three exam grades. For the variation in the average exam scores accounted for by our model, the MACS scores provided the largest contribution. Other variables associated with better exam grades included white ethnicity, non-transfer status, lower year …

Testing The Waters: An Investigation Of The Impact Of Hot Tubbing On Experts From Referral Through Testimony, Jennifer T. Perillo, Anthony D. Perillo, Nikoleta Despodova, Margaret Bull Kovera

Publications and Research

Objective: The present research examined whether concurrent expert testimony (“hot tubbing”) and court appointed testimony reduced adversarial allegiance in clinical experts’ judgments compared with traditional adversarial expert testimony. Hypotheses: We predicted Hypothesis 1: Defense experts would render more not responsible judgments and lower ratings of criminal responsibility than would prosecution experts; Hypothesis 2: Adversarial allegiance effects on experts’ judgments would be heightened for adversarial experts and attenuated for concurrent experts over time; Hypothesis 3: Adversarial and concurrent experts would report higher dissonance than would court-appointed experts and adversarial experts’ ratings would increase over time, concurrent experts’ ratings would decrease, and …

Shooting Surge Beginning To Slow Across New York City, Jeffrey A. Butts, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

Many cities in the United States experienced increased gun violence during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. Shootings in New York City grew sharply in 2020 and remained elevated in 2021, but the degree of increase may be in decline. This databit looks at the percent change in shootings citywide by quarter and shooting incidents across the NYC boroughs by quarter from 2007 to 2021.

A Preliminary Investigation Of Technical Services Librarians’ Contributions To Library Guides In Academic Libraries, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Online library guides are one of the bridges that librarians build to connect users to available resources and services. Since the time when library guides were conceived in the pamphlets and book lists of the early days, a historical brand bearing public and instructional services librarians’ merit and reputation has been watermarked in their presentation. In the internet age, have technical services librarians also played a role in contributing to library guides in academic libraries to assist students’ learning and faculty teaching? If so, do technical services librarians who are working as faculty tend to produce more library guides than …

Academic Literacy For Deaf Postsecondary Students Through Integrated Reading And Writing Instruction, Sue Livingston

Publications and Research

Based on theoretical findings from the literature on the integration of reading and writing pedagogies used with hearing postsecondary students to advance academic literacy, this article offers a model of instruction for achieving academic literacy in developmental and freshman composition courses composed of deaf students. Academic literacy is viewed as the product of acts of composing in reading and writing which best transpire through reciprocal rather than separate reading and writing activities. Pedagogical practices based on theoretical findings and teacher experience are presented as a model of instruction, exemplified as artifacts in online supplementary materials and juxtaposed with practices used …

When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents Displaced By A Place-Based Policing Interventiondisplaced By A Place-Based Policing Intervention, David N. Hatten, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Objective:

Examine the place-based correlates of robbery incidents displaced by a foot-patrol intervention in Newark, NJ. We use constructs from Crime Pattern and Social Disorganization theories to test hypotheses concerned with associations between the structure of the environment and the displacement of crime.

Method:

Robbery incidents were spatially joined to street segments to study micro-level displacement processes. Predictor variables were operationalized using data from the Newark Police Department and Infogroup USA. Generalized Linear models tested associations between the characteristics of street segments and displaced robbery in the target area as compared to a control.

Results:

Environmental structure is important to …

Student Well-Being Matters: Academic Library Support For The Whole Student, Marta Bladek

Publications and Research

In response to a marked increase in the prevalence and severity of mental health problems among college students over the last decade, colleges and universities have been expanding their well-being initiatives and programs. No longer limited to health services departments, the support of student well-being has been taken up by multiple campus units, including academic libraries. As well-being has been shown to impact academic outcomes, the well-being initiatives libraries develop fit in with their commitment to enhance learning and student educational experience overall. A comprehensive review of wellness interventions in academic libraries, this article presents findings on student well-being and …

Innovative Virtual Role Play Simulations For Managing Substance Use Conversations: Pilot Study Results And Relevance During And After Covid-19, Glenn Albright, Nikita Khalid, Kristen Shockley, Kelsey Robinson, Kevin Hughes, Bethany Pace-Danley

Publications and Research

Background: Substance use places a substantial burden on our communities, both economically and socially. In light of COVID-19, it is predicted that as many as 75,000 more people will die from alcohol and other substance use and suicide as a result of isolation, new mental health concerns, and various other stressors related to the pandemic. Public awareness campaigns that aim to destigmatize substance use and help individuals have meaningful conversations with friends, coworkers, or family members to address substance use concerns are a timely and cost-effective means of augmenting existing behavioral health efforts related to substance use. These types of …

Resuming On-Site Services: Final Report And Recommendations Of The Cuny Libraries Covid-19 Task Force (April 2021), Kathleen M. Dreyer, Jeffrey Delgago, Karen Okamoto, Steven Ovadia, Roxanne Shirazi, Michael Waldman, Haruko Yamauchi, Simone Yearwood

Publications and Research

This report was prepared by the CUNY Libraries COVID-19 Task Force, which formed in May 2020 with the following charge:

Authorized by the CUNY Office of Library Services and the Council of Chief Librarians, the task force is charged to survey best practices shared by libraries world-wide and to develop guidelines for CUNY Libraries site management, staff and user safety, circulation and resource sharing, and materials handling as pandemic conditions evolve.

