Western Carolina University

Research, along with scholarship and publication, form the foundation of a higher education. Research activities create new knowledge that enhances the educational experience. Additionally, faculty, who engage in research and scholarly projects in which they include students create a learning experience that provides significant benefits to students. Research suggests that students who participate in research gain self-confidence in their abilities, are more like to complete their education, and, for undergraduate students, are more likely to advance to graduate school than students who do not engage in research. In conformance with the Boyer Commission Report that clearly articulates the need for research-based learning as an integral part of the undergraduate educational experience, the Criminology and Criminal Justice faculty regularly engage in research activities and endeavor to include students in these activities. The information on this page summarizes the research and scholarly activities of the department.

Dr. Stephen Brown:

• Completed (with Finn-Aage Esbensen and Gilbert Geis) the 8th edition of Criminology: Explaining Crime and Its Context with Elsevier Publishing Company.
• Supervised student Korney Schumann on a research project entitled Child Abuse Explained through Social Learning Theory that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Kopack and Vaske) a paper entitled Teaching Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice: An Outcome Assessment at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.

Dr. Robert Berry:

• Attended the 15th Annual Emergency Management Institute's Higher Education Conference in Emmitsburg, MD in June 2012.
• Co-presented (with Professor Merritt) a paper entitled Emergency Management Bachelor Degree Curriculum Outcomes at the Fall North Carolina Emergency Management Conference in Hickory, NC in October 2011.
• Completed a dissertation entitled An Assessment of the Top-Down/Bottom-Up Approaches to Policy Analysis and the Impact of State and Local Government Participation on Emergency Management Policy Implementation: Is Use or Application of a Middle-Middle Model or Approach a Better Answer? that was submitted to the University of Nevada-Reno.

Dr. Lisa Briggs:

• Supervised student Leah Butler on a research project entitled The Graduation Hypothesis: Animal Cruelty and Serial Killers that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.

Dr. Fred Hawley:

• Co-authored (with Dr. Kopak) an article entitled Family Warmth and Delinquency among Mexican-American and White Youth: Detailing the Causal Variables in the Journal of Juvenile Justice, 1(2), 52-67.
• Contributed (with Mary Amelia Turner) an entry entitled Guns in the South to The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
• Contributed entries entitled Cultural Violence Theories and Walter Miller to the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Criminology.
• Contributed (with Dr. Kopak) an entry entitled Prescription Drug Abuse to the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Criminology.
• Co-presented (with Dr. Kopak) a paper entitled Causal Variables leading to Delinquency Issues among Mexican-American and White Youth at the Annual Southern Criminal Justice Association Conference in Nashville, TN in September 2011.

Dr. Cyndy Caravelis-Hughes:

• Co-authored (with Dr. Johnson) a book chapter entitled Crisis Management in K. Cragg & P. Schloss (Eds.), Administration and Finance at Postsecondary Education Institutions with Routledge Publishing Company.
• Supervised student Jackson Stewart on a research project entitled Don't Ask, Don't Tell that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Supervised student Lauren Conrad on a research project entitled The Social Implications of Sexting that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Kopak and Johnson) a paper entitled Research, Law Enforcement Agencies, Best Practices, and Bridging the Gap at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.

Dr. Tom Johnson:

• Published an article entitled Emergency management students’ perceptions of the use of WebEOC® to create an authentic learning environment in Educational Media International at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2012.738010. DOI: 0.1080/09523987.2012 .738010.
• Presented a paper entitledThe Use of WebEOC® to Enhance Student Soft Skill Development: What do the Preliminary Results Suggest?at the Annual North Carolina Emergency Management Association Fall Conference, Hickory, NC in October 2012.
• Presented a paper entitled International Students’ Perceptions of a Shelter-In-Place Experience at the 40th Annual Southeastern Criminal Justice Association Conference, Atlantic Beach, FL in September 2012.
• Co-presented (with student Sarah Summerton) a paper entitled Use of WebEOC to Create an Authentic Learning Environment at the 15th Annual Emergency Management Institute's Higher Education Conference in Emmitsburg, MD in June 2012.
• Co-authored (with Dr. Caravelis-Hughes) a book chapter entitled Crisis Management in K. Cragg & P. Schloss (Eds.), Administration and Finance at Postsecondary Education Institutions with Routledge Publishing Company.
• Published an article entitled Effect of a Marketing Program on Freshman Student Registration for an Emergency Notification System in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 9(1) at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jhsem.2012.9.issue-1/1547-7355.1938/1547-7355.1938.xml?format=INT.
• Supervised student Austin Ritch on a research project entitled Theoretical Framework for Implementing Emergency Notification Systems at UNC Institutions that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Caravelis-Hughes and Kopak) a paper entitled Research, Law Enforcement Agencies, Best Practices, and Bridging the Gap at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Presented a paper entitled Introduction of WebEOC to the Curriculum at the Fall North Carolina Emergency Management Conference in Hickory, NC in October 2011.

