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Criminal Justice & Criminology Faculty

Headshot of white female professional with blazer.
  • Associate Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology
  • Department Chair, Criminal Justice & Criminology

My research focuses on two larger areas: examining court decision-making by judges and prosecutors and working with community agencies on program and process evaluation in justice-related fields. I have been a co-investigator on several funded projects, including evaluating a conflict management program for behavioral health staff and a family drug treatment court, and have served as a principal investigator on an evaluation response to the civil legal needs of survivors of human trafficking. I have served as a master’s thesis chair and have been actively involved in mentoring master’s and doctoral students on research projects, including presentations at conferences and publishing peer-reviewed articles.

Specialties

  • Courts and sentencing
  • Prosecutorial discretion
  • Domestic violence
  • Sexual assault
  • Gender and racial disparities
Portrait of Tina Freiburger (white woman)
  • Dean, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare
  • Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology

Specialties

  • Program evaluation
  • Criminal sentencing
  • Gender and racial disparities in the criminal justice system
  • Juvenile justice and decision making in the juvenile court
Portrait of Kimberly Hassell (white woman), criminal justice & criminology associate professor
  • Associate Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology

Specialties

  • Police policy
  • Police decision making and behavior
  • Police management
  • Women and policing
  • Police-community relations
  • Race and criminal justice
  • Administration of justice
  • Criminal justice processing
White female professor standing outside in black dress.
  • Associate Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology
  • PhD Program Director

Specialties

  • The effect of neighborhood context and local institutions on offending, corrections and parolee outcomes
Portrait of Thomas LeBel (white man), associate professor of criminal justice and criminology
  • Associate Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology
  • Criminal Justice & Criminology Field Placement Coordinator

Specialties

  • Prisoner reintegration
  • Desistance from crime
  • Stigma and formerly incarcerated persons
  • Intervention strategies with correctional clients
  • Substance use treatment and services for criminal justice involved individuals
  • Women involved with the criminal justice system
  • Drug courts
  • Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology

My research primarily examines urban gun violence. My work uses geographic information systems, social network analysis, simulation, and advanced statistical modeling to understand the processes that contribute to violence. I am currently involved in two funded projects to evaluate gun violence prevention programs, including Cure Violence (St. Louis, MO) and Project Life (Indianapolis, IN). I am always looking to work with graduate students interested in learning more about data management and analysis.

Specialties

  • Geographic criminology
  • Decision-making
  • Crime networks
  • Urban sociology
  • Gun violence
  • Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice & Criminology
  • Graduate Program Coordinator, Criminal Justice & Criminology

My research focuses on examining potential disparities in the criminal justice system related to sentencing decisions; and the influence of individual- and neighborhood-level factors that affect the likelihood of recidivism post-jail. I have experience conducting program evaluations for various agencies across Wisconsin, and currently have funding for a process and outcome evaluation of the Milwaukee County Adult Drug Treatment Court. I hope to draw additional funding in the future that will support both masters and doctoral students.

Specialties

  • Disparities (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex, age) in the criminal justice system
  • Correlates of jail recidivism
  • Adult drug treatment courts and veteran’s treatment courts

Social Work Faculty

Headshot of white female professional with rose-colored blazer.
  • Associate Dean, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare
  • Professor, Social Work

My research focuses on unhealthy alcohol use and expanding the base of alcohol and other drug use intervention into health care settings. I have been involved in numerous substance use research, evaluation, and training projects over the past 20+ years. These projects have included the efficacy of alcohol behavioral treatments in combination with medications, studies on alcohol screening and brief intervention for individuals engaged in hazardous and harmful drinking, and alcohol biomarker research.

My current projects focus on integrated substance use disorder and psychological trauma treatment. I currently am the co-principal Investigator of a training project titled Youth-Oriented Substance Abuse and Trauma Counseling. I have served as an advisor to several doctoral students over the years, published with many more, and I count several former students as current colleagues in the substance use research field.

Specialties

  • Unhealthy alcohol use
  • Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for unhealthy substance use
  • Integrated substance use disorder and psychological trauma treatment
Portrait of Ai Bo (asian woman), social work assistant professor
  • Assistant Professor, Social Work

Specialties

  • Social determinants of health
  • Evidence-based practice for behavioral and mental health problems
  • Adolescent development and substance use prevention
  • Adolescent alcohol use decision making
Portrait of Colleen Galambos (white woman), social work professor and Helen Bader Endowed Chair of Applied Gerontology
  • Professor, Social Work
  • Helen Bader Endowed Chair, Applied Gerontology

Specialties

  • Care transitions and advance care planning
  • Aging in place
  • Health and long term care systems quality improvement
  • Gerontechnology
  • Interprofessional practice
Professional headshot of Social Work Assistant Professor Jane Hereth (white woman), wearing a flowered shirt with a blue cardigan.
  • Assistant Professor, Social Work

My research examines the impact and intersection of interpersonal and state violence on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) youth and young adults. My previous work investigated young transgender women’s pathways into the criminal legal system. Currently, I serve as the principal investigator on an NIH-funded study examining transgender women’s trajectories of victimization, help-attainment, and mental health. I am excited to expand my research team to include new doctoral students.

Specialties

  • Examining social and structural exclusion among LGBTQIA+ communities
  • Gender-based violence
  • Criminal legal system involvement
  • Associate Professor, Social Work

Specialties

  • Child maltreatment
  • Agency decision-making in public systems
  • Concentrated poverty and cumulative risk
  • Client engagement and autonomy
  • Program evaluation

Specialties

  • Caregiver health literacy
  • Cultural implications of caregiving
  • Youth caregivers/young carers
  • Impact of chronic illness on the family
  • Social work and health care
Portrait of Yura Lee (asian woman), assistant professor of social work
  • Assistant Professor, Social Work

Specialties

  • Reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias among older adults
  • Cognitive decline after late-life transitions including retirement and widowhood
  • Leisure activity participation and cognitive function later in life
  • Intergenerational support: grandchildren as caregivers of dementia patients
  • Health and mental health of older Asian immigrants
  • Professor, Social Work

Specialties

  • Trauma and resilience
  • Prevention and intervention
  • Program evaluation
  • Translational research
Portrait of Andrew Steward (white man), Assistant Professor of Social Work
  • Assistant Professor, Social Work

Specialties

  • Internalized ageism and psychosocial health among older adults
  • Intersectionality of ageism with other social justice issues
  • Arts-based research and therapeutic music
  • Professor, Social Work
  • Department Chair, Social Work

My research focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of trauma responsive service models integrated within publicly funded programs such as child welfare. I have developed the T-SBIRT model, and after completing multiple feasibility studies, I am now conducting outcome evaluations of the model. I currently have funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program and Medical College of Wisconsin. I hope to draw down future funding that will enable support of doctoral students.

Specialties

  • Long-term effects of child maltreatment
  • Interventions for preventing or treating child maltreatment and early life trauma
  • Evaluation of prison entry programs