Spring 2019

Alumni Profile

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Alumni Profile Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Joe Hogarty, ’01

April 1, 2019

Heather Harris Michonski

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

It took a lot of patience for Joe Hogarty to make it to the big leagues, but eventually he got his chance.

After graduating from Bridgewater State, he knew it could take time to reach his goal. “I had the mindset to push further, but maintained the patience to see what life could offer,” he said.

He eventually found a home with the Baltimore Orioles as the team’s strength and conditioning coach.

The Andover native was back in Massachusetts with the Orioles in September 2018 for a three-game series against the Red Sox. During his visit, Mr. Hogarty explained how making it into professional sports didn’t happen overnight.

“The biggest obstacle was trying to be patient at times,” he said. “When you graduate from college you want to go, go, go. You think things are going to fall into place, but it doesn’t work that way.”

With a physical education degree in hand, Mr. Hogarty first considered a career in physical therapy. Instead, he opted to become certified in athletic training, which led to positions at Brown and Salve Regina universities, among others.

“I never said, ‘I’m going to be in the big leagues by this time.’ I literally took it one year at a time, and as long as I was thriving, if I was able to take on the challenges and feel stronger from it, I kept going,” he said.

He landed his first major league gig in 2003 when the Red Sox hired him to help train their players. Working at Fenway Park, as it probably would for any New England sports fan, carried special meaning. “Fenway was the first stadium I went to as a kid,” Mr. Hogarty said.

He still has the baseball a police officer tossed up to him during that inaugural trip to the Boston ballpark. “My mom wrote my name on it,” he said.

After gaining valuable work experience in Boston, Mr. Hogarty was offered the position in Baltimore, where he’s been for 15 years. He described the work he does as maximizing players’ “force output,” creating power, and building and maintaining speed.

Dr. Kathleen Laquale, professor of movement arts, health promotion and leisure studies, remembers her former student well. “It’s been such a joy to follow his career and see him become so successful,” she said. “He always took an interest in class, was always on the pulse of things. He asked out-of-the-park questions that you typically didn’t hear from most students, that’s what always impressed me.”

That curiosity and willingness to learn are just some of the reasons Mr. Hogarty has achieved such a high level of success, said Dr. Robert Colandreo, associate professor of movement arts, health promotion and leisure studies. “Joe was never one to shy away from a challenge. He is a perfect example of how to reach your goals through hard work and perseverance,” he said.

As Mr. Hogarty continues to make a name for himself in the majors, he offers advice for those hoping to follow in his footsteps. “Keeping life simple is what’s most important.
I never got too far ahead of myself, and I had a good foundation of education,” he said. “Life isn’t linear, it’s got twists, turns and challenges. Be open to the possibilities.”

Keeping life simple is what’s most important. I never got too far ahead of myself, and I had a good foundation of education.

Joe Hogarty, '01

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Spring 2019

Alumni Profile

Dr. Gregory Karas, ’98, G’03

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dr. Gregory Karas, ’98, G’03 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Good luck played a part in bringing this Bear back to campus

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

They say timing is everything. For Dr. Gregory Karas it certainly was.

He was working in Boston one summer several years ago, when out of the blue he decided to check out what was going on at his alma mater. He clicked on the Bridgewater State website and found a headline seemingly addressed directly to him.

“The main news item was about the launch of the new master’s program in accounting. As luck, or fate, would have it, the information session was that same night,”
Dr. Karas recalled.

He attended the event, which was held in the Moakley Auditorium, and saw a familiar face from his undergraduate years – veteran accounting and finance Professor Carleton Donchess. Next thing Dr. Karas knew, he was a Bridgewater State student again.

The Brockton native, the seventh of nine children, served eight years in the Air Force before coming to Bridgewater State. He majored in accounting as an undergraduate, and after earning a master’s degree in 2003, began working as an adjunct faculty member.

Dr. Karas earned a doctorate in higher education from Northeastern University in 2016. His doctoral thesis studied the success rate of first-generation students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. He conducted his research at BSU.

“The students who participated in my study reinforced for me why Bridgewater is a great university,” he said. “Their stories of how Bridgewater transformed their lives, providing them with an outstanding education and opportunities to be better, personally as well as professionally, showed me that Bridgewater remained focused on its educational values.”

