CECH Chats podcast speaks with professors and students involved in important criminal justice research
New college podcast presents a wide-ranging conversation on helping community report crimes
“Something that Dr. Powers and Dr. Simmons and I are really passionate about is this idea of tiered mentorship,” says University of Cincinnati criminal justice Associate Professor Brittany Hayes.
Hayes is speaking about ongoing work on the project “Language Access Barriers to Justice Among Victims of Violence Against Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities” by researchers from UC’s School of Criminal Justice (part of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology, or CECH) and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Allied Health Sciences.
Associate Professor Brittany Hayes, photo by Greg Humbert/CECH Marketing
“We have students who are further along in different programs being able to provide mentorship and leadership to undergraduate researchers, master's students and first-year PhD students,” she explains. “But then also first-year PhD students being able to provide that mentorship for undergraduate and master's students.”
The research project last year was awarded a two-year research grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. Since then Hayes — along with fellow criminal justice Associate Professor Ráchael Powers and communication sciences and disorders Associate Professor Amanda Simmons — have brought 12 students onto various stages of the project to provide experience-based learning in areas such as research and project management.
The students are:
- Cooper Maher – 4th year PhD
- Rebekkah Gross – 3rd yeard PhD
- Martha McCullough – 1 st year PhD
- Dani Gerving – 1st year PhD
- Kristonn Stubbs – 1st year PhD
- Hye Sun Choi – MA Student
- Mary Grady – Undergrad
- Linh Dieu – Undergrad
- Jacquie Burckley – PhD Student @ USF
- Kaitlyn Knific – Speech-Language Pathology master’s student
- Elizabeth Liming – Speech-Language Pathology master’s student
- Paige Heimbrock – Speech-Language Pathology master’s student
“This project is multifaceted,” explains Hayes. “We have a systematic review, which is just a fancy way of saying we are looking at the literature that's been done on reporting barriers for victims with disabilities and organizing it to look for themes within that research.
“We've also looked at policies on law enforcement and victim service agency websites across four states. And then our big, big, big heavy lift of the project was we conducted 152 interviews with practitioners, caregivers, and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”
Students involved in the research project have been given responsibilities such as transcribing interviews and processing resulting data, through which they gain invaluable knowledge in areas of their research interests.
"I have loved getting to be a part of this team."
Dani Gerving, UC criminal justice student
“I couldn't have asked for a more collaborative, supportive and patient team for my first semester in a PhD program," Gerving says. "It's been awesome.”
CECH Chats
A wide-ranging conversation about the research project between students and educators — as well as insightful commentary provided by co-investigator Leigh Anne McKingsley from the ARC’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability — took place on the debut episode of “CECH Chats,” a new podcast from UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology.
“CECH Chats” was created to share research work such as the important project featured on the debut episode, with insights and updates from faculty and student researchers themselves. Future episodes will feature one-on-one conversations with faculty members about ongoing academic work as well as chats with students regarding their experiences in the college and talks with staff members about their important roles in CECH.
The “CECH Chats” podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio or wherever listeners subscribe to podcasts. Learn more about the show at the CECH|Headlines page, where you can access past episodes, browse recent stories from the college, check out video content and more.
Featured image at top: UC is launching a new podcast called CECH Chats. Photo/Alex from the Rock, AdobeStock
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