Faculty and Staff Highlights
Some accomplishments of our outstanding faculty and staff this year:
The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology implemented a Research Symposium series exploring faculty research within the department. Profs. Hillary Mellinger and Arifa Raza gave the inaugural presentations. In September, Professor Mellinger delivered an in-depth presentation on “Interpretation at the Asylum Office.” Professor Raza in November provided a thorough presentation on “A Call Back to White Slavery: Racial Bias in The Trafficking Victims Protection Act.”
Please join us in welcoming Rebecca V. Auliye, the new advisor 1 in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Rebecca was born in Chicago but moved early in her life and was raised a little south of Seattle in Federal Way, WA. In 2006, at the age of 32, Rebecca moved to Pullman as a non-traditional student and single mother of three. She now has three adult children and two granddaughters.
In her free time, Rebecca is an avid hiker and enjoys the wilderness. She also enjoys buying beads and making beaded items. Furthermore, she enjoys taking care of a variety of plants. She has been a welcome addition to the department of Criminal Justice and Criminology and the students we serve. If you are in Pullman and get the chance, please stop by the Advising suite in Wilson-Short Hall, room 104, to say hello.
Danielle Makin, Graduate Program Coordinator, joined the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in June 2022. She previously was in Human Resource Services Records here at WSU. Danielle grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, and attended Pennsylvania State University before transferring to the University of Louisville, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice.
In addition to her love of baking, Danielle enjoys going to Long Beach, WA, each year with her family. She has two children (Ryleigh and Esabella), ages 19 and 17, with her husband, David, and one very spoiled tuxedo cat named Archer. Furthermore, Danielle loves sharks and has four adopted hammerhead sharks (Mia, Finn, Babu, and Maverick) and one loggerhead sea turtle named Pop Tart that she tracks on an app. Danielle has been a welcome addition to the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.
Amelie Pedneault, assistant professor and undergraduate director, recently gave a talk for the English Graduate Organization and the Program in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies as part of the Feminist/Queer Dialogue Series. This presentation explored the intersection of risk factors for sexual assault at Greek parties on college campuses adopting a routine activities perspective. Factors specifically discussed relate to the motivation of Greek men through adherence to rape myths, target suitability of Greek women who have established higher rates of sexual assault victimization and develop close bonds to fraternity men, and the lack of capable guardianship at fraternity parties (and the related prohibition to organize parties with alcohol in sorority houses). The specific role of alcohol in the disinhibition of potential offenders, lower perceptions of victimization risk in potential victims, and diminished bystander intervention are specifically discussed in the context of proposed bans of alcohol at Greek parties. Results of the analysis of the 2016 self-imposed Greek moratorium on alcohol were also presented and discussed, along with their implications for this often implemented but seldom empirically studied prevention measure.
In November 2022, Nicholas Lovrich presented at the International Conference of Offender Reentry and Forensic Social Work Services. The conference keynote address was prepared by Professor Faith Lutze and alumnus Kay Heinrich (WSU PhD 2017) and delivered by Nicholas Lovrich, departmental research affiliate, at an international conference on correctional rehabilitation and reentry programs held in Taipei. The paper underlying the keynote address was prepared with the assistance of Christopher Campbell (WSU PhD 2015) and Christopher Dollar (current WSU doctoral student). It summarizes some advancements made in Washington and other states in the promotion of “smart justice” reforms in legislation and correctional operations under the auspices of the U.S. federal government’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative. The paper is to be published in The Journal of Crime Prevention and Corrections in 2023. Kay Heinrich currently serves as the associate superintendent of the Airway Heights Correctional Center (Spokane) and is engaged in ongoing research with WSU Criminal Justice and Criminology Department faculty and graduate students.
The conference was co-hosted by the Department of Forensic Social Work at National Taiwan University, the graduate program in criminology at National Taipei University, and the Taiwan Central Police University. The director of the graduate program in criminology at NTU is Yu-sheng (Linus) Lin (WSU PhD 2000), who collaborated with Edward Lai from the Central Police University and leadership of the Taiwan Forensic Social Work Association to organize the conference attended by more than 200 participants. An additional provider of support for the conference was Jihong (Solomon) Zhao (WSU PhD 1994), a distinguished professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University. The keynote address was introduced by the Minister of Justice of the government of Taiwan (Republic of China).
