Above: Kevin Dowling

Research conducted by a doctoral student at Western Carolina University may help train future human rights investigators and is already drawing the attention of international organizations.

Kevin Dowling, a WCU candidate for the doctorate of education in educational leadership who is set to receive his degree on Dec. 15, developed a study and dissertation titled “A Suggested Curriculum for the Training of Human Rights Investigators.”

“Kevin’s study has sought to answer the question of which topical areas human rights activists consider important for the successful training of human rights investigators, enabling him to develop a suggested curriculum for training,” said Anna McFadden, WCU professor of educational leadership and foundations, and director of the Coulter Faculty Center, who advised Dowling during the development of his dissertation.

Dowling said he decided to write his dissertation on the topic after viewing a photograph in a major news magazine, an image of a road near Kosovo, upon which a group of war refugees had been traveling when they were forcibly removed from the road.

"The scene was of an empty road with a multitude of personal possessions strewn everywhere," he said. "To see these items, which were precious enough to be carried by those fleeing for their lives, now abandoned in heaps led me to consider how my work in education could be used to reduce crimes against humanity. It was then that the idea of training individuals as human rights investigators, and giving a voice to those silenced by these types of crimes, began to emerge."

In June of 2001, Dowling presented the topic of his dissertation in Washington, D.C., to international human right activists at a meeting convened by the United States Institute of Peace. In October of 2003, Dowling presented his topic to members of the Helsinki Commission on Capitol Hill. The purpose of both of these meetings was for Dowling to gather data in support of his research and to introduce the topic to those who were active in the field.

In the spring of 2005, Dowling met with agents of the FBI in Quantico, Va., to discuss the bureau’s early efforts to form evidence response teams and its implications related to Dowling’s research.

"The data resulting from Kevin’s research is critical because it represents the first study of its kind to investigate the creation of a suggested curriculum for the training of human rights investigators," said McFadden. "His interest in the topic of training human rights investigators grows out of passion for training and for human rights around the globe. His dissertation begins with a haunting crime scene in Kosovo and ends with a call to agencies to pick up the curriculum and go forth. If they do not, Kevin is determined to find a way to do it."

Dowling received his bachelor’s degree from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1990, and his master’s in education from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington in 1997. He earned his education specialist degree from WCU in 2002.

Dowling served as a master police officer in Wilmington for five years, where he specialized in the investigation of retail crime. He went on to serve as a full-time instructor and course coordinator for the North Carolina Justice Academy, the state’s advanced police training academy. Dowling then served as an instructional systems specialist for the United States Secret Service at its James J. Rowley training center in Beltsville, Md.

In 2005, he became a special agent for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General in the Washington field office where he conducted criminal investigations related to fraud, waste and abuse. He joined the Federal Reserve System as a senior protection analyst in July of 2007, where he exercises oversight responsibility for the training of the system’s federal law enforcement officers.

"While I am glad that others in the field are interested in the results of my dissertation, I will not be fully satisfied until I am able to find an agency to adopt my training program and make it operational," said Dowling. "When the first class graduates, I will be truly happy with the results of my research."

For more information about the department of educational leadership and foundations, call (828) 227-7607.

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Last modified: Friday, Dec. 14, 2007