Researchers pool resources to launch national survey on pandemic’s effects

When new faculty members arrive at UTSA, they are granted research accounts with startup money to help fund their research programs. Sociology Professor Terrence Hill arrived in the fall of 2019 with an idea—why not have faculty pool their startup money together to create a bigger research project?

After approaching the Dean of the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCaP), Lynne Cossman, the question grew. What started with an idea for new sociology faculty blossomed into a research project spanning five departments, one research center, and new and tenured faculty alike. Together, the researchers pooled more than $100,000 to fund a national survey on health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (CHAPS). “The CHAPS survey is an excellent opportunity for HCaP faculty to rally around a single collaborative research project,” Cossman said. “The survey results will drive many research articles, but also may lead to preliminary results that can be used to apply for research grants for further exploration. I appreciate professor Hill’s coordination and leadership on this project and I’m excited to see it come to fruition.”

HCaP departments represented in the CHAPS project include Criminology and Criminal Justice, Demography, Public Health, Social Work, Sociology, and the Institute for Health Disparities Research. Faculty from Baylor University and Florida State University are also participating.“As the new chair of Sociology, I am very enthusiastic about the CHAPS study that Professor Hill organized with other

faculty,” said UTSA Professor Ray Swisher. “This will be a wonderful source of novel data and will foster many collaborations in HCaP. I am particularly interested in working with colleagues on research into how COVID-related attitudes and behavior varied by socioeconomic status, neighborhood poverty, race and ethnicity and inequalities in life expectancy.” The overall aim of CHAPS is to conduct cutting-edge research on the health and well-being of the U.S. population during the Coronavirus pandemic. The survey will be conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Data collection will begin later this month. The survey will employ the most advanced techniques in survey research. Because of NORC’s prestige and history in data collection, not only will cutting-edge methodology be used to present the survey, but it will also ensure that the data are highquality and truly representative of the U.S. adult population. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the project, the survey will cover several themes related to health and well-being. Topics include loneliness and social isolation, police interactions, religion, political attitudes, pandemic behaviors, sexual behaviors, intimate partner violence, food insecurity and more. “The survey covers a wide range of important social problems to better understand the U.S. population during a pandemic,” Hill said. Data collected from this survey can help inform policy. Questions about access to diabetes care, or any condition in which one needs to regularly see a doctor, are included in the survey. Questions about the vaccinations are also included to identify which subgroups might be more or less resistant to getting the vaccine. The questions about suicidal ideation can also inform policy—because this is a nationally representative study of the U.S. population, the data collected from the survey is critically important to handling the downswing of the pandemic and reducing suffering of the population.

“There is so much suffering, so much misery that we can hardly comprehend what’s going on,” Hill said. “All the loss that people are experiencing—the loss of jobs or loss of loved ones, the loss of their futures, their plans. A lot of that could be reflected in this survey.” In addition to learning more about the farreaching effects of the pandemic, the data from the survey can be pulled in specific directions to help UTSA faculty further their own research. With the amount of data collected, there is a potential for faculty to publish research for years. “We expect a lot of impact across all the researchers, and there are so many possibilities for collaboration across the disciplines and the College,” Hill said. “It’s an innovative way to capitalize on the resources provided by UTSA.”

“The survey covers a wide range of important social problems to better understand the U.S. population during a pandemic.”

John Bartkowski, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Amy Burdette, Department of Sociology, Florida State University

Lynne Cossman, Dean of HCaP, Departments of Sociology and Demography, UTSA

Christopher Ellison, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Chantal Fahmy, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, UTSA

Ginny Garcia, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Richard Hartley, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, UTSA

Terrence Hill, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Emily Nicklett, Department of Social Work, UTSA

Andrea Ruiz, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Bonita Sharma, Department of Social Work, UTSA

Eric Shattuck, Institute for Health Disparities Research, UTSA

Katelyn Sileo, Department of Public Health, UTSA

Raymond Swisher, Department of Sociology, UTSA

Alexander Testa, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, UTSA

Jelena Todic, Department of Social Work, UTSA

Laura Upenieks, Department of Sociology, Baylor University

Faculty in criminology and criminal justice earn two grants totaling more than $2,600,000

Megan Augustyn

Principal Investigator

Kellie Lynch Marie Tillyer

The Cumulative Financial Costs of Victimization among College Students at Minority Serving Institutions

Two-year project - $745,679 Principal Investigator: Megan Augustyn Co-PIs: Kellie Lynch, Marie Tillyer and Gillian Pinchevsky (UNLV)

In many ways, this project has been years in the making. Beginning in, 2017, Dr. Megan Augustyn joined the Multi-College Bystander Efficacy Evaluation (McBee) mentorship program. The program recruits junior scholars from across the country and partners them with full professors who have done research on violence against women, genderbased violence, and victimization.

