Sharon Davies (Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law – OSU) is the new Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at OSU as of January 2012. Dr. Davies plans to continue to current work of the Kirwan Institute, while expanding its scope of research in the areas of criminal justice, immigration, and health care. For further information, please click here to see the article on the Moritz webpage regarding Dr. Davies' appointment.

Walter DeKeseredy (Professor of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies – University of Ontario Institute of Technology) has had a bevy of scholarly activity as of late. The following are Dr. DeKeseredy's recent publications:

• Rennison, C.M., DeKeseredy, W.S., & Dragiewicz, M. (in press). "Intimate Relationship Status Variations in Violence against Women: Urban, Suburban, and Rural Differences." Violence Against Women.

"Critical Theory" (with Martin D. Schwartz) (in press). In Encyclopedia of Criminology & Criminal Justice, edited by Jay Albanese. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

DeKeseredy, W.S., & Donnermeyer, J.F. (in press). "Thinking Critically About Rural Crime: Toward the Development of a New Left Realist Perspective." In S. Winlow & R. Atkinson (Eds.), New Directions in Crime and Deviance: Papers From the York Deviancy Conference. London: Routledge.

DeKeseredy, W.S. (in press). "The Myth that 'Criminals' are Fundamentally Different From 'Noncriminals.'" In R.M. Bohm and J. T. Walker (Eds.), Demystifying Crime and Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.

DeKeseredy, W.S. (in press). "Understanding Woman Abuse in Canada: Past, Present and Future." In C. Karrington (Ed.), Crime, Justice and Social Justice Conference Proceedings. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

DeKeseredy, W.S. (in press). "The Current Condition of Criminological Theory in North America." In S. Hall & S. Winlow (Eds.), New Directions in Criminological Theory. London: Routledge.

Dr. DeKeseredy also gave the following keynote address: "Latest Research on Violence Against Women in Canada," The Domestic Violence Coordinating Committee of Windsor/Essex County's conference titled Shattered Relationships: Families Torn Apart by Violence, Windsor, ON (November 2011).

Lastly, the following are papers presented by Dr. DeKeseredy towards the end of last year:

"Pornography and Woman Abuse: Research, Theory, and Policy," Gender-Based Violence Conference, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH (November 2011).

"Male Peer Support theory" (with Martin D. Schwartz), Gender-Based Violence Conference, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH (November 2011).

"Situational Contexts and Reporting Violence Against Women to the Police"(with Molly Dragiewicz and Callie Rennison), American Society of Criminology annual meetings, Washington, D.C. (November 2011).

"Racial/Ethnic Variations in Violence Against Women: Urban, Suburban and Rural Differences" (with Molly Dragiewicz and Callie Rennison), American Society of Criminology annual meetings, Washington, D.C. (November 2011).

Joseph Donnermeyer (Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources – OSU) is the editor of a new journal entitled International Journal of Rural Criminology (IJRC). The first issue was released in early December 2011. It is an electronically-based journal published through the Knowledge Bank of The Ohio State Universities Libraries and is accessible here. IJRC provides a place for publication of both theoretical and empirical articles about rural crime. The next issue will be released in early June, 2012.

Nathan Doogan (Ph.D. candidate in Social Work – OSU) successfully passed his doctoral candidacy exams in Social Work in November 2011.

Ruth Peterson (Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Former Director of CJRC – OSU), 2011 recipient of the Edwin H. Sutherland Award, presented the Edwin H. Sutherland address in November 2011 at the American Society of Criminology Meetings in Washington, DC. Her talk was titled "The Central Place of Race in Crime and Justice." During her talk, Dr. Peterson spoke largely about her work with Laurie Krivo and others on crime, race and residential segregation. She stated that "race and ethnicity are very much at the core of the study of crime, crime control, and criminal justice, even for those not interested in race and ethnic variation." Dr. Peterson also acknowledged the contributions of her family, friends and colleagues in influencing her distinguished career. A version of her lecture will appear in a forthcoming issue of Criminology.

john powell (Former Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity – OSU) begins a new position in January 2012 as the Haas Diversity Research Center Director at the University of California, Berkeley.

Townsand Price-Spratlen (Associate Professor of Sociology – OSU) has a forthcoming publication in the June 2012 issue of the interdisciplinary journal, Spectrum. The article, co-authored with William L. Goldsby, is entitled "'Reconstruction Has Stopped the Nonsense': A Visual Ethnography of Grassroots Post-Prison Reentry."

Randolph Roth (Professor of History – OSU) was named a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. He also delivered a paper, "Measuring Feelings and Beliefs that May Facilitate (or Deter) Homicide," at the American Society of Criminology meeting in Washington, D.C., November 16, 2011, and at the Social Science History Association meeting in Boston, November 20, 2011. The paper will be published in Homicide Studies this year.

Hui Zheng (Assistant Professor of Sociology – OSU)'s article (co-authored with Yang Yang and Kenneth Land) in the December 2011 issue of American Sociological Review, "Variance Function Regression in Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort Models: Applications to the Study of Self-Reported Health," has been garnering media attention due to its methodological innovation and its significant implications. The findings show that "the gap between the least healthy and most healthy people has increased substantially among young American adults," as quoted in an article showcasing Dr. Zheng's work in USA Today.