As recent as last year, Dr. Karas was teaching at a handful of institutions – practically living in his car, he joked during a recent interview in his Harrington Hall office. When the chance came in fall 2018 to teach at BSU as an assistant professor of accounting and finance, he jumped at the offer.

“It was surreal,” Dr. Karas said of coming back to his alma mater to teach. “I was honored to give back to the institution and its students,” he added.

Nowadays, Dr. Karas teaches alongside Professor Donchess and other members of the Department of Accounting and Finance.

“I cannot express my gratitude to Professor Donchess for spending that time with me (at the information session). If not for him, I doubt I would have enrolled again.”

Their stories of how Bridgewater transformed their lives, providing them with an outstanding education and opportunities to be better, personally as well as professionally, showed me that Bridgewater remained focused on its educational values.

Dr. Gregory Karas, ’98, G’03

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Spring 2019

Dr. Jeri Katz, G’78

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dr. Jeri Katz, G’78 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Enjoying ‘the small steps’ of her profession

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Dr. Jeri Katz was hooked early in life on her chosen profession.

She grew up in New London, Connecticut, where in eighth grade she began volunteering in her hometown’s Headstart program. As a high school student, she served at a camp for students with disabilities and, in her junior year, tutored students each week at the Little Red Schoolhouse, a substantially separate public school program for students with severe disabilities. With that, her path was sealed. “I liked seeing the small steps the children made,” Dr. Katz said.

It was later, at the Seaside Regional Center in nearby Waterford, that she witnessed firsthand the importance of special education teachers and therapists and the work they do.
At the center was a young girl with Down Syndrome no one thought would walk independently. “After months of practice with me every Sunday, she finally took her first steps,” Dr. Katz recalled. “It was amazing.”

The most rewarding part of working in special education, she sums up simply, “You know you’re making a better life for these individuals.”

Dr. Katz received a master’s degree from what was then Bridgewater State College in 1978 and came to work at the college at the start of the 1995 academic year. “And it’s been a great run,” she said with a smile.

She earned her undergraduate degree in special education and elementary education in 1974 from Rhode Island College.

Her first teaching job was at the Kennedy-Donovan Program in Foxboro, working with students ages 3-12 who had multiple disabilities. During this time, she decided to take a course in family therapy at Boston’s Wheelock College because she was seeing the toll children with disabilities took on parents. “I had a parent who was suicidal,” she said. “I decided I needed more background in this area.”

Her interest in counseling sparked, Dr. Katz enrolled at Bridgewater State for a degree in the subject. She still speaks highly of her advisor and professor, the late
Dr. Martha Drinkwater Jones, ’64.

Dr. Katz became a special education teacher at Dedham High School, working with students with intellectual disabilities. Then in 1983, she was named the education director at Braintree’s St. Coletta Day School. After leaving that role, she became the early childhood coordinator for a number of towns in the South Shore and helped open four integrated preschool programs. She also opened a special education advocacy practice and worked closely with parents around their children’s needs in the schools.

Dr. Katz received a doctorate in special education from Boston College in 1992. She began teaching as an adjunct professor at Wheelock College in the special education department.

It was a summer position in 1995 that brought Dr. Katz to her alma mater. When a full-time position opened, she applied. “I interviewed for the position on one of those miserably hot days in June. I came back to teach that afternoon and was so exhausted from the heat, but my graduate students cheered me on as they knew how much I wanted the position,” she said. “I got the job, and I was really, really happy to come back to BSC as a permanent faculty member.”

Today, Dr. Katz is a professor of special education and department chairperson. She has imparted to countless BSU graduates the knowledge and compassion necessary
to work in this challenging field.

“I want to get the message out that it’s not just about teaching; it’s about enhancing the quality of life of people with disabilities,” she said. “I hope that I model for my students my passion for this field and how they can make a difference.”

I want to get the message out that it’s not just about teaching; it’s about enhancing the quality of life of people with disabilities. I hope that I model for my students my passion for this field and how they can make a difference.

Dr. Jeri Katz, G’78

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Spring 2019

Vivi Pierce, ’11, G’14, CAGS’18

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Vivi Pierce, ’11, G’14, CAGS’18 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Three times is a charm

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

For Professor Vivi Pierce, 51�Թ�� is like a second home.