Dr. Kellie Lynch, in UTSA’s department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was also part of this mentorship project. With the support of McBee, Augustyn partnered with Dr. Lynch, Dr. Nicole Beebe (UTSA Information Systems and Cyber Security) and Dr. Marie Tillyer to apply for a GREAT Grant at UTSA. The $20,000 grant gives initial funds to start up a research project in the hopes that it will be expanded in the future with grant money. The three researchers conducted a student survey about different types of victimization – where they occur, services used afterwards, and more. “If you've been a victim of sexual assault, but it occurs off campus, do you know you can get resources on campus for being a victim?” Augustyn asked. The initial data was promising for hopes of a longer study. “We found the majority of assaults are off campus…and we found that over 50% are not even UTSA affiliates,” Augustyn said. With the initial data in hand, Augustyn and her co-PIs were ready to follow it up with a longitudinal study to examine these experiences over time. She discovered a solicitation from the National Institute of Justice under the Office of Justice Programs at the US Department of Justice. “They're particularly interested in the financial consequences,” Augustyn explained. “So I thought that would be a really good way to extend this initial pilot data.” There are several foci of the second study: do the financial consequences vary if it happens on campus or off campus? Secondly, how is victimization affecting employment, which in turn might undermine their ability to stay in school? “A lot of UTSA students work either part time or full time,” Augustyn said. “If they're not generating income that they need to pay for school, they might not stay in school.” The final point of interest is to compare the experiences of firstgeneration students vs. continuing-generation students. “A lot of this came from anecdotal experiences that I've had with my students when they've been victimized and they disclose it,” Augustyn said. “It could be that the financial consequences of victimization are going to vary across first-generation and continuing-generation students.” With these parameters in place, the grant was proposed: follow a cohort of first year students from two universities, both of which are minorityserving institutions and have over 40% first-generation students. "This student population has often been ignored both in the existing body of empirical research on this issue and in national conversations surrounding college victimization,” said Lynch. “Therefore, it is critical to ask if and how students…experience consequences of crime victimization differently. This study will expand and diversify our understanding of the impact of victimization on college students with the ultimate goal of improving the response to crime victims and preventing future victimization from occurring." “The ultimate goal is to look at how these financial consequences of victimization at any point in life may accumulate, but then ultimately does that affect financial status later on?” Augustyn said. Another key part of the study is that students don't have to continue to be enrolled. If a study participant drops out, they would still be in the study – a critical piece to the study in order to follow the financial effects. Augustyn hopes that as soon as the first data collection, the researchers can gather some good ideas of how students access services, how these might vary by student characteristics, and to also get an idea of the immediate financial consequences. “Whether it's a matter of adding new resources on campus, or doing a better job of advertising current resources…you don't just have to be victimized on campus to utilize campus resources,” Augustyn said. “The counseling center, the Peace Center- they will help you regardless of those things.” In addition to providing valuable data for the UTSA community to identify gaps in service, it can also strengthen the community as a whole. “If we can empirically show that victimization is linked to dropping classes and dropping out overall, that's important for the university, because we can have a better idea of how to retain students,” Augustyn said. “There are also policymakers and stakeholders in the community who are interested in this in communities across the country. When we increase the college graduation rates, we're actually increasing the prosperity of the community.”

“With these recent awards, our faculty are not only advancing knowledge in these topical areas, but are also putting UTSA on the map as a preeminent tier one research institution. The National Institute of Justice is the premier funding agency for justice related research with successful award rates below 10 percent. Only the discipline's best scholars receive NIJ awards and to receive two in the same year is almost unheard of. These are also some of the largest awards that NIJ typically makes; clearly national experts believe that our faculty and these projects are going to have a large impact in the field and community.”

– Richard Hartley, Ph.D.,

Chair, Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice

Life course and intergenerational effects of criminal justice involvement: Identifying risks, the search for resilience, and the impact of rise in opioid misuse and the COVID-19 pandemic

5-year project - $1,881,736 Principal Investigator: Megan Augustyn Co-PIs: Megan Kurlychek (Pennsylvania State University) and Kimberly L. Henry (Colorado State University)

This project found its roots in a study which began in 1988: the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS). Originally funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, with Dr. Terrence Thornberry as the PI, the study followed a birth cohort (called Generation 2) who were at the time seventh and eighth grade students representative of the public school system in Rochester, New York. The cohort was followed for four years and they were interviewed every six months.

