It’s the final countdown. In this episode we speak with Drs. Lucas Alward, Carlena Orosco, and Wesley Smith about their experiences writing the dissertation and going through the dissertation defense!
Lucas Alward is an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Boise State University. He received his PhD from the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida in 2022. His primary research interests include community and institutional corrections, procedural justice and legitimacy, prisoner reentry, and implementation of evidence-based practices. In 2019, Luke was awarded the American Society of Criminology Division of Corrections and Sentencing’s Dissertation Scholarship Award. His work has been published in Crime & Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, the Journal of Criminal Justice, and Victims & Offenders, among others.
Carlena Orosco is an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminalisitcs at California State University, Los Angeles. She received her doctorate from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University in 2022. Carlena previously served as the Research and Planning Supervisor in the Strategic Planning, Analysis & Research Center (SPARC) at Tempe Police Department; as a Senior Research Analyst for the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, Statistical Analysis Center; and as a dispatcher for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where she was also an Acting Supervisor and Systems Monitor. Carlena’s research spans numerous content areas, including de-escalation in policing, police dispatchers, crime analysis, and law enforcement decision-making. Carlena’s work can be found in Policing: An International Journal, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, American Journal of Public Health, and Justice Quarterly.
Wesley Smith spent 12 years in the United States Army and Army National Guard while pursuing his PhD in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University. He works for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in their Research and Development shop, teaches for Doña Ana Community College, and is a paid research consultant for several policy groups as well as businesses. His work for the state of Texas focuses primarily on developing and measuring the effects of policy and programmatic interventions for those supervised by or working in TDCJ. In his spare time, he also is engaged in research examining the pathways of veteran involvement in the criminal justice, various outcomes associated with facility and service animals, substance use treatment program fidelity, and the consequences of being sentenced as a juvenile to life without parole. His work has been featured in Corrections, Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Women and Criminal Justice, and Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.
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Episode Transcription Available Below for Download: Word (.docx) and PDF (.pdf)
Get in touch with Luke, Carlena, and Wes:
Luke: Boise State University website // lucasalward AT boisestate.edu // Twitter
Carlena: Cal State LA website // corosco5 AT calstatela.edu // Twitter // LinkedIn
Wes: Twitter
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