News and Events

Notable & Quotable

• Brittnie Aiello and Emma Duffy-Comparone have published “I Never Thought I Could Accomplish Something Like This: The Success and Struggle of Teaching College Courses in Jail” in the Journal of Prison Education and Reentry. The article discusses their work teaching Merrimack College courses at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

• Education Department assistant professor Rena Stroud, the senior researcher for Project LEAP at Merrimack, was recently quoted in “Education Week Spotlight” for a story on the benefits of introducing to students as young as elementary school ages. The intent isn’t to introduce curriculum meant for older students, but rather to look at how younger students can think through algebraic concepts.

• Brittnie Aiello, associate professor of criminology, spoke to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for a story about an increase in female inmates due to the opiate crisis. She focused on the high bails set in some cases. For a poor suspect, she said, “$10,000 might be like $5 million.”

• The School of Education and Social Policy’s associate professor of practice Patricia Howson was part of a panel this summer hosted by the United Way of Mass. Bay. Howson stressed the importance of preschool programs and the salaries of their teachers. Read her remarks in The Eagle-Tribune.  

• Russ Olwell, associate dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, published a column in the March 24, 2018, edition of the Eagle-Tribune about the benefits of early-college and dual-enrollment programs, which help students earn college credits while in high school and serve to make higher education more attractive and affordable to students. “The experience of taking a college class on a college campus with a professor gives students the experience of success in college, an experience that can give them and their families hope,” Olwell wrote.

• Isabelle Cherney, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, was quoted in a March 20, 2018, article in Fatherly, an online magazine for dads, about the relationship between gender and toy selection. Cherney said studies show it is fathers, not mothers, who tend to pigeonhole their sons into choosing stereotypical male toys. “Studies, over and over, show the mothers are really open. They don’t mind if their boys are playing dress-up,” she said. “One of the reasons it’s so hard for boys to play with more feminine toys is that the fathers are very reluctant to let their boys play with feminine toys. Some still believe that playing with feminine toys might turn a boy homosexual. There is a stigma. It’s very subtle. But kids pick that up.”

• Isabelle Cherney, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, published a chapter, “Characteristics of Masculine and Feminine Toys and Gender-Differentiated Play,” in the book “Gender Typing of Children’s Toys: How Early Play Experiences Impact Development” (2018, American Psychological Association) by Erica S. Weisgram and Lisa M. Dinella.

• Alicia Malone, assistant professor of criminology, co-edited a volume, “Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality: Transforming the Discourse of ‘Mean Girls’” in the United States,” for Routledge’s Research in Gender and Society series. “Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality” examines how intersecting social identities, such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and age, shape media representations of, and criminal justice responses to, girls’ aggression. Former Merrimack professor Krista McQueeney, now at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, served as co-editor.

• Isabelle Cherney, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, was quoted in an Oct. 6, 2017, Fatherly.com article, “The Unexpected Case for Tough Toys,” about the case for children’s toy play having a positive impact on one’s maturation and development. “You can actually develop all kinds of skills by having the right toys and playing with those,” Cherney said. “It’s exciting. The brain is a wonderful organ.”

• Dan Sarofian-Butin, professor of education, was quoted in a July 6, 2017, BBC story about celebrities who take executive education courses at Harvard Business School. “These type of courses allow students to say they went to Harvard, were taught by a famous professor and interacted with other cool students,” he said. Sarofian-Butin added that while most celebrities may know more about their industries than their professor, they can still benefit from the program. “This is what a good teacher can bring to the table: the ability to point things out that are obvious, but only once you are able to see the bigger picture,” he said.