News from CLASS

Competing attitudes about the homeless complicate public policy

Research has shown that policies designed to help the homeless are more popular with the public than those aimed at helping other social groups, including immigrants. But that hasn’t stopped policies that target the homeless and make their lives more difficult, such as banning lying down in public or making it illegal to feed the homeless. Support for these policies isn’t just tough love – people seem to know that they work against the goal of helping people get back on their feet, said Scott Clifford, assistant professor of political science and lead author on a paper describing the research. read more

CLASS student discovers unknown work by Walt Whitman

Zachary Turpin, a fourth-year English literature Ph.D. candidate, discovered a 13-part, 47,000-word series entitled: “Manly Health and Training,” that was unknowingly written by Walt Whitman. Under the moniker Mose Velsor, Whitman wrote the series, which ran in the New York Atlas paper circa 1858. read more

New research looks at how and when networking leads to higher turnover

In a study published in the current edition of the journal Personnel Psychology, researchers report that offering opportunities for workers to network with their colleagues can reduce the likelihood of turnover by 140 percent. Caitlin Porter, assistant professor of industrial organizational psychology, is lead author on the paper. read more

CLASS ASLI Program and Main Street Theater offer groundbreaking collaboration

Main Street Theater’s recent production of the children’s play, Duck for President, offered an American Sign Language shadow-interpreted performance with students from CLASS’s ASLI program serving as interpreters. This performance was unique in that, instead of using placed interpreters positioned on the side of the stage, the audience witnessed “pure shadow interpreting.” See the actors and ASLI students working together via a video posted here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoRkrH2xcMA. read more

UH ROTC Program receives grant to fund scholarships, activities

CLASS’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the Ed Rachal Foundation to support their activities and help students finance their education. CLASS’s ROTC program has a long-standing relationship with the Ed Rachal Foundation. Each year, ROTC conducts adventure training and at least two field exercises at a ranch that is owned, operated and supported by the foundation. read more

HHP alum credits skills learned in CLASS with guiding her career path

Iris Machuca grew up surrounded by the effects of food insecurity. It was these experiences that prompted her to pursue a degree in human nutrition and food from UH. Machuca now is pursuing studies in the Second Degree BSN program at the UH School of Nursing. The program’s objective is to produce graduates for professional nursing practice who can draw on knowledge of their first degree to critically analyze human responses to actual and potential health problems, and provide appropriate nursing interventions. read more