“That’s why I kept coming back for my graduate degrees as well,” she said. “When I decided that I wanted to teach at the college level, it was the natural place to apply. I also knew that there were so many excellent faculty members in the math department that I could learn from, and those are the kind of people I want to work with.”

Professor Pierce represents the many adjunct faculty members across the institution who hold degrees from Bridgewater State. They can be found in just about every department across campus. They bring into the classroom all they learned while attending the university as students; many also have real-world experience to share.

As for Professor Pierce (classmates may remember her by her maiden name of Liousas), she’s an instructor in the Department of Mathematics. She also teaches math at Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingtson.

She’s what’s known as a triple Bear – a graduate with three BSU degrees. As an undergraduate, she double majored in elementary education and mathematics with a minor in art. Then she came back for a master’s degree in teaching, and after that, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study.

Along with her classwork, she took advantage of many opportunities, including volunteering, student employment and undergraduate research. “My most valuable experience was my campus job as a tutor for Math Services,” she said. “That is where I honed my teaching skills and discovered that teaching math was a passion.”

There are many emotions alumni face when returning to campus to stand at the head of a classroom where they once sat as students. “It was terrifying!” Professor Pierce said. “Even though I taught the material to my high school students every day, it was scary teaching adults. However, after a couple of classes, we got into a good rhythm, and I was able to relax.”

Helping her along as a newly minted educator were her one-time professors – now her colleagues – as well as faculty members she’s met on the job. “I have been lucky to maintain great relationships with many faculty members here,” she said. “And now I feel really proud to return to BSU as a professor myself.”

I have been lucky to maintain great relationships with many faculty members here, and now I feel really proud to return to BSU as a professor myself.

Vivi Pierce, ’11, G’14, CAGS’18

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Spring 2019

Dr. Meghan Murphy, ’06

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dr. Meghan Murphy, ’06 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Alumna believed from the first her future awaited back on campus

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

When Dr. Meghan Murphy was thinking of a career in academia, she was given some advice.

Luckily, she chose to ignore it.

“All of my faculty advisors over the years encouraged me to conduct a nationwide search since jobs in academia are not always easy to come by,” the Walpole native recalled.

“I begrudgingly listened, but when the opportunity allowed me to come back to Bridgewater, it was a no-brainer,” she said. “I had such a positive experience as a BSU student that I knew I wanted to remain a part of this community.”

In fact, as soon as she’d decided on a career path, she knew it was 51�Թ�� where she wanted to teach. It became a reality beginning in spring 2015, when she was hired part time. In fall 2018, she became full time.

As an undergraduate, she majored in sociology with a minor in Spanish. She went on to graduate school at the University of Massachusetts Boston and earned a PhD from the University at Buffalo in New York.

Her students frequently hear firsthand all that a BSU degree can do for them. “I joke that I try to bring up the fact that my undergrad degree is from BSU as often as possible in the classroom,” Dr. Murphy said. “I want all of my students to understand the value of a degree from an institution like Bridgewater State. The decisions students make now will have a lasting impact on their lives. Bridgewater has so much to offer, and I encourage all students to take advantage of all of the resources here.”

Now an assistant professor, Dr. Murphy said returning to the Department of Sociology meant she had a built-in support system when she began her career as a faculty member.

She still recalls the excitement of returning to her old stomping grounds and leading that first class. “There was a bit of a parallel-universe moment of standing in front of the same classroom where I gained so much as a student,” she said. “That is a feeling that I hope never goes away!”

I had such a positive experience as a BSU student that I knew I wanted to remain a part of this community.

Dr. Meghan Murphy, ’06

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Spring 2019

Dale Smith, ’11

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dale Smith, ’11 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Coming home again meant also returning to his alma mater

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Dale Smith moved his family back to Massachusetts after spending several years out of state while completing his University of Connecticut graduate degree. He and his wife had relatives in Massachusetts and wanted their young son to grow up knowing them.

When it came time to get a job, he found one at the same place he obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics in 2011.

Some pretty significant factors led him back to 51�Թ�� to teach, said Professor Smith, who spent the spring semester at BSU as a temporary, full-time
faculty member.

“The small classroom environment is appealing since you get to know the students in the class much better than in the large classrooms at many universities,” he said. “Also, the faculty in the BSU physics department are great.”

