Semester 1 results

Don’t forget semester 1 marks will be available to collect on Friday 17th February 2012 between 13:00 and 14:00 from the Dept of Criminology, Room 1.07

The National Student Survey

Hey Criminologists,

Last semester I had a meeting with Jon regarding the course in general – some students seemed unsure about where our degree actually ranks against criminology degrees from other universities…

In terms of direct comparisons Leicester is one of very few universities which actually offer a straight Criminology programme – many combine with Law. Some of you may know this already from when you applied…

But Jon also showed me the National Student survey figures for last years student satisfaction of our course – perhaps this is just as important for the reputation of our degree and university….and for future employers

Across Leicester University the Criminology programme was ranked as 6th in terms of course satisfaction… having attended a lunch with the vice-chancellor and spoken to other course reps it seems we fair really well compared to other degree programmes in terms of contact time – some students were only receiving 2 or 3 hours contact time during their final year. Our minimum is 6 at the moment and I’m sure that there are many of you that would agree that that is about right…

In terms of comparisons of our degree programme against corresponding courses at other universities, Leicester’s Criminology (compared to social policy type courses) comes in at 3rd across the country….total satisfaction was at (95%) last year.

Overall satisfaction for other institutions: the university of Nottingham (85%), Keele university (86), Leeds (88%), Birmingham City (79%), York (83%), Bristol (88%).

I really hope you will all take the time to fill in the survey for our Dept to acknowledge the hard work and efforts of the lecturers and staff.

Thanks,

Sarah

Second Student Staff Committee Meeting

Hi Criminologists,

The second SSC is on 28th Feb…please email me at ss586@le.ac.uk with any issues you need taking to the committee, areas of praise and success will also be appreciated!

Please send any emails before Friday the 24th.

If you don’t have any specific thoughts, a 2 question survey can be found at the address below, it would be great if you could take a few mins to give your opinion…

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QG8DCRJ

Many thanks,

Sarah

Leicester Executive Elections 2012! 10 days to go…

Nominations are still on going until 10^th February for the Leicester Executive Elections 2012. As well as being able to nominate yourself you can now recommend someone anonymously for any of the roles. The form to do this as well as all the recent news from the elections will be published on the website www.leicesterelections2012.com.

If you have any questions about the elections please contact Alex Nutt (su-academic@le.ac.uk).

Executive Positions

The University of Leicester Students’ Union is run by students for students.

The Students’ Union is lead by 5 Executive officers that are elected each year in a cross campus ballot. Their primary role is to provide an Exceptional Student Experience. Their job is also to represent students to ensure that the student experience remains at the top of the University agenda.

The Officers consist of:

• Academic Affairs Officer
• Union Development Officer
• Welfare and International Officer
• Campaigns and Involvement Officer
• Activities Officer

Becoming an Executive Officer is widely regarded as one of the best graduate jobs and nowhere else will you be in charge of a multi-million pound company so soon after leaving University.

The elections are open to any student at the University and it is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity so would encourage anyone to run

Criminology Dept Lectures

• Wed 8th Feb 2012: Claire Vanneck (Dept of Criminology) –  Private Security Policy and the Occupational Licensing of Door Supervisors in the Night-Time Economy
• Wed 14th Mar 2012: Dr Matt Hopkins (Dept of Criminology) – The Work of Fatalistic Footsoldiers? Homicidal Events Linked to Organised Crime Groups in England
• Wed 21st Mar 2012: Dr Neil Chakraborti (Dept of Criminology) – Missing the Target? A Fresh Set of Challenges for Hate Crime Scholarship and Policy
• Wed 11th Apr 2012: Stevie-Jade Hardy Identity (Dept of Criminology) – Belonging and Bigotry: An Exploratory Study into the Nature and Extent of Prejudice in White Young People in Leicester
• Wed 9th May 2012: Dr James Treadwell (Dept of Criminology) – More than Casualties of War?: Ex-military Personnel in the Criminal Justice System
• Wed 23rd May 2012: Irene Zempi (Dept of Criminology) – The crimininalisation of the Muslim veil across Europe and the impact of this reality upon veiled Muslim women
• Wed 13th Jun 2012: Gina Fox (Dept of Criminology) – Do serving re-offenders and ex-offenders hold the key to the prevention of reoffending?

The Research Lunches are held in the Department of Criminology’s seminar room at 1pm.

UoL Go Green Week is coming 6th-10th February

The SU working with the University Environment Team, are holding a week full of events and activities to get you thinking and acting more green! More details will follow…

Pre-Go Green Week
2nd – Cycle Safety Day
4th – Action

Go Green Week

6th – Make A difference Monday
7th – Waste Less Tuesday
8th – Walk in Wednesday
9th – Switch Off Thursday
10th – Day of Action

Want to help out?
Email campaign. involvement@le.ac.uk to find out how to volunteer

Twitter: Follow Go Green Week @UoL_Environment

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/298670083514509/?notif_t=event_invite

Scarman Lecture Series 2012

Wednesday 8 February 2012

The Riots 2011:Another Moral Panic or… What?