A summary of the draft report was submitted by Interim Dean for Library Services Polly Thistlethwaite to CUNY’s Academic & Student Support Task Force on June 23, 2020. The …

Great Directors: Sidney Lumet, William Blick

Publications and Research

Given the breadth of Lumet’s oeuvre, it’s debatable whether or not he has a distinctive, recognizable style. The canon encompasses such a large canvas, it is impossible to say whether or not his films are instantly recognizable. There are, however, trademark characteristics: gritty New York urban realism, dynamic and snappy dialogue coupled with frequent collaborations with the best actors and writers in the business. These collaborations captivated film critics and the public alike, as both bore witness to Lumet’s talent for translating text to screen. Lumet’s politics are unabashedly liberal and often elicit distrust of the establishment as characters challenge …

Technical Career Institutes, Inc., (Tci College) Strategic Analysis, Wilfredo Moran

Publications and Research

This paper provides a framework for the in-depth analysis of TCI College strategy and corporate management. The analysis will culminate with a recommendation to the CEO and the board of directors on how to improve strategy for TCI. The analysis will include mission, vision, values, strategic plans, five forces model, SWOT, competitive strategy, strengthening the competitive position, the global market, business diversification, ethics, social responsibility, building capabilities to executing strategy, managing internal operations, among others.

Is “Just Googling It” Good Enough For First-Year Students?, Maureen Richards

Publications and Research

This study analyzes citations by first-year students to determine what content they were citing and whether it was available through the open web or the library. Examining the role of these two places as content providers for academic work fills a gap in the literature. Most of the cited works were available through the library and the open web. As the line between content providers continues to blur, these results can help academic libraries prioritize what to teach students about information literacy, where to focus collection development efforts and how to promote the discovery of library resources.

Women In Public Administration In The United States: Leadership, Gender Stereotypes, And Bias, Sofia Calsy, Maria J. D’Agostino

Publications and Research

In the public and private sectors, women continue to address multiple hurdles despite diversity and equity initiatives. Women have made tremendous strides in the workforce but are still a minority in leadership positions worldwide in multiple sectors, including nonprofit, corporate, government, medicine, education, military, and religion. In the United States women represent 60% of bachelor’s degrees earned at universities and outpace men in master’s and doctoral programs. However, a significant body of research illustrates that women’s upward mobility has been concentrated in middle management positions. Women hold 52% of all management and professional roles in the U.S. job market, including …

Education Faculty As Knowledge Brokers: Competing For Access To New York State Print Media And Policy Influence, Gary Anderson, Nakia Gray-Nicolas, Madison Payton

Publications and Research

In an environment in which new policy entrepreneurs and networks are influencing policy and public opinion, many university faculty are increasingly seeking ways to mobilize knowledge beyond academic conferences and journals. Using New York state as a case, we searched Access World News to compare the level of media access of academics with other knowledge brokering organizations (KBOs; e.g. think tanks, teachers’ unions, advocacy organizations, etc.). Our data shows relatively low levels of access for academics and provides profiles of those academics with high levels of access and what we might learn from them. We provide a discussion of the …

Single-Cell Fluidic Force Microscopy Reveals Stress- Dependent Molecular Interactions In Yeast Mating, Marion Mathelié-Guinlet, Felipe Viela, JéRôMe Dehullu, Sviatlana Filimonava, Jason M. Rauceo, Peter N. Lipke, Yves F. DufrêNe

Publications and Research

Sexual agglutinins of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are proteins mediating cell aggregation during mating. Complementary agglutinins expressed by cells of opposite mating types “a” and “α” bind together to promote agglutination and facilitate fusion of haploid cells. By means of an innovative single-cell manipulation assay combining fluidic force microscopy with force spectroscopy, we unravel the strength of single specific bonds between a- and α-agglutinins (~100 pN) which require pheromone induction. Prolonged cell–cell contact strongly increases adhesion between mating cells, likely resulting from an increased expression of agglutinins. In addition, we highlight the critical role of disulfide bonds of the …

Restorative Relationships And 'Radical Help': Reimagining Welfare-To-Work Beyond The Market-Family Divide, Lynn D. Lu

Publications and Research

The unprecedented global lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the extreme vulnerability of “essential” yet underpaid workers, the vast inequality between the wealthy and the less fortunate, and the bottomless pit facing those without a social safety net. While the crisis has laid bare the near-universality of human susceptibility to disease and unemployment in a world in which few can safely work, it has also highlighted the disproportionate precarity experienced by low-wage and contingent workers, people of color, and non-citizens. Well before the pandemic, rampant socioeconomic and racial inequality, high underemployment and concentration of wealth, and technological advances …

Tracking The Racial Validity Of Placement By Probability, Annie M. Del Principe, Lesley Broder, Lauren Levesque

Publications and Research

Any placement decision is a gamble on the validity of the mech- anism used. The better the placement mechanism matches the actual pro- ficiencies required for success in a future, real-life context, the more accu- rately it will place students into the best classes for them and the more valid it will prove to be. But what happens if the most obvious, commonsensical approaches to placement that would appear to have the strongest validity— writing tests for placement into writing classes—prove unreliable? Rather than accurately placing students into the “right” class for them, we now know that writing placement tests …