International Center Chief Dr. Cindy J. Smith

Cindy Smith received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She was the first doctoral student to study under Joan Petersilia at UCI. Susan Turner, of RAND and now UCI, and Gilbert Geis were also faculty on her committee. She received her bachelor in science degree in elementary education from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and holds a M.S. in Justice from American University and a masters of science in education administration from National University. Dr. Smith is on an IPA from the University of Baltimore, where she was the Director of the Criminal Justice Graduate Program for several years, as well as the Distinguished Research Chair in 2001. Dr. Smith is a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar, having recently returned from Ankara, Turkey where she conducted research on trafficking in human beings for nearly one year.

Dr. Smith serves as the Chair of the Division of International Criminology and past Secretary/Treasurer of the Division of Corrections and Sentencing of the American Society of Criminology. She is a Board Member of the International Scientific & Professional Advisory Council (ISPAC) to the United Nations, and serves on two editorial boards (International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice and International Journal of Prisoner Health).

Dr. Smith has a diverse research portfolio and related publications. She has been grant funded by State and Federal agencies for the last 10 years in topics that include trafficking in human beings, prison-based therapeutic communities, correctional industries, strategic planning, juvenile sex offenders, juvenile jurisdictional waivers, chronic juvenile offenders, juvenile intervention program evaluation, and juvenile gender issues. She has published internationally on suicide terrorism, elderly victims of financial abuse, restorative justice in the United Nations, and transnational crime and technology methods.