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- MFA in Studio Art
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Faculty
Dr. Bakhitah Abdul-Ra'uf
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Study Abroad Program Faculty Director
Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 5027
Phone: 540-831-6338
Email: bbabdulr@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., University of South Florida
- M.A., Antioch University
- B.S., Cheyney State University
Dr. Abdul-Ra'uf joined the Radford University faculty in 1993.
Interests
Dr. Bakhitah Abdul-Ra’uf is a Socio-Cultural and Applied Anthropologist, and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida. Her research interest includes Police-Community Relations, Social Justice Mediation (training certificate, U of Mass, Amherst), Shari’a (Islamic Law) and Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. She has worked with the police in Virginia and Florida where she conducted ethnographic studies. The Florida study included attending the police academy as a full participant observer. She has also observed the Auckland New Zealand Police while living with a Maori (indigenous population) family. Dr. Abdul-Ra’uf has observed both the Finnish Police in Joensuu, Finland, and students/recruits at the Police College of Finland in Tampere, Finland. While at the Police College of Finland, she presented research that she conducted with the Blacksburg, VA Police Department. Graduate courses taught include, Social Awareness, Qualitative Research Methods and a number of seminars including, Understanding Police Organizations.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Abdul-Ra’uf recently authored The Blacksburg VA Police Department: A Model of Professionalism and Social Justice in the Law Enforcement Executive Forum Journal. This publication is based on her most recent ethnographic research project which focused on police subculture, emphasizing the socially defined role of the police in Blacksburg, VA. The research also examined the training and socialization process which conceptualizes the life style or role of the police officer from their points of view, their definitions of reality, and the conditions that promote favorable relations within the community. The significance of the study was to focus on street level or patrol officers, and resided in efforts to identify Social Justice issues that create and nurture favorable relations between the police and communities in general. The goal of the project was to describe, using an ethnographic approach, the police occupational subculture as it relates to current police training and practices, the relationship between the police and the community, and a comparison of practices relating to police-community practices between Blacksburg Police (small college town) practices and that of a previous ethnography conducted by Dr. Abdul-Ra’uf of the police in a mid-size city. Having gone through a police academy in Florida as a recruit, Dr. Abdul-Ra’uf was accepted not just as a ride along and observer, but as someone who could relate to the general subculture of the police. Dr. Abdul-Ra’uf continues her relationship with the Blacksburg Police Department as she and Sgt. Kale Craver are currently examining municipal and police leadership. Additional information about professional activities is available on Dr. Abdul-Ra'uf's vita.
Dr. Riane Bolin
Associate Criminal Justice Professor
Graduate Coordinator

CONTACT
Office: CHBS Building, Room 5405
Phone: 540-831-7547
E-Mail: rbolin1@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., University of South Carolina
- M.S., University of North Carolina - Charlotte
- B.A., North Carolina State University
Dr. Bolin joined the Radford University faculty in 2014.
Interests
Dr. Bolin's current research interests include a variety of issues related to juvenile justice and delinquency, including juvenile corrections, delinquency prevention, drug use, and victimization.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Bolin has been working on projects in a number of different research areas. Her work with Dr. Pate on undergraduate substance use has led to two publications; one with former undergraduate student Jenna McClintock exploring the impact of substance use among college students was published in The Social Science Journal and another examining the impact of strain on non-medical prescription drug use was accepted for publication in the Journal of Drug Issues. Additionally, she had an article entitled, “Drug use and abuse as primary motivators for male and female involvement in burglary: A comparison of self-reported differences among a random sample of male and female burglars” published in the Journal of Drug Issues. Dr. Bolin also has had two publications recently accepted for publication in The Journal of Crime and Justice and Corrections: Policy, Practice, and Research. Dr. Bolin’s current projects involve the professional orientation of probation and parole officers as well as public opinion of blended sentencing.
Dr. Lori Elis
Professor of Criminal Justice
Interim Department Chair

Contact
Office: CHBS Building, room 5028
Phone: 540-831-6775
E-Mail: lelis@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park
- M.A., University of Maryland, College Park
- B.A., University of Maryland, College Park
Dr. Elis joined the Radford University faculty in 2007.
Interests
Dr. Elis' research interests include gender and crime, developmental theories of crime, domestic violence, and the examination of patterns of sentencing disparity in Virginia.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Elis' recent professional activities include publications in the areas of police responses to domestic violence, restorative justice, and an empirical test of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime.
Dr. Egan Kyle Green
Professor of Criminal Justice
Extended Campus Coordinator
Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 5038A
Phone: 540-831-5995
E-Mail: ekgreen@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- M.A., East Tennessee State University
- B.S., Appalachian State University
Dr. Green joined the Radford University faculty in 2005.
Interests
Dr. Green's research explores rural crime, with a focus on wildlife crime and wildlife law enforcement; he also conducts research on illicit liquor manufacturing and distribution.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Green recently authored an article titled Culture Conflict Between Moonshiners and the Government: An Explanation of Jury Nullification and Nolle Prosequi in Illicit Alcohol Offenses in Rural Communities that was published in the International Journal of Rural Criminology. This is the first academic research article addressing illicit moonshine to ever be published in a criminological journal. He also authored an article titled Judging the Effectiveness of Anti-Poaching Hotlines that is published in the Journal of Rural Social Sciences. Dr. Green recently finished revisions to the 8th edition of The Police Manager. He is conducting fieldwork on wildlife crime during the fall 2017 semester.
Dr. Margaret Pate
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Associate Director - Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS)
Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 5403
Phone: 540-831-6339
E-Mail: mpate1@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., University of Florida
- B.A., B.S., M.S., Niagara University
Dr. Pate joined the Radford University faculty in 2014.
Interests
Dr. Pate has several distinct areas of research. One of Dr. Pate's research interests include the decision-making process that begins with the apprehension of a suspect all the way to conviction for the various actors in the criminal justice system, including law enforcement, attorneys, and jurors, specifically decisions about evidence and perceptions of guilt. Dr. Pate also conducts research on various teaching practices and the influence of these practices on student engagement and academic performance. Finally, Dr. Pate is also interested in issues of substance use among undergraduate students, including both the causes and consequences of such use.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Pate presented findings from two recent research projects on jurors’ use and comprehension of genetic evidence in a criminal trial at the American Society of Criminology conference in Philadelphia in November 2017. Dr. Pate has also recently published articles in each of her research areas, in journals such as Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, and The Social Science Journal.
Dr. Rachel Boba Santos
PROFESSOR OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Co-Director, Center for police practice, policy and research

Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 4505 in Suite 4501
Phone: 540-831-5061
E-Mail: rsantos5@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D. Arizona State University
- M.A. Arizona State University
- B.A. California Lutheran University
Dr. Santos joined the faculty in 2016.
INTERESTS
Dr. Santos interests include conducting practice-based research which is implementing and evaluating evidence-based practices in the “real world” of criminal justice. In particular, she seeks to improve crime prevention and crime reduction efforts by police in areas such as crime analysis, problem solving, accountability, as well as leadership and organizational change. She and Dr. Roberto Santos co-created Stratified Policing which is an organizational model for systemizing proactive crime reduction strategies in police departments. Other areas of research include police/researcher partnerships, police/community collaboration, hot spot and problem-oriented policing, predictive policing, environmental criminology, crime and place, police/crime data and technology, experimental research methodology, and program evaluation.
RECENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY
Dr. Santos’ recent professional activity includes serving as co-principal investigator for three federal grants working with over 20 police departments and criminal justice agencies to 1) develop a framework for institutionalizing community policing by rank, 2) implement an innovative information sharing technology for offender-focused strategies in the Roanoke Valley, VA, and 3) implement and evaluate a proactive police response to prevent domestic violence and increase victim safety in Danville, VA. She is working with police departments in Virginia, Nevada, North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio to improve their community collaboration efforts and implement Stratified Policing. She has completed two experiments partnering with a police agency to test the effectiveness of systematic police response in both short-term and long-term property crime hot spots and works with the Police Executive Research Forum as a crime analysis subject matter expert. She regularly conducts presentations at state and international police and crime analysis conferences, publishes peer-reviewed journal articles and guidebooks for police, as well as writes and administers grant funded research and technical assistance. She has recently co-authored the book, Stratified Policing: An Organizational Model for Proactive Crime Reduction and Accountability. Additional information about Dr. Santos’ research, publications, and other professional activities is available on her curriculum vita.
Dr. Roberto Santos
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Co-Director, Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research
Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis Coordinator

Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 4506
Phone: 540-831-5157
E-Mail: rsantos4@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D. Nova Southeastern University
- M.S. Florida Atlantic University
- B.S. Barry University
Dr. Santos joined the faculty in 2016.
Interests
Dr. Santos is a retired police commander from a large police agency in Florida where after 22 years worked in, supervised, and commanded every division within the agency. As such, his interests lie in policing. He assists police agencies and conducts evidence-based and practice-based research to “translate” research to practice and vice versa. Dr. Santos focuses on areas of crime reduction approaches and strategies, crime and place, environmental criminology, police use-of-force, police training, criminal investigations, organizational change and leadership, police and community partnerships, crime analysis, and experimental research methodology.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Santos co-created a crime reduction approach, called Stratified Policing, that provides the means for a police organization to systematize and sustain proactive crime reduction practices taking “what works” and “making it work” within the police organization. His book entitled, Stratified Policing: An Organizational Model for Proactive Crime Reduction and Accountability will be available in late 2020. He is active in assisting police agencies around the U.S. and internationally in organizational change, evaluation, and sustainability processes for institutionalizing proactive crime reduction strategies, problem solving, and accountability. In addition, he has conducted a quasi-experiment and random controlled trial (RCT) testing police response in, what he has coined as, “micro-time hot spots.” This work has resulted in recent grant funding, several peer-reviewed journal articles, and a police guidebook. Dr. Santos was inducted into George Mason University’s Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame for leading rigorous research and the implementation of evidence-based practices into day-to-day police operations. Dr. Santos recently completed work with the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services to publish a guidebook to assist police supervisors to implement and carry out community-oriented policing. Dr. Santos is currently the co-PI for three federal grants that include partnerships with over 20 police departments and criminal justice agencies to develop an organizational framework for institutionalizing community policing; to implement an innovative technology and proactive offender-focused strategies; and to create a model for proactive police response to prevent domestic violence and increase victim safety. Additional information about Dr. Santos’ research, publications, and other professional activities is available on his curriculum vita.
Dr. Shawn Smith
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice

Contact
Office: CHBS Building, Room 5401
Phone: 540-831-5593
E-Mail: ssmith479@radford.edu
Background
- Ph.D., Old Dominion University
- M.A., Old Dominion University
- B.S., West Virginia University
Dr. Smith joined the Radford University faculty in 2016.
INTERESTS
Dr. 'Shawn Smith is a criminologist and assistant professor specializing in traditional and contemporary ecological crime modeling and public policy development. Within these scopes, his recent research and pedagogy includes urban-to-rural comparisons in crime theory (U.S. and international), emerging technologies in criminal justice, and digital victimization (e.g., cybercrime).
RECENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Smith is a regular participant of several national and international conferences, and regularly mentors both undergraduate and graduate students in the pursuit of their respective research interests. Of late, Dr. Smith has also been active in unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) implementation and literacy for criminal justice students and practitioners both on campus and the surrounding New River Valley community.