As part of the Scarman Lecture Series, the Department of Criminology
presents a public lecture by Professor Tony Jefferson.
Tony Jefferson is an Emeritus Professor at Keele University. He has also held Visiting Professorships in Sweden, Denmark, Australia and the USA, where he was a Visiting Presidential Scholar at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He has researched and published widely on questions to do with youth subcultures, the media, policing, race and crime, masculinity, fear of crime and, most recently, racial violence.

Reading some of the recent commentaries on this year’s riots was like hearing several blind men describe an elephant by the part of its anatomy they variously happened to touch; or, without even bothering to touch it at all, in some cases. This lecture will start with an attempt to describe what happened, when and where it happened, and who was involved, based largely on the fairly exhaustive coverage by the Guardian newspaper and its reporters and commentators. It will then interrogate this data by asking, first, whether these riots might best be conceptualised as another example of a moral panic. This will involve situating these riots within a history of police/black relations, and apparently similar riots, going back to the
seventies. It will then try to identify what features might be new about the present riots. It will conclude by offering some ‘notes towards’ a reading of the riots based on what we (think we) know of the ‘whole anatomy’ of the riots, not just the parts that best fit existing ideological predilections.

4:30pm,
Frank and Katherine May Lecture Theatre,
Henry Wellcome Building
Places are limited – please
register your attendance by
contacting:
Russell Knifton
t: 0116 252 5780
e: rk191@le.ac.uk
w: http://www.le.ac.uk/departments/
criminology/news/scarmanlecture

Free to attend, but places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first serve basis, so all requests for attendance must be sent to Russell Knifton on rk191@le.ac.uk.

You will also need Photo ID

Something to make you Smile

This was shared by a friends older sister who is at Oxford studying for her Ph.D… think she needed a bit of light relief…bless her X

Why God doesn’t have a Ph.D.

1)  He had only one major publication.
2)  It was in Hebrew.
3)  It had no references.
4)  It wasn't published in a referreed journal.
5)  Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.
6)  It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
7)  His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8)  The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
9)  He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.
10) When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up by drowning his 
    subjects.
11) When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.
12) Some say he had his son teach the class.
13) He expelled his first two students for learning.
14) He rarely came to class, and he just told students to read the book.
15) Although there were only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his 
    tests.
16) His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountaintop.

Source: http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~pinto/god.html

Student Feedback Project

I have been asked by the SU to let you know about this research which is aimed at second and third/final year undergraduate students. The project is looking to conduct 8 focus groups in February and would ideally like 10 students per group.

The Experience of Feedback: The ‘Student Voice’ Project

Are you satisfied with the feedback you receive? Do you think that feedback helps your development and progression as a learner? To voice your views on these important issues, take part in this research that involves writing a short letter and taking part in a focus group. We will make every student feel welcome at the focus group by providing tea/coffee and biscuits, plus you will be entered into a prize draw to win an all-new Kindle T. If you recommend a friend (or friends) and they take part in the study, we will thank you with a £5 Amazon gift voucher*.

For more information please contact Dr Helen Mackenzie : hm173@le.ac.uk

* One voucher per student irrespective of the number of friends recommended.

Lunch with VC and Pro VC

Some of the issues raised…

Why is the exam timtable not released much sooner so that students have time to plan for January during the last week of term?
Response – This issue had previously been raised with VC Bob Burgess…as a result he had spoken with the registrar responsible and the exam timetable is now available….you can find it athttp://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/sas2/assessments/examtimetable

Another Course Rep commented that communication of excellence in working practices across academic depts does not seem to be happening… leading to work being duplicated.

I raised the issue with the Vice Chancellor of provision for students who may not be aware that they have a mental health need. For me it seemed concerning that whilst there are events such as Mental Health Awareness week, this may not help many students who may dismiss emails with regards to such matters as not applicable to them…I asked what safety-nets the university has in place for students who may not be aware that they have a mental health issue such as depression.

Response – Tutor system and wider welfare system (course reps, student support, su student welfare).

I then asked the Vice Chancellor whether there was training for personal tutors for helping students beyond their academic needs e.g. counselling students and ensuring their personal well-being?
Response – there is training for tutors in both areas : ) (however, there are many other people available to help – students can always ask your Course rep to point them to other people who may be able to help)

Suggestion that there should be an Academic per dept to help students with CVs – to help tailor CVs towards the sector/industry in question.
Response – A new Director of Careers will be starting in January…his role will be to provide a fresh look at what is offered to students and to help tailor careers help towards specific needs.

Contact time – contact time was an issue for several subjects/depts.The VC asked students how much contact time they currently receive and how much more they would like to receive. Joint Hons Archaeology students for example received only 3 seminars for one of their modules this year…BB accepted this was not ideal and will be raising the issue of contact time with depts/academics.

It was really nice to see the VC and Pro VC recognising the importance of current student experience for the development of Undergrad programmes and for student satisfaction…

Please comment below if you have any questions relating to the above

Bye for now!

Sarah X