What's Happening at the Center?

In November 2022, Center Director Dr. Walter S. DeKeseredy was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), the highest honor bestowed by the society for outstanding contributions in the field of criminology. DeKeseredy also received the 2022 Praxis Award from the ASC’s Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice and the 2022 Robert Jerin Book Award from the ASC’s Division on Victimology.

Dr. DeKeseredy has also published a timely new book with Montreal Gazette sportswriter and George Washington University sociologist Martin D. Schwartz titled Skating on Thin Ice:Professional Hockey, Rape Culture, & Violence Against Women. More information on this timely book written for the general public is available at https://utorontopress.com/9781487548858/skating-on-thin-ice/.

Speaking of new books, Dr. James Nolan has two new ones. His most recent is co-authored with his colleagues affiliated with WVU’s ADVANCE Center and is titled Engaging Faculty in Group-Level Change for Institutional Transformation: Disrupting Inequity and Building Inclusive Academic Departments. Go to this link for more information:https://www.routledge.com/Engaging-Faculty-in-Group-Level-Change-for-Institutional-Transformation/Jackson-Anderson-Dilks-Holmes-Kunkle-Nolan-Latimer/p/book/9781032211060. 

Dr. Nolan’s second book is co-edited with Frank Crispino and Timothy Parsons. Titled Policing in an Age of Reform: An Agenda for Research and Practice, this anthology is garnering much international attention and more information about it can be found athttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-56765-1?source=shoppingads&locale=enus&gclid=CjwKCAjw_aemBhBLEiwAT98FMrZBroR6xTQwutrJy2rlLJ2rOR51mETZnq_9iHH-P8yUukJTfTIzLBoCj4EQAvD_BwE

Mistrust between the police and the communities they serve has exacerbated crime, according to two Center affiliates who hope to reimagine and reshape policing techniques in American communities. Drs. Nolan and Henry Brownstein, in partnership with Morgan State University (MSU), have collectively received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to break down those walls and build a healthier rapport among police and citizens. The research team is currently studying the implications of a situational policing approach in real-life neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, home to MSU.

DeKeseredy, Nolan, and Brownstein have also published innovative research in leading social scientific journals like Violence Against Women, the International Journal for Rural Criminology, Critical Criminology, and the Sociology of Sport Journal.

Bringing guest speakers to WVU is also an integral part of the work being done at the Center. This year, Dr. Jason Williams (Montclair State University) and Stu Cowan gave public presentations about key issues related to violence, law, and social control. Please keep an eye out for this year’s guests.

Center staff and their colleagues at other schools (some of whom are pictured above with Dr.DeKeseredy are always active participants at international conferences like the annual meetings of the Canadian Sociological Association, the ASC, the European Society of Criminology, and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Graduate students, too, are heavily involved in Center research activities. Mackenzie Freeman and Elizabeth Moberly, for example, are collecting rich qualitative data on at-risk rural girls in rural West Virginia. What’s more, together with Drs. Walter DeKeseredy and Martin D.Schwartz, WVU Ph.D. candidate Leah Oldham is writing a book for University of Toronto Press titled Sport and Violence Against Women: Research, Theory, and Policy.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Center Research Associates made many significant contributions to the study and prevention of various types of violence around the world. More information about the Associates is found at https://violenceresearch.wvu.edu/executive-board/research-associates.