2006-2007

• June 2007, In the News — The Orlando Sentinel published three articles this month (see below) that reference a study conducted by two UCF faculty members — Ross Wolf, assistant professor of criminal justice, and Ronnie Korosec, associate professor of public administration. Wolf and Korosec studied police staffing for the city of Minneola, Fla.

June 15, 2007: Study: Minneola needs more deputies
Jun 21, 2007: Minneola's streets to see more deputies
June 29, 2007: Minneola adding cops — but it's going to cost

• June 29, 2007 — This year's weeklong criminal justice summer seminar series, titled "Crime Trends in Suburban America," brought more than a dozen local, national and international speakers to the Orlando campus to share their expertise on crime trends. Click here to learn more.


John Sloan III, chair of the Department of
Justice Sciences at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham, spoke about trends in campus
crime and violence.

• June 11, 2007 — The department is pleased to announce the following new course offering for fall 2007:
CCJ 4932 — Readings in Criminal Justice
This course is open to undergraduates majoring in criminal justice, humanities, history, liberal studies, philosophy, political sciences, psychology and theater. Click here to learn more. For further information, contact Associate Professor Karol Lucken.

• April 25, 2007 — Christine Baker, a secretary in the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, has been selected the COHPA Employee of the Year for 2006-2007. The award was announced at the college's annual Staff Appreciation Luncheon on April 25. "Christine Baker richly deserves the Employee of the Year Award," said Pamala Griset, interim chair for the department. "She is hard-working, energetic and intelligent. Not only is she super-competent, but she is also good-natured and kind. With her "can-do" attitude, she is a wonderful asset to the department."



• March 29, 2007 — Members of the UCF chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the American Criminal Justice Association, recently attended the organization's annual conference in Wilmington, Del., where they competed in tests of physical agility and knowledge.

"The experience of going to nationals was an overall superior one," reported Angela Willis, president of the UCF LAE chapter. "The academic, physical and crime scene testing definitely taught me new things to focus on in my studies here at UCF. It also was a great chance to learn about how students at other schools are tested and trained. Our chapter definitely had a great bonding experience and we can't wait to go back next year!"


At the Wilmington conferenece: (back row, left
to right) a member from an LAE chapter in
Texas, and UCF LAE members Amanda
Millirons, Angela Willis, Katy Nolander, Bridget
Paul and Patera Scott. Standing in front is UCF
LAE member Ashley Larson.


The UCF LAE team during a side trip to
Washington, D.C.: (back row, left to right)
Amanda Millirons, Angela Willis, William
Vandermolen, Mike Cestare, Jose Gonzalez,
Gina Dulmage, Randi Fetterman, Bridget Paul,
Patera Scott, (front row, left to right): Brittany
Moore, Melissa Elliot, Ashley Larson, Katy
Nolander.

• March 7, 2007 — The Annual Criminal Justice Career Fair offered students and alumni an opportunity to meet representatives from dozens of federal, state and local agencies; private security companies; and Florida law schools. The event was held in the Student Union on UCF's Orlando campus and was sponsored by the department and the UCF chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the American Criminal Justice Association.

"Over 90 agencies participated," said Interim Chair Pamala Griset. "This was an amazing event."

Members of the student chapter of LAE hosted an
information booth at the fair.

Among the many law enforcement agencies
represented was the West Palm Beach Police
Department.

The fair enabled students and alumni to meet with
representatives from many organizations in a single
setting.

Career fair photos: top two — Mark Winton; bottom — Thomas Alan Smilie

• March 2, 2007 — Legal studies student Logan Berkowitz was elected vice president of the UCF Student Government Association. Click here to learn more.

• March 2, 2007 — UCF's Trial Team Earns Shot at National Title
One of UCF’s mock trial teams is headed to the Championship Tournament in April thanks to its stellar performance at a regional competition this past weekend. A second team has a shot at making the same competition if it performs well at the National Tournament in Illinois from March 16 to 18.

• From Feb. 18-27, 2007, the department hosted another group of cadets from the Volgograd Military Academy in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), Russia, as part of an ongoing exchange between the academy and the department. During their visit, the cadets attended lectures by department faculty members and participated in activities hosted by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Martin County Sheriff's Office and Ocoee Police Department. For further information about their visit and the ongoing exchange, contact Associate Professor Mike Reynolds.

Associate Professor Mike Reynolds (left) welcomed the Russian
visitors (seated and pictured below) to UCF on Feb. 19.

• Feb. 14, 2007 — Department and Lamda Alpha Epsilon members participated in the annual Majors Fair in the Student Union, Pegasus Ballroom (see photos below). Participants not pictured included Kathy Cook, legal studies instructor and internship coordinator; Mary Ann Eastep, criminal justice instructor, internship coordinator and undergraduate studies coordinator; and UCF student Jessica Maykrantz.

Debbie Phillis (left), coordinator of
academic services, and Margarita
Koblasz, instructor, at the legal
studies table


Angel Wills (left) and Amanda
Millirons, president and vice president
of LAE, respectively


(Left to right) Phillis, Millirons and
Will Dugger, an LAE member

• On Feb. 12, 2007, more than 300 people gathered at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center to hear renowned scholar Hugo Adam Bedau speak on "The Future of Capital Punishment" during the first of two events on the topic hosted by the department this spring. Bedau is professor emeritus of philosophy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.