A Brockton native, Professor Smith served for more than seven years in the Air Force. That probably gave him some handy experience with physics. But it’s clear he had much to offer his old department, and when longtime BSU faculty members were looking for a new colleague, they knew where to turn.

“Dr. Edward Deveney has helped me with just about everything,” Professor Smith said. “Dr. Thomas Kling and Dr. Martina Arndt also had a large part in bringing me back to BSU.”

As for his first time leading a BSU classroom? “It was exciting,” he said. “I love physics and know the students here are good, so I was looking forward to a great semester, and it was.”

The small classroom environment is appealing since you get to know the students in the class much better than in the large classrooms at many universities.

Dale Smith, ’11

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Spring 2019

Cynthia Svoboda, ’84

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Cynthia Svoboda, ’84 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Three decades of dedicated service at Maxwell Library

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

Her initial dream had been to become a kindergarten teacher, but after Cynthia Svoboda, ’84, took an afterschool job at the Mansfield Public Library, that changed. Being surrounded by books, helping others with academic work and research, and always learning new things seemed like an interesting and fulfilling way to spend a career.

“Libraries and librarians are bridges,” she said. “We help people make academic and social connections beyond the classroom. Also, libraries provide spaces for users to engage with each other, with technology, with research materials and more.”

The 1980 Mansfield High School graduate was a first- generation student, and Bridgewater State was close by and affordable. She’d begun as an English major, but switched to history with a minor in library science. She graduated summa cum laude and went on to earn a master’s degree in library science and information studies from the University of Rhode Island in 1986.

Throughout her time as a student at Bridgewater State, Ms. Svoboda’s focus kept turning to libraries and their impact on individuals and society. Her honor’s thesis was an independent study on the history of women in academic libraries, and, during six of her semesters on campus, she held a work-study job in the circulation department of Maxwell Library. While attending Bridgewater State, she was also a substitute staff member of the Mansfield Public Library and one summer was a proctor for Project Contemporary Competitiveness on campus, during which she taught library skills. She stayed on at Mansfield’s library, working 27 hours per week as the technical services librarian, while commuting to URI.

In the summer of 1986, she was pleased to find an hourly position in the reference department at Maxwell Library, working nights and weekends. That September, she was hired for a full-time, hourly, trust-funded position. In February 1988, when a full-time state position opened, she got the job she had been hoping for.

Today, Ms. Svoboda is an associate librarian and head of access services. Meanwhile, BSU has become a sort of family tradition. Her sister Catherine Webber graduated in 1992, and her son Jonathan in 2016. Daughter Gabrielle is a sociology major (with a minor in psychology) set to graduate next year. A cousin, Sheri Parker, is also a Bridgewater State alumna from the Class of 1991.

Over the years at BSU, Ms. Svoboda has earned service awards, performed sabbatical research on library services for students with disabilities and continues to provide school supplies to students through a program she created called School Supplies 4 U.

“I stayed at Bridgewater because I enjoyed the setting, staff and students,” Ms. Svoboda said. “As a reference librarian, I learn while helping others. I’ve also had the opportunity to grow, increase my responsibility, publish articles and participate in committee work.

Libraries and librarians are bridges. We help people make academic and social connections beyond the classroom.

Cynthia Svoboda, ’84

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Spring 2019

Dr. John Marvelle, ’72, G’76

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dr. John Marvelle, ’72, G’76 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Around the world and back home again

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

If there’s a hallmark of Dr. John Marvelle’s long and impressive career, it’s movement. That may sound strange describing a man who’s spent his college years and most of his career at the same place.

However, his wide-ranging interests and desire to deliver to his students life-shaping experiences means stasis isn’t an option. “I’ve been through a lot of changes,” said Dr. Marvelle, a professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education. “Lots of it has to do with luck and spectacular mentors here at Bridgewater and other places,” he said.

Those mentors continuously pushed the Mansfield native to try new things and to be unafraid of change.

Growing up, Dr. Marvelle believed he’d never travel beyond the borders of his hometown. In fact, after earning the first of his two Bridgewater State degrees in 1972, he taught first grade in Mansfield for four years. Next up was a master’s degree from his alma mater in special education.

It was then that he became interested in helping parents to augment their children’s education beyond the classroom. This became a focus as he pursued his doctorate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Then things began moving. And so did Dr. Marvelle. “My world changed because people pushed me to challenge myself,” he said.

