Graduate Student News

Congratulations to the following Criminal Justice Graduate Students!

Jordan Henson

"When I decided to pursue a graduate degree in criminal justice at the EKU College of Justice and Safety, I honestly expected it to be a mere continuation of my undergraduate studies. I could not have been more wrong. It has been a life changing experience, taking me through stirring classes on the comfortable EKU campus and around the globe. From the historic cultures of Slovenia, Bosnia, and Paris, to the sunny bay of San Francisco, the magic of Orlando, and the knowledge and guidance to pursue my own independent research, I’ve learned more than I ever thought possible."

Justin Turner

Justin Turner, completed his undergraduate work at Western Kentucky University. He recently completed his Master's level work at EKU. After he graduates, he will be attending Old Dominion University as a Ph.D. candidate in Criminal Justice and Criminology. His focus will be the creation of imaginative geographies and their portrayal of an ‘us’ and ‘them’ boundary within crime. At EKU he did his thesis work titled The Framing of Neda: Orientalist Tropes the Imaginative Boundaries of Iran.

Alyson Kershaw

Alyson Kershaw is completing her Master’s from the Department of Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University for the Spring 2012 term.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Kentucky in Spring of 2010.  In the Fall of 2012, she will be going on to get her Ph.D. from Old Dominion University in Criminology and Criminal Justice.  Her interests include child advocacy, children’s welfare, and advocating for children’s rights.  She is completing her Master’s thesis project titled The Importance of Critical Pedagogy in Criminal Justice Higher Education.  In this project, she is arguing for the use of critical pedagogical practices to be implemented in criminal justice higher education to liberate employees of the criminal justice system.

Carl Root

Carl Root, Criminal Justice Adjunct Faculty and Fall 2007 graduate, has received the Kreplick Graduate Fellowship from the University of South Florida.  The fellowship includes an annual stipend.  USF’s Department of Criminology is ranked in the top ten Criminology programs in the country.

Presently, he has completed all his coursework at the University of South Florida and beginning dissertation research on “Occupy Criminology.” In 2011, Carl was the President of USF’s Graduate Student Organization. This coming year, he will be the student representative on the Graduate Committee and the department steward for the Graduate Assistant Union. Carl has also finished a book chapter, “We shall not Forget this: Colonial Racism in American Prisons” with Dr. Michael Lynch. He is also finishing up a manuscript on the negotiated and constructed meanings of police use-of-force with Dr. Wilson Palacios and Dr. Jeff Ferrell.

Kevin Steinmetz

Kevin Steinmetz is a recent graduate of our program. He decided to pursue his doctorate at Sam Houston State University. He has been an active and engaged member of graduate academics and culture. About to enter his 3rd year in their program, he has achieved a 4.0 GPA through his doctoral studies and has completed his research portfolio (SHSU's version of comprehensive exams) in record time. He also now manages the Critical Criminology on Tap student group, co-created with fellow EKU graduate Brian Schaefer, which provides a venue for graduate students and faculty to get together and talk about controversial issues in criminology and criminal justice.

Kevin has presented numerous presentations at national and international criminal justice and criminology conferences and been an invited speaker in classes at SHSU, EKU, and the University of Ottawa. He also helped establish the Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology and currently serves as its book review editor. In addition, he has already published four manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, with more under review or in process. One of these articles is a version of his Master's thesis that he worked on with Dr. Ken Tunnell.

Steinmetz, K. F. (2012). WikiLeaks and realpolitik. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology, 4(1), 14-52.

Steinmetz, K. F. (2012). Message received: Virtual ethnography in online message boards. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(1), 26-39.

Steinmetz, K. F. & Henderson, H. (2012). Hip-hop and procedural justice: Hip-hop artists' perceptions of criminal justice. Race & Justice, 2(3), 155-178.

Steinmetz, K. F. & Tunnell, K. D. (forthcoming). Under the pixelated jolly roger: A study of online pirates. Deviant Behavior.

Tom Fitzpatrick

Spring 2010 graduate Tom Fitzpatrick was accepted to the following law schools: University of Louisville, St. Louis University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, Mercer University, the University of Akron, Charlotte, Charleston, Regent University, and Northern Kentucky University.  He received full scholarships to the University of Akron and Northern Kentucky University and partial scholarships to Michigan State, Regent, Charleston, and Mercer.