Commencement
About 450 students earned degrees at the College of Criminal Justice in May, including three new Ph.D.s.Three new Ph.D. graduates were added to the roster of doctoral alumni from the College of Criminal Justice during this year’s CJ Commencement Ceremony.
Drs. Kadee L. Brinser, Jae S. Lee, and Fei Luo were among hundreds to graduate from the College. The Class of Spring 2016 included more than 400 undergraduate students in criminal justice and victim studies and more than 40 Masters’ students in Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Leadership and Management, Victim Services Management, Homeland Security Studies, and Forensic Science.
The featured speaker for the ceremony was Brad Livingston, Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Since 2004, Livingston has led one of the largest government entities of its kind in the country, with approximately 38,000 employees. He has been recognized with the Texas Public Employees Association’s “Agency Administrator of the Year” award; the American Correctional Association’s 2015 “E. R. Cass” award; and the Association of State Correctional Administrators’ “Michael Francke” award.
Among the Ph.D. graduates were Dr. Brinser, whose dissertation was “An Examination of Perceptual Challenges Faced by Female Police Officers.” Her dissertation chair was Dr. Larry Hoover and her committee members were Drs. Yan Zhang and Dr. Jurg Gerber. She has accepted an adjunct position with Lewis University.
Dr. Lee’s dissertation was “Attitudes toward the Police between General Citizens and Citizen Participation of Community Policing Programs: The Effect of Diffuse Support on Citizen Participation.” His committee was led by Dr. Jihong (Solomon) Zhao and included members Drs. Hoover and Ling Ren. He has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at Northern Kentucky University.
Dr. Luo’s dissertation was “Perceptions and Reality: Dimensions and Correlates of Public Attitudes toward the Police.” Her committee consisted of Chair Dr. Ren, and members Drs. Zhao and Hoover. She has accepted a position as Assistant Professor with Texas A & M International.