The second phase of data collection began after a two-year gap. Now in the age range of 19-21, the subjects underwent three annual interviews, and then returned for more interviews at ages 29-31. From there, researchers identified a need to continue this longitudinal study. By 1999, the intergenerational extension of RYDS was born as the Rochester Intergenerational Study. Researchers conducted annual interviews with G2s and other primary caregiver of G3 through G3 age of 17. G3s were interviewed annually beginning at age 8. The last year of data collection was 2019.

As a graduate student working with Thornberry, Dr. Megan Augustyn became involved in the Rochester projects in 2009. She didn’t imagine that she’d end up on the research side of things after graduate school. “I thought I would be a practitioner,” she said. “But as I went through graduate school and got involved in the Rochester project, I realized I actually loved doing this type of work.” Augustyn joined UTSA in 2013, continuing her work with Rochester studies as she taught courses. The original PIs for the project retired, and data collection was set to end, in 2019. “I thought it would be great if we could go back and contact the G2s and follow up with them, continuing the work of the original PIs,” Augustyn said. “They’re in their late 40s now, and we don’t have a lot of great data on offending behaviors in that time period.” Augustyn secured the grant with PIs from other universities, and the plan is to extend RYDS and RIGS simultaneously. “The difference from this data collection and that of the past 15 years is that G2 interviews will not be focused on their relationship with G3, but about how their life has unfolded over time,” Augustyn said. The overall aim of the research is to link life outcomes assessed in this new data collection with early life risk factors. “We know their childhood risk factors, but we want to see how their life has of unfolded and if we can relate child and adolescent risks to that,” Augustyn said. “We also want to look at how their patterns of offending.” The COVID-19 Pandemic is also playing a role in this research. The sample population for the study includes a disproportionate number of individuals who have been incarcerated at some point in their lives. The researchers will aim to uncover if these individuals have been more negatively affected by COVID than those that haven't been incarcerated. “Is it possible, because of their record and their involvement in the justice system, that they were the first ones to be unemployed?” Augustyn asked. “Or, because of their types of jobs, were they impacted more negatively by the pandemic or more likely to get COVID because of the jobs that they did have?” For the G3s, the questions will be similar, but the researchers are also hoping to address the opioid epidemic and how young adults today are impacted by this epidemic. “We want to see if they’ve been affected by it and in what ways,” Augustyn said. Augustyn and her co-PIs are hoping to continue to follow these individuals beyond the scope of the current project as their lives continue to unfold. This grant will fund Phase 4 of the RYDS and consist of the waves 15 and 16 interviews in Year 1 and Year 3 of the funding period. “We hope we can secure funding to continue to study the focal participants of the RYDS, G2s, in the future,” Augustyn said. “We will continue to focus on different topics that are relevant at different phases of the life course.”

With such a tremendous amount of data, it’s common to wonder where it will go, and how it can help. To date, the results from RYDS and RIGS have influenced programs to reduce delinquency and youth violence at the national, state, and local levels. Presentations have been made to many organizations in Rochester, including the Schools, the YMCA, the Mayor’s Commission Against Violence and Social Services. The information gathered by RYDS and RIGS has helped all these groups make better decisions on how to help the youth of the community. In addition, presentations have been made across the country to inform other local and national programs that assist youth and young adults. In particular, findings from RYDS and RIGS have been used to inform prevention programming and provide targets for intervention for adolescent health-risk behavior and gang membership, as well as programming that seeks to address poor parent-child relationships and adult mental health and substance abuse. These projects are supported by Award Number respectively (2020-MUMU-0017 and 2020-V3-GX-0075) awarded by the National Institute of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.

New College, Same Roadrunner

The formation of a new College can be a substantial undertaking. To date, the departments within HCaP have nearly 29,000 ’Runners among their alumni base.

The future of how and when we engage will be what sets us apart. As a Roadrunner graduate, you are forever integral to the mission of the College. This Fall, the College will launch the HCaP Leadership Circle (HLC) which will be composed of distinguished alumni to foster goodwill and be advocates for the College through their active involvement, advocacy and financial resources. HLC members will assist in maintaining strong awareness of education and funding priorities while providing counsel to build a stronger, efficient and effective College. By engaging in the HLC, alumni will have the ability to help the College build its foundation by applying its teaching, research and service in the communities in which they live and work. In giving of time and resources, alumni help our students receive a unique education that shapes their lives and helps them shape the lives of others.

