Member Biographies
Allison T. Chappell, Co-Director
Dr. Chappell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology (with an emphasis on Criminology and Deviance) from the University of Florida in 2005. Allison's primary research interests include policing, occupational socialization, organizational change, juvenile justice, and inequality. Her dissertation examined the training and socialization of police officers from a social learning perspective. Allison's publications have appeared in professional journals such as Crime and Delinquency, Deviant Behavior, and Policing. She teaches courses in criminal justice, policing, and inequality.
Ruth Triplett, Co-Director
Dr. Triplett is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. She earned her Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on criminological theory with particular emphasis on labeling and social disorganization. A current research project examines the role of churches in prisoner re-entry. Dr. Triplett teaches courses in criminological theory and women and crime.
Joshua Behr
Dr. Joshua G. Behr comes to us as a faculty member within the Department of Political Science and Geography at Old Dominion University. He received his training at the University of New Orleans specializing in urban and minority politics. He has taught a variety of public policy, state government, and statistical methods courses at the University of New Orleans, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and Old Dominion University. He has published articles on presidential approval, times series methodology, and minority employment patterns. His recent book (SUNY Press) on political redistricting has been well received by the general reader and academics alike. He was fortunate enough to have visited Hampton Roads in the mid-1990s - a time when downtown Norfolk was in renaissance - and immediately recognized the quality of life available for a young family in Hampton Roads. He also recognized that Hampton Roads, unlike many other similar-sized metropolitan areas, had not systematically traced perceptions of quality of life. Understanding the importance of such indicators as a planning tool, Dr. Behr has since launched a ten-year project to measure trends in citizen perceptions of quality of life here in Hampton Roads. Currently, Dr. Behr is collaborating with EVMS to identify health disparities as well as working with Sentara Hospitals to identify patterns of emergency room utilization.
Richardean Benjamin
Dr. Benjamin (College of Health Sciences, Associate Professor and Chair of School of Nursing) has been a member of the faculty at ODU since 1989 and for over 40 years she has been a nurse specializing in psychiatric and mental health nursing. She received additional preparation as a psychiatric epidemiologist from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently a co-principal investigator on a Department of Health and Human Services Administration grant ($770,000) focusing on promoting cultural competence of baccalaureate prepared nurses. Her research interests include health promotion and prevention of health issues of minority women and children.
Tancy Vandecar-Burdin
Tancy Vandecar-Burdin has served as the Associate Director of The Social Science Research Center (SSRC) at Old Dominion University since 1998. She supervises research and evaluation projects on a day-to-day basis; manages communications with research partners; supervises student and hourly research assistants; develops interview protocols and other data collection instruments; monitors data collection and analysis tasks; handles logistics of data collection; develops reports and presentations; and manages fiscal tasks for The SSRC. Ms. Vandecar-Burdin's research interests include women in criminal justice, victimization, specialty courts, and the impact of early childcare/education on school outcomes and delinquency. She has served as a magistrate for the City of Norfolk and is currently working on a PhD in Public Administration and Urban Policy.
Randy Gainey
Dr. Gainey is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington. He is co-author of Family Violence and Criminal Justice: A Life-Course Approach. His research is focused on sentencing decisions, alternatives to incarceration, and neighborhood characteristics and crime.
Pamela A. Gibson
Dr. Gibson earned her bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Virginia, her Masters in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy and Administration from VCU. Dr. Gibson has 15 years of professional experience in public administration. She has served in the mental health field; most recently, as Program Coordinator for the Cobb and Douglas Counties Boards of Health as Director of Personnel Planning, Education and Training Department, Supported Employment Program, Residential Services and Out-Patient Clinics. She also served as Director of Liaison Services with the area homeless shelters, jails and hospitals. Dr. Gibson joined the faculty at the ODU Department of Urban Studies and Public Administration in January, 2002. She teaches the Introduction to Public Administration and Public Policy Analysis course for ODU and is currently conducting research in administrative ethics and economic development.