His interest in parent involvement led him to take a job in the Town of Norton with Project Spoke, a regional special education program. The work he was doing there caught the attention of an up-and-coming company called Apple. From 1984-1988, he developed and ran Apple Computer Clubs, which taught computer literacy to young people here and around the world. In 1986, Dr. Marvelle spent two months in the Soviet Union on behalf of the company.

He was with Apple for the first whisperings about the Macintosh personal computer and still has a photo in his office in Hart Hall featuring him and a group of early Apple executives, including Stephen “Woz” Wozniak, co-founder of the company.

Yet, Dr. Marvelle felt the company was changing, and he didn’t like its new direction. So in 1990, he was hired full time at Bridgewater State, where he quickly became a popular professor and began teaching and shaping the lives of countless students who are now educators themselves. “I see my job as helping my students discover their passions and set lifelong goals,” he said. “It’s something I hope they will do with their future students.”

Over the years, Dr. Marvelle has co-founded a program where BSU education majors can student-teach internationally. He’s co-led social justice tours to Belize and is involved with the Minnock Center for International Engagement in bringing students to campus from China. As a special education teacher, he’s also fought for the right of developmentally challenged students to have a place in traditional classrooms.

His inclusive philosophy was shaped in part due to his own experience. Dr. Marvelle and his wife, Elise, lost a son, Jason, at the age of 3. Had the child lived, he would have required special education and other services – things some members of society and politicians aren’t always willing to financially support.

“How much does it cost to educate a child with special needs?” Dr. Marvelle asked rhetorically, acknowledging that the tab can sometimes run into the millions of dollars for one student. “I believe that quality of life is important and that means including all children is important,” he continued. “I teach not just the strategies of working with a student with special needs, I want my students to come to an emotional understanding that what kids need is to be with other kids and to grow up in an inclusive classroom.”

As he looks back on his nearly 30 years at BSU, Dr. Marvelle is impressed by the many changes at his alma mater. In short, he’s glad he returned. “The message of the story is I’m a really lucky guy,” he said. “I’ve had extraordinary mentors and extraordinary experiences that have made my life as a parent, teacher and spouse very special. I have no complaints.”

I see my job as helping my students discover their passions and set lifelong goals. It’s something I hope they will do with their future students.

Dr. John Marvelle, ’72, G’76

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Spring 2019

Dr. Lisa Battaglino, ’79

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Dr. Lisa Battaglino, ’79 Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

A Bear-for-life retires after a 30-year career

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

It was a fainting spell that ultimately set Dr. Lisa Battaglino on the path to a career in higher education.

“I actually wanted to be a nurse when I was in high school,” she recalled. “But that summer my dad and sister were in the hospital. I visited each of them, and both times I fainted.” When she got home, her mother sat her down and suggested another career.

The better part of that career – three decades of it, in fact – has been spent at Bridgewater State.

Dr. Battaglino attended elementary school in Newton, graduating from Waltham High School in 1975. After reconsidering her childhood dream of becoming a nurse, she enrolled at what was then Bridgewater State College, majoring in special and elementary education. After graduating in 1979, she went to Boston College to teach part time and also got a job teaching special education classes at Waltham High School. Later, she’d also earn a master’s degree in special education and a doctorate in curriculum, education and administration, both from BC.

She met her husband, Dennis Rodrigues, ’79, at Bridgewater State, and, after their marriage, the couple settled in town. Dr. Battaglino began teaching as an adjunct at Massasoit Community College, as well as at Leslie College, now Leslie University, in Cambridge. However, her alma mater was beckoning.

“I loved teaching at these colleges, but my goal was always to get back to Bridgewater,” Dr. Battaglino said. “I wanted to be a special education professor, Bridgewater State offered that, and I lived in town, so I thought that would be the ideal place to teach.”

Her chance came when Bridgewater State needed an adjunct psychology professor. Shortly after, in 1992, when a full-time spot opened in the Department of Special Education, Dr. Battaglino was hired. She was appointed acting dean in 2011, but soon the “acting” fell away, and what’s followed has been a busy schedule of leading the College of Education and Allied Studies, as well as the fulfillment of her passionate commitment to social justice at home and abroad.

The support she received from all quarters is what made her never want to leave BSU, she said.