On behalf of our students, faculty and staff, I invite you to join us in coming together to make a lasting difference in the lives of many. Together, we are a force for the future. To learn more about how to join HLC and become part of an involved alumni base, reach out to Lisa Hernandez at lisa.hernandez2@utsa.edu. 1988 Tod Thrasher (Criminology & Criminal Justice) is celebrating 30 years of marriage to his wonderful wife Jennifer this June.

1992 Jose L. Galvan Jr. (Political Science, Criminology & Criminal Justice ’94) joined the Roadrunner Army ROTC unit in 1992 and was commissioned in the Aviation Branch as a 2LT. Galvin has three children with his wife Sandy. Son Joseph A. Galvan is set to graduate from UTSA in the summer of 2021 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a minor in computer science. Son Christian attends Central Texas College and is working towards his associate in IT. Daughter Sarah is a sophomore at Holy Trinity Catholic High School. While in the Army, Galvan and his family lived in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas, and California. The Army also sent Galvan to South Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. During his time in the Army, Galvan completed the following milestones: Became a Pilot in the U.S. Army flying the TH-67, OH-58 A/C, AH-64A and the AH64D; retired from the U.S. Army as an LTC in 2015 serving just over 20 years; obtained his PMP Certification in 2019. He continued his education and completed a master of science in project management in 2020; Galvan has continued with running since his days on the track and field team at UTSA, and in 2017 competed in the U.S. Obstacle Course Racing Championships in Texas. “I was just happy to complete the course at the age of 47,” he says. Galvan and his family have settled just outside of Fort Hood, Texas. “It was great to be a part of UTSA and to also have my son graduate from UTSA. Birds Up!”

1993 Pacharee Klaisakul-Giaccardo (Sociology) works for Broadway Bank and enjoys meditation, yoga, and travel. Her son, Anek Adhihetty, is also an alumnus of UTSA, having graduated in 2019.

1996

Noel Garcia

(Criminology & Criminal Justice) says that although he has made a career in promotional marketing, not criminal justice, he attributes his ability to manage client relationships with the skills he learned from his major. “I’ve been recognized twice as a finalist for Account Executive of the Year in the 25 billion promotional marketing industry (source: Advantages Magazine, www. asicentral.com). I am a founding member and managing director for Boundless, a 100 million dollar distributor in the promotional marketing industry (www.boundlessnetwork. com).” [photo caption: Garcia with wife, Tracy, and daughters Ally (20), Annabelle (17) and Arianna (14)]

1997

Michelle Tucker

Renfrow, MA, PLC (Psychology, MS Counseling ’99) began her own part-time private practice focusing on the use of art and play therapy techniques. “I held a summer art camp for all ages and have transitioned for the fall into private online and in person art classes. Some of my activities are therapeutic in scope but all of them are fun and engaging!”

1998

Ruben Covarrubias

(Kinesiology; MA Educational Leadership ’13) is in his 23rd year in education as a heath education teacher at John Jay High School in NISD. He is currently the head baseball coach and a lifetime member of UTSA’s Alumni Association. He has been a season football ticket holder from day one and has attended both Bowl game appearances to date.

2003 Nicholas Macis (Kinesiology) is working as a Special Education Facilitator for El Paso Independent School District.

2010

Sgt. Bernadette

Gomez (Criminology & Criminal Justice) began her career as a patrol officer at Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department. She then served for seven years at Trinity University as a patrol officer with two promotions during her nine year career as a Corporal/Investigator. She is now currently a Patrol Sergeant. Gomez has recently obtained her Master Peace Officer Certification. “I believe that persistence and

hard work pay off,” she says. Her awards include: President’s List honor recipient (2010); Alpha Chi National College Honor Society; Employee of the Year- Trinity University Police Department (2016); Leadership Service Award- Trinity University Police Department (2016, 2018).

2013

Dilip Gokhale

(Master of Public Administration) was recently promoted from Supervisory Investigator in the Charge Receipt/ Technical Information Unit at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Philadelphia District Office to Enforcement Manager at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Cleveland Field Office. He is now a 3L evening student at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, PA.

2016

Mauricio

Rodríguez-Abreu, (Ph.D. Applied Demography) moved back to Mexico for a two-year postdoc appointment (2016-18). Following that, he was offered a full time Professor position at Universidad de las Américas Puebla. In May of 2019 he was named Academic Director of the Department of Actuarial Sciences, Physics and Mathematics.