Linda Horsey
Linda Horsey joined Old Dominion University's Virginia Beach Higher Education Center as lecturer in human services. Horsey was an adjunct in ODU's human services department and brings to the university a range of human services field experience in the areas of psychotherapy, special educational services, client avocation and juvenile court services. Horsey serves on the Norfolk Community Services Board as its treasurer and on ODU's Institutional Review Board. Horsey has an M.S.W. from the Columbia University School of Social Work and an Ed.D. in educational administration from Teachers College at Columbia University. Horsey has studied services to the special needs population in Sweden and has spent 5 years living in La Cote D'Ivoire, Africa. Horsey resides in Norfolk and is the mother of two sons.
Scott R. Maggard
Scott Maggard joined the faculty of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice in August, 2008. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology and Deviance from the University of Florida. Prior to his appointment at ODU, he was a Research Associate at the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Virginia. His research focuses on social structure and crime, racial disparities in sentencing, drug policy, and juvenile delinquency.
Elizabeth Monk-Turner
Elizabeth Monk-Turner received her PhD in Sociology in 1982 from Brandeis. Her areas of research interest include gender, education, and labor markets. Much of this work is based on international comparisons between the United States, South Korea, China, Thailand, and Japan. More recent work explores the disciplinary divide between criminology and sociology, media images of crime, and the effect of meditation in correctional settings. Dr. Monk-Turner has published widely in professional journals including the American Sociological Review, Feminist Economics, Criminal Justice and the Popular Culture, Criminal Justice Education, Corrections Today, the Journal of Gender Studies, and the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, to mention a few.
Stacey Plichta
Dr. Plichta is a Professor at Old Dominion University in the College of Health Sciences, Ph.D. Program in Urban Services. She earned her Doctorate of Science degree from The Johns Hopkins University of Hygiene and Public Health. Her area of expertise is in health services research, with a particular focus on domestic violence and women's health. She has numerous publications in the area of women's health, and has presented her work in both national and international forums.
Shana Pribesh
Dr. Shana Pribesh is an Assistant Professor in Educational Curriculum and Instruction. Shana obtained her doctorate from The Ohio State University in Sociology. She is interested in the structural aspects of educational inequality and has worked on studies of student/teacher racial matching as well as the consequences of residential and school moving on educational performance. Dr. Pribesh also holds a half-time appointment with the Program for Research and Evaluation in Public Schools (PREPS) at Old Dominion University. With PREPS, she is currently investigating smaller learning communities in four Norfolk high schools, evaluating the ACCESS College Foundation program, and assessing barriers to National Professional Board Certification for library media specialists. Shana has two decades of educational research experience having working with the American Institutes for Research, RAND, Center for Research in Educational Policy, and the University of Michigan. Dr. Pribesh teaches graduate courses in research methods and assessment.
Craig O. Stewart
Craig O. Stewart earned his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. He is an assistant professor in the Department of English. His primary research interests are in the rhetoric of science, especially how discourse of and about science is utilized in social controversies.
Burton St. John III
Burton St. John III, Assistant Professor of Communications holds a Ph.D. in American Studies (with an emphasis in public relations and journalism) from Saint Louis University. His ongoing research involves the tension between the journalism and public relations industries regarding propaganda and ethics and how that tension contributes to press disconnect from communities. He is a 2006 Page Legacy Scholar Grant recipient concerning the issue of ethical use of video news releases.
Garland White
Garland White is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. His research and teaching focuses on communities and crime, and research methods/statistics.
Other Faculty:
Mona Danner and Ingrid Whitaker (Sociology and Criminal Justice), Bridget Anderson (English), Jennifer Fish (Women's Studies), Margaret Pitts (Communications), Bryan Porter (Psychology), James Neff (Health Sciences), Michael Clemons and Regina Karp (Political Science and Geography), and Christopher Colburn (Economics).
Community Advisory Board
Thaler McCormick, Executive Director, ForKids
Lesa Clark, Director, Multicultural Student Services, Old Dominion University
Bruce Marquis, Chief, Norfolk Police Department
Daun S. Hester, Norfolk City Council
Angie Callahan, WHRO
George W. Pratt, Ed.D., Executive Director, Norfolk Community Services Board
Linda S. Filippi, LCSW, Executive Director, Tidewater Regional Group Home Commission
Carolyn Scott, Senior Probation Officer, District 32, Chesapeake
Sarah A. Gibson, M.A., Research Analyst, National Center for State Courts
Jo G. Holland, Chief Probation and Parole Officer, District 32, Chesapeake
Major Mike O'Toole, Director, Norfolk Community Corrections
