Lorena Ávila, PhD, received her doctorate at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, Newark in 2024. She specializes in Colombia and Latin America’s state-building and peace-keeping initiatives, focusing on criminal justice issues across the Americas and human rights protection mechanisms. Currently, her research in the United States focuses on the role of law and legal bureaucracies in propelling inequalities through the immigration system. Her research aims to give visibility to the experiences, resources and challenges of migrant families and migrant’s rights advocacy networks navigating inequality and racialization propelled by bureaucratic structures in place.

Guillermo Jesús Escaño will receive his doctorate from the University of Albany’s School of Criminal Justice in the spring of 2025. His research focuses on crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized criminal groups, the structural and cultural causes and consequences of violence and criminal justice policy (evidence-based practices). He is a quantitative researcher, mainly using panel and time series models. His work is published in multiple outlets, including Justice Quarterly, The British Journal of Criminology and Routledge. 

Nancy M Lane '87 CLAS is the chief executive officer of Local Media Association and Local Media Foundation. She writes about the influence James McKenna, PhD, had on her as a student and a professional. She believes that while sociology has not always been a part of her career, she was able to apply her degree to help launch Word In Black, a news collaborative produced by 10 of the nation’s leading Black publishers. Inspired by the impact, they have since helped launch News is Out, an LBGTQ+ news source, and the Covering Climate Collaborative.

Madison Moser '22 CLAS is an aspiring registered nurse who is currently completing her capstone at Denver Health. She details how her degree in sociology has been critical to providing patient centered care, particularly for vulnerable populations. The sociology courses she has taken have inspired her to always consider how larger societal structures impact individual health and help ensure that her decisions are both medically and socially sound.