Mikala Meize, Ph.D. Candidate
mikala.ewert@wsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests:
Drug policy; Drug crime; Justice-involved youth; and Quantitative methods

Teaching and Research Experience:
My research focuses on three areas: drug policy, justice-involved youth, and quantitative methods. My dissertation research examines the intersection of these areas by exploring how the criminal justice system as a whole (police, courts corrections) has responded to youth drug offenses since the legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington State. In each of these analyses I utilize interrupted time series analyses using the state of Washington as the treatment group. Where the data is available, I conduct multi-group interrupted time-series analyses based on the identification of appropriate control groups. The choice for which control group to use in an interrupted time series design led to a study in which I examined different control group methods (average, individual, synthetic); the resultant solo-authored manuscript is under peer-review.

My teaching philosophy is that students learn both in and outside of the classroom, and my role as an educator is to encourage the learning experience by providing up-to-date materials and opportunities for hands-on experiences. As an educator I value diversity in course material, flexibility for student needs, experiential learning, and serving as a mentor. At Washington State University, I have taught Criminal Justice 101: Introduction to the Administration of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice 321: Quantitative Methods for Criminal Justice, and Criminal Justice 365: Juvenile Justice and Corrections. I am comfortable teaching both in-person and online courses. While I was teaching Introduction to the Administration of Criminal Justice in Spring 2020, WSU shifted to a remote-only format of education. As several universities have shifted to online courses indefinitely, I am prepared to engage with students in these formats, as well as hybrid and hyflex modalities.

Recent Publications:

• Makin, D., Meize, M., Willits, D. W., Stohr, M. K., Hemmens, C., Lovrich, N., Nordman, A., & Stanton, D. (2020) The impact of recreational marijuana sales on calls for service: An analysis of neighbouring cities. Policing & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2020.1773461
• Lu, R., Willits, D. W., Stohr, M. K., Makin, D. A., Snyder, J., Lovrich, N., Meize, M., Stanton, D., Wu, G., & Hemmens, C. (2019). The cannabis effect on crime: Time-series analysis of crime in Colorado and Washington state. Justice Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2019.1666903

Thesis/Dissertation Chair: Dr. Dale Willits