RSCA in Five: Faculty Short Talks on Social Responsibility

Social and racial justice, inclusion, and responsibility to the community are core values at San José State University and are reflected in ongoing research, scholarship, and creative activity. Join SJSU faculty as they discuss their projects that demonstrate the diversity of disciplinary approaches to achieving social good.

When: Friday, March 1, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where: MLK 225
Format: One-hour program with lunch and networking thereafter

Register for the event on our RSVP form.

SJSU welcomes the following faculty who will be presenting their research.

Dallas Augustine

Talk Title: "The Paradox of Parole Supervision"

Dallas Augustine is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies interested in how the law broadly, and criminal legal system specifically, functions as a driver of social stratification and disadvantage. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law & Society from the University of California, Irvine where she also earned her Master's Degree, and received her Bachelor's degree from New York University. Dr. Augustine's work, which has been published in journals including Criminology and the American Journal of Public Health, uses a combination of criminology, sociology of law, and public health to explore punishment and the law, with topical focuses on prisons, reentry, employment, and homelessness. 

Education

• Ph.D., Criminology, Law & Society, UC Irvine

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Reentry, prison, employment, homelessness, substance use, harm reduction 

Recent Publications

Augustine, D. (2023). Coerced work during parole: Prevalence, mechanisms, and characteristics. Criminology, 61, 546–581. DOI: 10.1111/1745-9125.12336

Cloud, D. H., Haney, C., Augustine, D., Ahalt, C., & Williams, B. (2023). The resource team: A case study of a solitary confinement reform in Oregon. PLoS One, 18(7), e0288187. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288187

Barragan, M., Augustine, D., Gonzalez, G., & Reiter, K. (2023). Deconstructing the Power Dynamics of Prison Research. The Prison Journal, 103(6), 769-790. DOI: 10.1177/00328855231208011

Tammie Visintainer

Talk Title: Supporting Teachers and Students as Climate Justice Action Research in Secondary Schools 

Dr. Tammie Visintainer is an Assistant Professor of Science Education with a joint appointment between the College of Education (Teacher Education) and College of Science (Science Education) at San José State University. Her research explores the socio-historical, political, and racialized dimensions of science teaching and learning. Specifically, she examines the design of learning environments that support identity construction for students from racial groups historically excluded from access and opportunity as learners, doers, and change agents in science. Her teaching focuses on the preparation and development of justice-centered secondary science teachers and the types of experiences that empower educators as transformative designers, equity advocates, and change agents. Dr. Visintainer has received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), including an NSF CAREER award to support teachers and students as climate justice action researchers in their school communities focusing on local issues of extreme and urban heat. In addition, as a co-PI on a NSF Improving STEM Education, Hispanic Serving Institution grant, she is working to transform introductory undergraduate STEM courses to center asset-based, culturally-sustaining approaches to teaching and learning. She has numerous publications including in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, serves as an Advisory Board Member for an NSF Advances in Informal Science Learning project, and is a founding Advisory Board Member for the Institute of Emancipatory Education in the College of Education. She is a member of the American Educational Research
Association, the International Society of the Learning Sciences, and the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.

Education

• Ph.D., STEM Education, UC Berkeley

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Climate justice, race, identity, science teaching/learning, education equity

Recent Publications

Visintainer, T. (2023). Teaching health justice and reimagining narratives of place through community-driven science practices. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 60(8), 1817-1852. DOI: 10.1002/tea.21857

Visintainer, T. (2023, Nov 16). Record heat disproportionately hurts communities of color. Unprecedented climate justice federal funding could help. Yale Climate Connections.

Kezban Yagci Sokat

Talk Title: Combating Human Trafficking through Analytics

Dr. Yagci Sokat is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at San José State University and a Research Associate at the  Mineta Transportation Institute with a passion to use analytics for alleviating human suffering in the areas of public health, humanitarian logistics, and human trafficking. Her efforts to combat human trafficking have been supported and recognized by
government and organizations such as the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), Valley Transportation Authority and San José State University. She received the IBM Public Impact Award for her work on human trafficking in global supply chains. Her work has been used to inform policy and anti-trafficking efforts both nationally and internationally. Her work in transportation was utilized by the U.S. Senate to reach out to the key transportation industry stakeholders. She had the honor to train anti-trafficking practitioners about supply chains in Workshop on Draft National Action Plan – Labor Exploitation and Supply Chains, co-organized by Department of Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, Presidency of Migration Management and International of Organization for Migration and funded by EU Support to Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings in Türkiye Project. Moreover, I conducted a training to the Turkish Ministry of Labor and Social Security experts for their international efforts for United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals Target 8.7, which aims to address forced labor, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labor. She serves on the USDOT Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking Research and Data Subcommittee.

