Department Updates
By Veronica Gonzalez Hoff
Department of Security Studies
Two new academic programs are in process of approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board later this month: BA in Homeland Security Studies and BS in Homeland Security Studies. Both programs will be offered online.
Layne Dittman, 4th year PhD student, recently learned that his work with Dr. Nate Jones (Security Studies), Dr. Jun Wu (alumni), and Tyler Reese (undergraduate student) was accepted for publication in Trends in Organized Crime. This is Layne's 4th peer-reviewed publication.
Dr. Jim Dozier, Clinical Professor and Internship Coordinator for the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, received the Lifetime Achievement Award recognition with Edwards Ministerial Association through the recommendation of a former student. Dozier has invested much of his time to philanthropic causes throughout his career and aims to help his students as well, even after they have graduated.
Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology
Dr. Eryn O’Neal and Dr. Brittany Hayes received The William L. Simon/Routledge Outstanding Paper Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for their recent paper discussing child abuse and neglect.
Dr. Eryn O’Neal also received ASC Division on Victimology Faculty Researcher of the Year Award. This award is given to a "scholar who has made a significant contribution in the area of victimology in the past 2 years."
Dr. Ling Ren will be serving as the research partner on a BJA-funded Innovative Prosecution Solutions project with the Montgomery Co. DA Office. The project will tackle opioid-related problems in Montgomery County. Dr. Ren has been working closely with the DA’s Office since June 2017 to gather and analyze data to support this grant application. She also provided grant writing assistance to the MCDAO.
Dr. Danielle Boisvert and Dr. Elisa Toman were awarded a Teaching Innovations Grant from SHSU. This project will support three PhD students and it will test a unique approach to teaching research methods. This tests gamification approaches to teaching. We will be able to use these results to improve the way we teach research methods in the future. Read more here
Dr. Solomon Zhao received the 2018 Faculty Excellence Award in Scholarly and Creative Accomplishments for his outstanding research in policing. Read more here
Dr. Melinda Tasca recently completed the final report as part of a prestigious National Institute of Justice Fellowship program.
Tri Keah Henry, 4th year PhD student, is this year's recipient of the American Society of Criminology's Division on People of Color and Crime Norman White Outstanding Student Paper Award.
This is for her solo-authored work entitled "Six Degrees of Separation: The Influence of Direct and Indirect Contacts with Law Enforcement on Perceptions of Procedural Justice." The manuscript is currently under review. Data for the project came from data collection she worked on with Dr. Travis Franklin and Dr. Cortney Franklin in 2016.
Department of Forensic Science
Governor Greg Abbott reappointed Sarah Kerrigan, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Forensic Science, to the Texas Forensic Science Commission for terms set to expire on September 1, 2019. The commission provides oversight over Texas crime laboratories and other entities conducting forensic analyses for use in criminal proceedings and provides an accreditation mandate responsible for establishing procedures, policies, and practices to improve the quality of forensic analyses conducted in Texas.
Dr. Kerrigan was also appointed to the Forensic Laboratory Needs Technology Working Group (FLN-TWG) by the Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice to improve federal coordination with state and local forensic science laboratories. The effort underscores the department’s commitment to creating an effective network of crime labs across the country. The working group will provide objective and independent knowledge and expertise, ensuring that research is relevant and responsive to the needs of the forensic science community.
