WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.230 My name is George Kain. 2 00:00:02.230 --> 00:00:03.650 I am a full professor 3 00:00:03.650 --> 00:00:05.680 in the Division of Justice and Law Administration 4 00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:07.970 at Western Connecticut State University. 5 00:00:07.970 --> 00:00:10.250 My particular research interest is in the area 6 00:00:10.250 --> 00:00:12.000 line:15% of capital punishment, 7 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.620 line:15% and I've done a lot of writing and presenting nationally 8 00:00:14.620 --> 00:00:17.420 line:15% and internationally on that particular topic. 9 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:20.770 line:15% I was instrumental in helping Connecticut to 10 00:00:20.770 --> 00:00:22.480 line:15% abolish the death penalty 11 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.000 here in Connecticut in 2012. 12 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.380 I've testified in other state legislatures 13 00:00:27.380 --> 00:00:29.480 that were considering abolition, 14 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:31.920 most of whom went to abolition. 15 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.340 line:15% But if you're asking me the biggest project 16 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:37.580 line:15% that I'm working on and I've been working on 17 00:00:37.580 --> 00:00:40.390 line:15% since I've been here, is the collaboration 18 00:00:40.390 --> 00:00:42.940 line:15% in connection with students with the outside world. 19 00:00:43.930 --> 00:00:46.070 We take a tremendous amount of pride 20 00:00:46.980 --> 00:00:49.450 in creating our students to be ambassadors 21 00:00:49.450 --> 00:00:50.520 of this university. 22 00:00:51.370 --> 00:00:53.870 And one of the ways that that becomes very visible 23 00:00:54.730 --> 00:00:57.010 is when those of us in the faculty 24 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.270 take our students to the real world 25 00:01:00.270 --> 00:01:02.570 and create outside opportunities for them. 26 00:01:02.570 --> 00:01:05.570 For example, I take my students to prison. 27 00:01:05.570 --> 00:01:07.260 Bringing students into this environment 28 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:09.530 and giving them an opportunity to sit down 29 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:12.990 line:15% with people who've been convicted of serious crimes 30 00:01:12.990 --> 00:01:16.100 line:15% opens their world a little bit more to realize 31 00:01:16.100 --> 00:01:18.570 line:15% number one, we're all human beings. 32 00:01:18.570 --> 00:01:20.660 line:15% Number two, we make mistakes. 33 00:01:20.660 --> 00:01:23.170 line:15% Sometimes we've made bigger mistakes than others and 34 00:01:23.170 --> 00:01:26.410 there are people in prison that deserve to be in prison. 35 00:01:26.410 --> 00:01:30.000 But we can't forget that they're human beings. 36 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.970 And we can't forget that they have a dignity about them. 37 00:01:32.970 --> 00:01:36.400 Most of the work that I'm doing now is in administrative. 38 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:40.470 In fact, I'm only teaching one course per semester now, 39 00:01:40.470 --> 00:01:42.760 because the administrative work in a department 40 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:46.380 as large as ours is over, it's a lot of work. 41 00:01:46.380 --> 00:01:47.970 It's very taxing. 42 00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:50.370 So not only am I trying to schedule 43 00:01:50.370 --> 00:01:53.040 and trying to make people happy on the faculty side, 44 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.390 line:15% I'm also trying to make sure that students 45 00:01:55.390 --> 00:01:58.150 line:15% get what they need and trying to make them 46 00:01:58.150 --> 00:01:59.800 line:15% as happy as they can be, 47 00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:04.170 line:15% not just in terms of the number of courses that we offer, 48 00:02:04.170 --> 00:02:06.920 but also to make sure that the courses are matched up 49 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:08.630 with what their needs are, 50 00:02:08.630 --> 00:02:11.160 and also that they're ready to take the courses 51 00:02:11.160 --> 00:02:12.460 that they want to take. 52 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.450 We're offering next semester over 65 sections 53 00:02:16.450 --> 00:02:18.610 in Justice and Law courses alone, 54 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:22.680 and trying to manage that can be difficult sometimes. 55 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.390 So we have to rely not just on full-time faculty, 56 00:02:26.390 --> 00:02:29.380 but we have to rely on a lot of different adjuncts. 57 00:02:29.380 --> 00:02:31.160 And we're very fortunate here at West Conn 58 00:02:31.160 --> 00:02:34.430 to have a wonderful bank of adjuncts that we can call on. 59 00:02:34.430 --> 00:02:37.190 People who've been judges, state's attorneys, 60 00:02:37.190 --> 00:02:40.970 line:15% private attorneys, working in all different aspects 61 00:02:40.970 --> 00:02:44.650 line:15% of criminal justice, law enforcement and corrections, 62 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:48.120 line:15% police officers, probation officers, 63 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:51.810 line:15% so we're able to really match the course content 64 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:54.580 and the material with the person's strength 65 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:56.030 and what their background is.