Article archive / August 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 3.
Dr. Murelle Harrison, previous Chair of the Psychology Department at Southern University, Baton Rouge campus, has taken the Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and serves as the liaison between the Dean and the Chairs.
Harrison explained that Southern continues to be in a transitional period. “Southern University recently re-organized and reduced its colleges from ten to seven,” she said. “Academic reorganization at SUBR was undertaken by campus academic leaders with the overall goal of enhancing student success and improving effective teaching, scholarship and connectedness.”
The former Department of Psychology is now the Department of Psychology, Sociology, and Social Work, Harrison explained. “We are now housed in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences that also houses Public Policy, Public Administration, Political Science and Criminal Justice,” she said.
Dr. Harrision became a licensed prevention professional in 2007. She told the Times, “The prevention field has moved from and individual ‘risk and protective’ approach to the public health model that focuses on the entire community. I teach the online undergraduate and graduate introductory course and interested students can perform their required fieldwork at our nonprofit agency, the Gardere Initiaitve. Another change for prevention is to broaden its scope of practice from alcohol, tobacco and other drug use to include the prevention of mental, emotional and behavior disorders. My role is to focus on building community coalitions to address all these issues.”
The Gardere Initiative is a Baton Rouge based group whose mission is “To address substance abuse and other social ills in the Gardere area that adversely affect children, neighboring subdivisions, and the City in general, through spiritual intervention, collaboration and partnerships.” The group offers adult education, tutoring, computer access, nutrition programs, Bible study, parenting classes, business development, and Alcoholic Anonymous.
Dr. Harrison is the representative from Southern University. Among other groups are Faith Chapel Church of God, St. Jude Catholic Church, Greater Morning Star Baptist Church, Iglesia El Aposento Alto, Gardere Community Christian School, Gardere youth Alliance, Matthews Realty, EBR Sheriff Office, and others.
Dr. Murelle Harrison
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.