2018

Maverick Crawford

III (Criminal Justice, Public Administration) graduated with a master of social work from the University of Texas at Arlington in Fall 2020.

Daniela Figueroa

(Public Health, Sociology) graduated from the University of North Texas Health Science Center with a master of health administration in June of 2020. She has secured employment with the State of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as an Epidemiologist. “I currently work with data management on COVID-19 outbreaks that occur in Colorado Springs and am a subject matter expert on COVID-19.”

Michael Ramos

(Kinesiology) started his doctoral program in physical therapy at the UIW School of Physical Therapy in August 2020.

Emily Rodriguez

(Public Administration) is a Certified Advisor at San Antonio College and is currently enrolled in UTSA’s graduate school. She is halfway through her master of higher education administration and is projected to graduate in Fall 2021.

Enrique A. Trevino

(Master of Public Administration) was nominated by the Mayor of San Antonio and the Bexar County Judge to be a member of the Census 2020 Committee. He also volunteered in humanitarian work giving aid for migrants at the City of San Antonio Migrant Center. Enrique is currently working as a City Council Administrative Aid in San Antonio. “The most enriching and rewarding part of my work is to provide assistance to constituents with Covid-19 vaccines during this unprecedented time,” Enrique says. “I owe so much gratitude to UTSA and my professors of public administration for the education readiness of public service and social justice because my reward is seeing the growth of betterment and merriment in my community.”

Veronica Zapata (Sociology) purchased her first home as she neared graduation. “This, other than my two children, is one of my greatest milestone achievements that has sheltered my family and I through the juggles of COVID and this recent winter storm,” she says. In addition, Zapata was accepted into graduate school at UTSA and is pursuing a master of science in sociology. “I am thankful for being a Roadrunner in my past and present educational career and hope to see more success in the future as a graduate alumna in 2022!” 2019

Gabriel Alvarez

(Criminology & Criminal Justice, Psychology) was nominated as an Interdisciplinary Fellow, which allows him to be fully funded at Arizona State University to pursue a concurrent M.S. in criminology & criminal justice and an MPP in public policy. “A huge thank you to Dr. Kellie Lynch and Dr. Patricia Jaramillo for being my biggest supporters during my time in HCaP!”

Aubrey Hilliker

(Psychology) plans to come back to UTSA in the fall as part of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program to continue to improve the San Antonio community.

Marisol Lopez

(Public Administration) left two weeks after her graduation to lead a healthcare project in China for seven months. She is now working for the state of Texas.

2020

Nazanin Setareh

Zarei-Chalshotory (Psychology) is working as a Human Resources Assistant while pursuing an M.B.A. and conducting research at UT El Paso. “I am happy to have graduated from UTSA and have many opportunities because of my education!”

Gloria Glenn Reedy was a dedicated and loving mother who found great passion in her career as a social worker. To Gloria, social work was more than a job, it was her calling. She provided for her family and gave everything she could to ensure her children would be able to attend college while she continued to achieve her goal of making a differences in the lives of others. To honor Gloria, her three children, Robert, Ann, and Joe created the Gloria Glenn

Reedy Endowed Scholarship for Social

Work at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

“She was incredibly passionate about her job and truly believed that she was doing good in the community… The fact that she was a social worker, it wasn’t just a job for her. She always said that she felt like she made a difference,” said Robert.

Robert, Ann and Joe all received bachelor’s degrees from The University of Texas at Austin. Joe and Ann went on to receive their MBAs from UT Austin and Robert received his J.D. from the law school at the university. Gloria remained in her children’s hometown of San Antonio. Grateful for their educational journeys and experiences, they agreed that a gift to UTSA would be a perfect and impactful way to reach students in the city where they were raised. The endowed scholarship is awarded to students studying social work with a 3.0 grade point average in the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCaP).

“When we came upon this incredible program for social work at UTSA, we were all impressed. We all realized that the College and UTSA as a school just continue to expand and become more prevalent in the community. Being raised in San Antonio, we decided what better way to create a scholarship in social work and I know that our mother would be thrilled. It truly meant a lot to her,” Robert expressed.

Through their generosity, Robert, Ann and Joe have ensured that their mother’s legacy will live on. They hope that students will enjoy the field of social work and create positive changes in the lives of others just as their beloved mother, Gloria.

To learn more about impacting student success through a scholarship, visit

utsa.edu/giving.

Gloria Glenn Reedy

A CARING MOTHER’S LEGACY OF CREATING POSITIVE CHANGE LIVES ON