The Criminal Justice Research Center has launched a new program to recognize excellence among students in the classroom and in internship placements. Each term, the top student from one of the criminal justice related classes or from an internship placement will be selected to receive the CJRC Outstanding Criminology Undergraduate Student Award. Each winner will receive a Certificate of Excellence, will be recognized prior to one of the CJRC's key presentations such as the Institute for Excellence in Justice or the Annual Reckless-Dinitz Lecture and will receive a gift card. Additionally, each student selected will be given the opportunity to select a state agency or community partner agency they are interested in learning more about and will be given the opportunity to spend a day with a professional in the agency of their choice.
The first CJRC Outstanding Criminology Undergraduate Student Award winner is Keagan Richard. Keagan is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in criminology and psychology with minors in security and intelligence and sexuality studies. Keagan was a student in Professor Paul Bellair’s Corrections class in fall 2016 and was nominated by Bellair. She demonstrated outstanding academic ability in the classroom and also has completed three internships over the past three years all with excellent performance. She was recognized by CJRC Director Dr. Dana Haynie at the annual CJRC Institute for Excellence in Justice event.
Currently, Keagan serves as an instructional assistant for a section of Introduction to Sociology and a Resident Advisor. She was also a student athlete tutor for the past two years. During the past three years, she has interned with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, More Than My Brother’s Keeper (Ohio State Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity) and the Ohio Department of Youth Services. She currently serves as a member on the Governor’s Council for Juvenile Justice, is president of the Ohio State chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society and volunteers at the James Cancer Hospital. There is no doubt that Keagan will go on to do wonderful things in her future career.
Congratulations, Keagan!
