Graduate Student Association (GSA)

The primary goal of the Graduate Student Association for the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services is to provide information, build community, and provide a voice to the entire graduate students enrolled within the college of CECH. We are allotted an annual fixed budget from the Graduate Student Governing Association (GSGA) to sponsor conferences, host guest speakers, and hold social functions for the graduate students within CECH.

The primary goals of the CECH-GSA are to:

  1. Build a community of graduate students in the college
  2. Give all graduate students a voice in the college
  3. Provide information to graduate students

GSA Affiliations

GSGA (Graduate Student Governance Association)

GSGA is an organization run by graduate students for graduate students that serves as the executive board for the Graduate Student Assembly, which is comprised of representatives from each Graduate Student Association.

Visit GSGA here

CSI (Center for Student Involvement)

UC students who want to be involved while attending the University of Cincinnati. Their mission is guiding purposeful student engagement, fostering a sense of community, providing opportunities for student growth and leadership development. They intend to build the leadership skills of UC students to make them better citizens.

Visit CSI here

CECH GSA Executive Board

President - Lindsey Insco, School of Criminal Justice

Vice-President - Esnart Mfune, School of Education

Treasurer - Sinui Park, School of Criminal Justice

Secretary - Amota Ataneka, School of Education

Distance Learning Representative - Alaa Tukruna, School of Human Services

Special Committee Chair - Catherine Moeller, School of Criminal Justice and Tiffany Berman, School of Education

Headshot of Lindsey Marie Insco

Lindsey Marie Insco

Graduate Assistant, CECH Criminal Justice

Lindsey Insco received her Bachelor's in chemistry from Xavier University in 2022 and her Master's in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2023. Lindsey is currently a doctoral student of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include life course criminology, drug overdoses, and, more generally, terrorism. 
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Headshot of Esnart Mfune

Esnart Mfune

Graduate Assistant, CECH Graduate Programs-Education

Esnart is an international doctoral student in the college of education.  Her program concentration is  education community-based action research. Her research interests revolve around the intersection of early childhood education, emergency education, and the rights of girls.
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Sinui Park

Graduate Assistant, CECH Criminal Justice

513-290-4342

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Headshot of Amota Ataneka

Amota Ataneka

Graduate Assistant, CECH Graduate Programs-Education

Amota Ataneka Merang is a doctoral candidate in Quantitative Research Methodologies specializing in causal machine learning, latent variable modeling, and psychometrics. His work is motivated by the challenge of drawing unbiased causal claims when variables in a study (both outcomes and predictors) cannot be directly observed but can only be measured using multiple survey or test items (e.g., depression, test scores, anxiety, burnout, happiness). These constructs are known as latent variables, variables that we cannot quantify perfectly or without measurement error. 

Amota's research integrates advances in statistics, machine learning, and quantitative methodologies to improve how researchers analyze latent variables. He is currently developing a deep neural architecture that will allow researchers to perform causal machine learning inference with latent variables using nonexperimental or observational datasets.

Amota is also writing a book chapter for the Oxford Handbook of Impact Evaluation, and he has published in peer-reviewed journals as a first author. Amota regularly presents his work at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Modeling Methods (M3), and the American Evaluation Association (AEA).
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Alaa Tukruna

Graduate Assistant, Acad Aff LC Content Review

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Catherine Marliese Moeller

Catherine is a doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology (2016) and a Master’s in Applied Behavioral Science with a concentration in criminal justice (2020) from Wright State University. Her research interests lie in corrections specifically focusing on offender rehabilitation, prisoner reentry, in-prison programming, and specialty courts.
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Tiffany Nicole Berman

Instructor - Adj, CECH Elementary Education

610 Teachers College

513-582-5656

Tiffany is a highly motivated and experienced educator passionate about early childhood education. She is currently a doctoral student in Educational Studies at the University of Cincinnati, where she is concentrating in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education. Tiffany holds undergraduate degrees in Early Childhood and Inclusive Early Childhood Education and a master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus on STEM Learning. Her research interests include mathematics and science education, STEM/STEAM learning, and play-based learning.
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CECH GSA Contact Information

If you have any questions or inquiries, please feel free to contact the GSA by email or our advisor Stacy Jenkins.

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Find us on GetInvolvedUC for more information or to join the CECH GSA.