Education

• Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Northwestern University
• M.S., Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University
• M.S., Health Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
• M.S., Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
• M.S., Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Human trafficking, modern slavery, humanitarian operations, public health, decision analytics, management science, social good, social sustainability

Recent Publications

Yagci Sokat, K., Chi, M., & Hudlow, J. (2024). Transit monitoring capacity expansion: Analytics for combating human trafficking. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 24, 101032. DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2024.101032

Gutfraind, A., Yagci Sokat, K., Muscioni, G., Alahmadi, S., Hudlow, J., Hershow, R., & Norgeot, B. (2023). Victims of human trafficking and exploitation in the healthcare system: A retrospective study using a large multi-state dataset and ICD-10 codes. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1243413 

Christine Vega

Talk Title: Pláticas y Conocimientos: Motherscholar Saberes Beyond Educational Research Methods

Dra. Christine Vega is a Chicana and Chicano Studies Department Assistant Professor at San José State University. She is a #TransferProud Motherscholar and received her B.A. in Chicana/o Studies and Gender & Women Studies at UCLA and her M.Ed. from the University of Utah. She received her Ph.D. at UCLA, focusing on Motherscholar Activism, counterspaces, and spirituality. Before joining SJSU, she was a postdoctoral fellow at CSU Fort Collins College of Education, working with High School Youth through Los Caminos Program. She worked with the Office of Teaching & Learning at the University of Denver as an  IRISE postdoc. Dra. Vega co-founded Mothers of Color in Academia de UCLA and The Chicana M(other)work Collective and has co-edited and co-authored the Anthology The Chicana M(other)work Collective: Porqué Sin Madres No Hay Revolucion! with the University of Arizona Press. 

Education

• Ph.D., Race & Ethnic Studies in Education from UCLA GSE&IS 
• M.Ed., Education, Culture, & Society, University of Utah
• B.A., Women and Gender Studies & Chicana/o Studies, UCLA
• A.A., Los Angeles Mission College

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Motherscholarship, Activism, Spirituality, Feminist Pedagogy, & Counterspaces

Recent Publications

The Chicana M(other)work Collective: Porqué Sin Madres No Hay Revolucion! Anthology

Saili Kulkarni

Talk Title: Exploring the Framework of Disability Centered Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Implications for Students, Teachers and the Disability Community

Saili S. Kulkarni (she, her, hers) is an Associate Professor of Special Education at San José State University. Dr. Kulkarni’s research seeks to understand the intersectional complexities of racism and ableism, particularly as they are located/constructed within multiply marginalized disabled children of color and teacher bodies in educational spaces. Her recent work explores understandings of exclusionary disciplinary practices as they are conceptualized for young (preschool and early elementary) Black and Brown students with and without disabilities, for which she received a Spencer Foundation Racial Equity grant during the first cycle of this award. She also explores the importance of special education teachers of color (SETOCs) and their positioning in various spaces (as students, through teacher credential courses, and through PK-12 classrooms) for which she has received a book contract with Teachers College Press and one of two San Jose State University’s Emeritus, Retired Faculty Association Awards (ERFA) for 2024. Dr. Kulkarni utilizes the framework of Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory (DisCrit; 2013) in her work and captures teacher and student experiences using counter narratives, case studies and self-study qualitative research.

Education

• Ph.D., Special Education and Teaching, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research

Areas of Interest/Keywords

Disability Studies, Teacher Education, Disability Studies Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), Humanizing/Restorative Practices for Young Children of Color with Disabilities

Recent Publications

Kulkarni, S. S., Miller, A. L., Nusbaum, E. A., Pearson, H., & Brown, L. X. (2023). Toward disability-centered, culturally sustaining pedagogies in teacher education. Critical Studies in Education. DOI: 10.1080/17508487.2023.2234952