“From the very beginning, I felt I had every conceivable support here for doing the scholarly work I wanted to do and the service I was interested in,” she said. “I consistently received support for any scholarly or service venture that I embarked upon. I just can’t imagine any place else offering all of that. I was always incredibly happy just to be here.”

The scholarly and service aspects of Dr. Battaglino’s time at BSU include an ongoing relationship with the Ministry of Education in Belize, where she spearheaded efforts by fellow faculty, administrators and students to volunteer in the country’s schools. When she earned a $10,000 Presidential Fellowship Award from Bridgewater State, she used the funds to develop the partnership between BSU and the Ministry of Education in Belize. She had done similar work previously in Moscow with Russia’s Ministry of Education.

“My personal and academic goal has always been to improve the lives of people with disabilities throughout the world,” Dr. Battaglino said. “The places I focused on were ones that do not have special education as we know it.”

In the process, she’s passed on the same kind of compassion and need for inclusivity to BSU students. Through her international work, they’ve also learned about the importance of being global citizens.

After 30 years at the university, Dr. Battaglino retired this spring. She and her husband now live in Falmouth and spend time with their children, Andrew Rodrigues, ’18; Ashley Rodrigues, G’07; Dennis Rodrigues III; their spouses; and four grandsons.

“I’m retiring from a job I adore,” she said. “The people I work with are amazing. I’m sad that I’ll be leaving, but happy about what I’m going toward.”

I consistently received support for any scholarly or service venture that I embarked upon. I just can’t imagine any place else offering all of that. I was always incredibly happy just to be here.

Dr. Lisa Battaglino, ’79

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Spring 2019

Faculty Focus

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:35:58 +0000

Faculty Focus Anonymous Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:35

Dr. Jakari Griffith / Management

April 1, 2019

John Winters

Story Series

Bridgewater Magazine

As with many faculty members, Dr. Jakari Griffith’s life experience has helped shape the educator and researcher he is today.

The assistant professor of management and 2019 Award for Academic Excellence recipient came to Bridgewater State in 2003, after teaching at Salem State College. Early in his career, he focused on management issues revolving around positive psychology and leadership.

Eventually, however, Dr. Griffith, who grew up in Rockland County, New York, found a topic that was closer to home: researching ways to help ex-offenders find suitable employment once they’re released from prison.

The popular professor is no stranger to the law. Dr. Griffith’s father is a retired New York City police officer, and, in 2008, his younger brother was a victim of deadly gunfire. Instead of seeking retribution for that terrible act, he turned in the other direction. “I honor my brother not only by grieving, but also by my actions,” he said.

Some sort of vengeance, whether it’s an eye for an eye, a hefty prison sentence or the death penalty, may help the loved ones of some victims feel better, but Dr. Griffith said it can too often be a Pyrrhic victory.

“None of it helps anyone to become whole again,” he said. “Educating people and providing dignified employment offers us the best chance to avoid violence to begin with.”

Dr. Griffith received a PhD in management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a Master of Arts in public administration from Florida A&M University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Business & Industry, also at Florida A&M University. At BSU, he teaches courses on human resources, organizational behavior and leadership.

When not in the classroom or working on issues he’s passionate about, Dr. Griffith can be found running marathons (in March he completed one in Los Angeles) or riding ultra-long distances on his bike. Sometimes, his son Jaeden, 16, accompanies him.

The route from prison to work is little understood. An article by Dr. Griffith and some of his colleagues that looked at a decade’s worth of studies on prison-to-work initiatives was recently accepted by an international journal. They could find just 58 studies. “There are tons of questions that have not been answered,” Dr. Griffith said.

He is intent on removing the stigma attached to former inmates when they enter the job force and is seeking ways to educate employers about the fact that former offenders often make excellent employees. Dr. Griffith is pushing an initiative to provide incentives for employers willing to hire individuals after they are released.

While he believes that some people commit crimes that necessitate their being separated from society for extensive periods of time, or even forever, Dr. Griffith hopes the recent study and his continuing work will open some minds to those convicted of lesser offenses.

“It would be great to put forward some policy guidance or to help validate the view that ex-offenders are an added value and can make a contribution to society,” he said. “We’re trying to find the win-win.”

Educating people and providing dignified employment offers us the best chance to avoid violence to begin with.

Dr. Jakari Griffith

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Spring 2019

Faculty Focus