John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

   

John Jay faculty achieved an unprecedented 100 percent success rate. All five out of John Jay’s five applicants for the PSC-CUNY Enhanced Awards (up to $12,000 for the 2014-15 Academic Year) have received funding.

“This reflects our level of scholarly excellence and focus--there wasn’t a single application that wasn’t approved. It’s a great vote of confidence, our faculty know what they are doing, know what they want, these projects are on-going and will be in a strong position to receive external funding as well,” said Daniel Stageman, Director of Research Operations in the Office for the Advancement of Research at John Jay.

Charles Nemeth, Professor and Chair of the Department of Fire, Security and Emergency Management received funding for his work titled, “Nature, Naturalism and the Natural Law: Cicero and Aquinas.”

"The analysis of justice, the right and the intersection of law and morality constitute my most passionate intellectual interest. In this grant, the stress will be on how nature and natural law reasoning, in light of its chief proponents, Cicero and Thomas Aquinas, may or may not lead to compatible ethico-legal conclusions," said Nemeth.

Professors Maria Volpe and Mucahit Bilici in the Department of Sociology received funding for “The Role of Religion in Kurdish-Turkish Ethnic Reconciliation.” Volpe and Bilici said, “We are very excited to receive funding for our research which will focus on the aftermath of the ceasefire between the Kurds and Turkish state. After decades of guerilla warfare with the Turkish state, the Kurds and Turks have engaged in a peace process. Starting this summer in Istanbul, we will examine the promises and challenges of shaping multicultural coexistence in the context of a Muslim democracy.”

Professor Jana Arsovska in the Department of Sociology received funding for her study, “Migration, Adaption and Decision-making in Hostile Environments: Albanian Organized Crime in New York City.”

Professor Arsovska said, “I was so happy to hear the good news and to receive this research award. My proposed research study builds on my ongoing research on migration and transnational organized crime funded by the National Institute of Justice. I hope this study will contribute towards the scarce literature on mafia migration and decision-making in hostile environments.”

Lila Kazemian in the Department of Sociology received funding for her project “Exploring the Link Between Prison Quality of Life, Trauma and Desistance from Crime Among Inmates.”

Professor Lila Kazemian said about her research and grant, “This study aims to better understand how prison life and traumatic experiences prior to incarceration shape the expectations of prisoners regarding desistance from crime and other problem behaviors. I am very excited about this research, and grateful to have been granted the PSC-CUNY Enhanced Award to further develop the project.”

Simon Baatz in the Department of History will research “Website: 'Tales from the Criminal Court: Crime and Punishment in New York, 1880-1930.”

"The PSC-CUNY grant is a wonderful affirmation of support for advanced scholarly research in the University. It is a crucially important program for CUNY faculty," said Professor Baatz.

PSC annual awards are provided by CUNY through a contract agreement with the faculty and staff union. The awards are divided into three categories with two smaller categories, each with a maximum value of $6,000. The highly competitive enhanced award is designated for more in-depth projects.

“The goal of the Office for the Advancement of Research is to foster a culture of research and scholarship at John Jay, and we’ve done this by providing not only direct financial support, but also promotion and celebration of faculty scholarship. We feel that this is a key part of building a long term culture that keeps faculty engaged and productive throughout their career,” said Stageman.