Building the College's Future Brick by Brick
Join the growing ranks of alumni taking the unique opportunity to leave their mark upon the College by purchasing a brick ($250 or $500), a tree ($1,000) or a bench ($5000) on the Jay Walk, a 60,000 square foot esplanade that will link Haaren Hall to the new building on 11th Avenue. It's a way to both commemorate a significant person in your life as well as provide needed scholarships for our students through a tax-deductible donation. To learn more about this campaign, click here or call 212.237.8688.

John Jay Receives Scientific Leadership Award from Homeland Security
In a testament to the important work being done by John Jay faculty, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in January bestowed on the College a $399,893 Scientific Leadership Award for Minority Serving Institutions (SLA). The award will provide three years of funding for the development of a graduate-level program of education, mentorship and research. According to Professors Maria Hartwig and David Green of the Departments of Psychology and Sociology, respectively, two outstanding doctoral students from underrepresented groups, committed to a career in homeland security, will be selected. "We are thrilled about the opportunity to develop a new graduate-level program of homeland security research," said Hartwig. "We are committed to providing a stimulating and rewarding learning experience for the graduate students supported by this grant." Hartwig and Green, as Principal Investigators, are working on two distinct projects also supported by the SLA. Hartwig will focus on judgments of credibility in counterterrorism settings, with the aim of generating constructive guidelines for the operational community. Green's project will look at the media's role in the shaping of public and policy responses to terrorist acts.

John Jay Creates Behavioral Intervention Team
In the wake of the recent shooting tragedy in Tucson, AZ, John Jay has formed a committee to develop a Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT). The new unit will be charged with identifying, assessing and monitoring students who exhibit "moderate to elevated levels of distress or disruption, and/or behavioral dysregulation, including homicidal, suicidal, assaultive or self-injurious threats," and implementing timely interventions that protect the welfare of the student and the safety of the college community. According to Dean of Students Wayne Edwards, the primary goal of BIT is to provide threat assessments and early intervention before a crisis arises. The team is chaired by Edwards, and also includes the Director of Accessibility Services, Director of Public Safety, Director of Health Services, and three counselors, including the Director of Counseling, the Director of the Women's Center, as well as the Counsel to the President. On a case-by-case basis, BIT may also call upon the expertise of other members of the College community for consultation on risk assessment and interventions. The team meets biweekly to discuss current cases, which may include a wide range of behaviors, such as order of protection violations, improper and potentially delusional contacts with professors or aggressive text-message advances aimed at a fellow student. The assessment process is confidential, to protect potentially troubled students as well as their potential or actual victims. "We stress confidentiality and due process, but candor is also a part of the process," said Edwards. "We look at each case to make sure various protocols are followed."


THE 1960'S: THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE INTENSIFIES
Monday, March 7, 2011                                         7:00 PM

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society": A Free Market Critique with speaker: Richard Ebeling, author and former president of the Foundation for Economic Education. This series of lectures will examine the efforts to achieve justice in the U.S. during the 1960's.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice
899 10th Avenue, Room 630T
New York City

Patrolling New York City's streets as a law-enforcement officer during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Benjamin B. Tucker (BS '77) was learning the practice of criminal justice at the same time he was learning its theoretical bases as a student at John Jay. Tucker was confirmed as Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) last June. When he entered John Jay in 1970, the College was still primarily attended by members of the city's uniformed forces. "It was not the traditional college experience," he said, "but it broadened my perspective on the work I was doing as a street cop and positioned me to go on to law school and do all the things I've been doing since." Over a career in criminal justice that has spanned more than forty years, Tucker has earned a JD from the Fordham University School of Law, and has served as a professor of criminal justice at Pace University. A consultant to the Urban Institute, he was also director of field operations and senior research associate at Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. When he joined the NYPD in 1969 straight out of high school, the department assigned him to a drug-prevention program it had developed for public schools. "I started out as a police trainee, which they don't have at the NYPD anymore," said Tucker. Police trainees were qualified to become officers, but because they were under 21 were not able to carry a firearm. As a trainee, Tucker spoke at elementary, middle and high schools, and in the summer helped run a play street program in neighborhoods that did not have playgrounds. "That was an interesting time," he said. "Sitting where I am now and being responsible for the areas I'm responsible for at the ONDCP, I've come full circle." Tucker oversees the agency's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, Drug-Free Communities, National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and Counter-Drug Technology Assessment Center. "John Jay was instrumental in giving me the skills to think through problems, to be more analytical, to think about problems and issues in ways that were different than I had ever thought about them before," he said.

Popy Begum describes herself as someone who can do a "little bit of everything." The 20-year-old junior and International Criminal Justice major can act, draw and dance. But what Begum truly excels at is academic study. Since her freshman year at John Jay, Begum has received a number of scholarships and been inducted into four national honor societies. In 2008 and 2009, she was the recipient of the Academic Competitiveness Grant and is a finalist this year for the prestigious Steamboat Scholarship. Begum has made the Dean's List with a 3.8 GPA for four consecutive semesters; she is a member of Chi Alpha Epsilon, Phi Eta Sigma, Sigma Tau Delta, and the Golden Key International Honour Society. "I love coming to John Jay," said Begum. "As my academic career has progressed, my parents have seen how much I've accomplished," she said. "They've been to inductions, award ceremonies and Dean's List dinners. They were very impressed and now my younger sister comes to John Jay. I set the bar." Begum is from Bangladesh. Her parents moved to Queens when she was less than a year old. A member of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Begum plans to go straight into a doctoral program after graduation. "I'm going to try to get into an Ivy League school just to see if I can," she said. In addition to her major, Begum is also working towards her Dispute Resolution Certification and is minoring in English, Economics and Psychology. "I enjoy working with the faculty here," she said. "I feel they have a genuine interest in seeing all students excel academically. They're more than just your mentor or professor; they're like your friend."