There is no better way to learn than putting what we know into practice. Hear from some of our graduate students who are putting their sociological knowledge to work while earning their degrees.
Emily Leonard: Hi! I am currently working at the Boulder County Justice Center in the Probation Department as a Victims Assistance Specialist. My role is to assist and support victims of crimes that qualify under the Victims Rights Act (VRA) for cases where the offender was sentenced to probation. I contact victims to notify them about the offender's probation status, guide them through victim impact statement processes, and answer any questions or concerns they have. Our office offers a variety of resources and advocacy measures for victims as they navigate an often difficult journey through the criminal justice system. I've also had the opportunity to engage victims and offenders in restorative justice practices when appropriate through group conferences, apology letters, and peace circles (just a few restorative processes that are available).
Brianna Nigl: Hey, I'm Brianna Nigl, and I got hired as a field technician with the U.S. Geological Survey. I'll be working on a research project that has been funded by NASA, that will study the demographics and urban climatology/ecology of bus stops of the city of Denver. We're hoping to collect valuable data to discover racial disparity and environmental injustice.
Adrianna Davis: I started a position as a GPRA Graduate Assistant at the end of June. We are a part of the Evaluation Center through the School of Education & Human Development here at CU Denver. As a graduate assistant, I focus on reaching out and surveying those funded by the State Opioid Response Grant. The evaluations of these surveys are a part of federally mandated data collection and are used to evaluate the services provided.
Alexia Thompson: Hi everyone. Currently I work at the Evaluation Center at CU Denver, where I am on the State Opioid Response (SOR) team. I serve as a Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) graduate assistant. The SOR grant is awarded to states through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for opioid-use disorder prevention, treatment, and various recovery services. To maintain SOR funding for Colorado, I contact people who are actively seeking opioid treatment and administer a survey to them regarding their treatment, social-connectedness, and socio-economic conditions.
Ashley Bedore: Hi! I started working with CU Anschutz Medical Campus' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)'s Office for Educational Pathways and Development in May of this year as a Graduate Assistant. The overall vision of this office is to provide "sustained, comprehensive programs across all educational levels to promote access and increase the numbers of underrepresented populations in healthcare, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and research professions." Deliverables thus far include development of a high school-level course on Health Equities and DEI-related research projects under the direction of Jessica Luna-Garcia EdD.
Jose Puente: Hi, my name is Jose Puente, and I took several weeks of methodological training this summer at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona with the Centre d'Estudis Demografics (CED). I was excited to develop my skills in demographic and spatial analysis in the R programming language and expand my data visualization and analysis repertoire. I plan to use the lessons from this program in my thesis examining disparities in respiratory health by race, nativity, and community adversities.