(Left to right) Pamala Griset, interim chair of the
department; Hugo Bedau; and Joyce Dorner, interim
dean of the college


Bedau speaks to the crowd.

• In a communitywide presentation on the State of the University on Feb. 2, 2007, UCF President John Hitt recognized programs in the College of Health and Public Affairs, including the following:

"A real-time information-sharing data base developed by UCF Criminal Justice and Computer Science researchers has greatly enhanced the way police departments can work together to solve crimes and catch criminals. The new system has already helped law enforcement make over 700 arrests."

Click here for a transcript of the complete presentation (scroll to second video for the recognition above). For further information about the database, visit FINDER.

• A team of Central Florida law enforcement, emergency medical and volunteer trainers led by Ross Wolf, assistant professor of criminal justice, recently traveled to Saint Lucia to help the Caribbean Island prepare for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in March and April. It was the sixth training program in Saint Lucia led by Wolf. Joining Wolf as a trainer was Joe Henderson, adjunct professor of criminal justice.

Click here to learn more about the partnership and training program.


The trainers included (left to right) Butch Hummell,
Orange County Sheriff's Office; Assistant Professor Ross
Wolf, UCF; Derwin Bradley, Orlando Police Department;
Firefighter Ireneus Henry, Saint Lucia; Consultant Mike
Steele; and Jeff Stonebreaker (Criminal Justice,
B.A. '85, M.S. '06), OCSO. Not pictured is Consultant
Mike Kirkland.

• Criminal justice student Christopher Holt has been selected to receive the Altamonte Springs Detective Barry Pruette Memorial Scholarship for 2006-2007.

Christopher Holt (center) with Altamonte
Springs Police Chief Robert Merchant (right)
and the widow of Detective Barry Pruette (left)

• The Mock Trial Team at UCF competed Dec. 2-3, 2006, at the Yale Mock Trial Tournament, the largest trial tournament in the nation, and Team 868 (pictured below) placed first in one of two divisions, beating teams from 30 other colleges and universities, including those from Princeton and Yale. Click here to learn more.



• "Lambda Alpha Epsilon [UCF's student chapter of the national professional organization for criminal justice] really did a remarkable job with the Amy Kuritar-Lohrmann scholarship charity auction on November. 17," reports Instructor Mark Winton. We had a great turnout and many items were auctioned off ... With the matching from Amy's family, over $4,000 was raised." Renee Kuritar and Angela Willis presented this year's scholarship to Michi Nogami at the event. In addition, Associate Professor Lee Ross and Bonnie Gaughan from SafeHouse of Seminole County spoke about domestic violence.

• UCF student teams 868 and 869 took first and third place, respectively, at the Southeastern Invitational Mock Trial Tournament, held in HPA I on Nov. 10-11. In addition, legal studies students Michael Quintero and Natalie Boyajian won witness-portrayal awards. The tournament was the first ever sponsored by the Mock Trial Team at UCF. It drew more than 100 student and faculty competitors and was judged by more than 75 local attorneys, said legal studies Instructor Margarita Koblasz, who coordinated the event.


First-place Team 868: (front row, left
to right) Dana Cheng (timekeeper),
Natalie Boyajian, Jean Marc Chanoine
(holding trophy), Candace Stuart and
Kendall Ali; (back row, left to right)
Brenna Egan, Juan Medolla, Jayson
Serrano (team captain) and Joe Etter.

• K. Michael Reynolds, associate professor of criminal justice and project director of UCF's FINDER information sharing system, was invited to participate in a "collaboratory roundtable" at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 7, 2006. And in late October, he traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia (formerly of the Soviet Union), to make presentations about FINDER at a university and international symposium. Click here to learn more.

• The Greater Orlando Chapter of ASIS International has awarded 2006 ASIS Matching Foundation Scholarships to UCF senior Christopher Holt ($1,000) and graduate student Daniel Dill ($500). These outstanding criminal justice students were selected on September 14 by committee members Mike Braccio from Campus Crusade, Rick de Treville from CPP and Taylor Work from Guardsmark.

Holt and Dill will be saluted at the chapter's October 26 meeting, along with several other 2006 scholarship applicants and members of the Lambda Alpha Epsilon Criminal Justice Fraternity and their department administrators. This is the sixth year that the chapter and ASIS International Foundation have partnered with UCF's Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies. Total awards of $9500 have been distributed to deserving UCF students since 2000.

The Greater Orlando Chapter of ASIS International is a community of over 200 security professionals who represent private security, providers of security service, and law enforcement. Its mission is to provide for and strengthen community relationships as models of ethical responsibility by sharing our time, resources and talents.

{Left to right) UCF Police Major Randy Mingo; 2006
ASIS Greater Orlando Foundation Scholarship
Chairman Rick de Treville, CPP; undergraduate
scholarship winner Christopher Holt; and UCF Police
Chief Richard Turkiewicz.

• Learn about the department's July 2006 study abroad program in Russia, Contemporary Issues in Russia.