Dr. Al Kopak:

• Presented a poster entitled Ecodevelopmental Protective Factors against Substance Use among Multiethnic Gang-Affiliated Youth at the Annual Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center Conference in Phoenix, AZ in April 2012.
• Co-presented (with S. Proctor and N. Hoffman) a poster entitled Are the Criteria Compatible: Examining Current DSM-IV and Proposed DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Cocaine Use Disorders at the Annual American Society of Addiction Medicine Conference in Atlanta, GA in April 2012.
• Supervised students Samantha Brothers, Logan Presnell, Spencer Lockridge, and Nakristen Greene on a research project entitled From Da Streetz: A Statistical Analysis of Crime that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Supervised students Regina Cline, Erin Andrews, Jodi Evans, and Cody Hall on a research project entitled A Statistical Analysis of Mean Crime Rates of Two Southeastern Cities that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Supervised student Chelsea Owens on a research project entitled The Discrepancies between Males and Females in the Criminal Justice Process that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Brown and Vaske) a paper entitled Teaching Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice: An Outcome Assessment at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Caravelis-Hughes and Johnson) a paper entitled Research, Law Enforcement Agencies, Best Practices, and Bridging the Gap at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Co-presented (with A. McCord) a paper entitled Innovations in Information-Sharing: An Example provided by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Contributed entries entitled Divorce and Marriage in the United States and Abroad in the Cultural Sociology of Divorce and (with Dr. Hawley) an entry entitled Prescription Drug Abuse to the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Criminology.
• Co-published (with S. Proctor and N. Hoffman) an article entitled Compatibility of Current DSM-IV and Proposed DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Cocaine Use Disorders in Addictive Behaviors, 37(6), 722-728.
• Co-authored (with Dr. Hawley) an article entitled Family Warmth and Delinquency among Mexican-American and White Youth: Detailing the Causal Variables in the Journal of Juvenile Justice, 1(2), 52-67.
• Co-presented (with Dr. Hawley) a paper entitled Causal Variables leading to Delinquency Issues among Mexican-American and White Youth at the Annual Southern Criminal Justice Association Conference in Nashville, TN in September 2011.

Dr. Hoon Lee:

• Presented a paper entitled Police Victimization and its Impact on Organizational Commitment: A Korean Case at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Co-authored (with H. Lim and D. Bowman) a monograph entitled The Six Policing Strategies in America.
• Co-published (with H. Jang, J. Lee, and D. Tushaus) an article entitled Examination of the Rape Rate in South Korea: An Explorative Approach in Society & Security.
• Completed a dissertation entitled The Impact of Neighborhood Crime Levels on Police Use of Force: An Examination at Micro Levels using Geographic Information Systems Techniques that was submitted to Sam Houston State University.

Professor Carlie Merritt:

• Co-authored (with Dr. Crow) a book chapter entitled Sounding the Alarm: Preparing Emergency Managers in Second Life in S. Gregory, M. Lee, B. Delgarno, and B. Tynan (Eds.) Virtual Worlds in Online and Distance Education. Athabasca University Press: Athabasca AB: Canada.
• Co-presented (with Drs. Berry and Johnson) a poster entitled Use of WebEOC for Disaster Simulation
• Developed an Emergency and Disaster Management Certificate Program for emergency management, government, and private practitioners. 
• Co-presented (with Dr. Berry) a paper entitled Emergency Management Bachelor Degree Curriculum Outcomes at the Fall North Carolina Emergency Management Conference in Hickory, NC in October 2011.

Professor Maggie Orender:

• Co-presented (with student Elizabeth McEwan) a paper entitled Undergraduate Criminal Justice Students' Writing: Papers are a "Reel Waist" of Time for Educators to Grade at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Developed ancillary packages to accompany Criminology: Explaining Crime and Its Context (8th Ed.).

Dr. Jamie Vaske:

• Co-published (with Danielle Boisvert and John Wright) an article entitled Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Relationship between Violent Victimization and Criminal Behavior in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
• Contributed (with Danielle Boisvert) an entry entitled Genetic Theories of Criminal Behavior in The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
• Revised and updated two chapters (Individual Theories of Crime: Biological and Biosocial Perspectives and New Directions: Integration and a Life-Course Perspective) in S. Brown, F. Esbensen, and G. Geis (Eds.) Criminology: Explaining Crime and Its Context (8th Ed.).
• Supervised student Matthew Causby on a research project entitled Effective Correctional Interventions for Reducing Recidivism that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.
• Presented a paper entitled Issues Implementing Multi-Systemic Therapy at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association in Raleigh, NC in February 2012.
• Supervised students Melissa Glatte, Justin Smith, Health Stanley, and Freedom Critcher on a research project entitled Effectiveness of Problem-Oriented Policing that was presented at the Spring 2012 Undergraduate Student Research Expo at WCU.