Dr. Denise Paquette Boots
The criminology program at The University of Texas at Dallas ranks fifth in the nation in a study assessing faculty research productivity. When the ranking is adjusted for the number of faculty, the program is No. 1 in the U.S.
The findings will be featured in an upcoming print edition of the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.
The study’s authors evaluated articles published between 2010 and 2014 in top criminology scholarly journals by faculty of 40 PhD-granting programs at U.S. universities that are members of the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice. The study factored in the number of instructors and journal articles per faculty member, including partial credit for co-authored research projects.
“We’ve known for years that our criminology faculty is exceptional, and studies like this demonstrate that fact,” said Dr. Denis Dean, dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.
“Our faculty produced the most publications of any of the 40 PhD-granting programs in the U.S., despite the fact that we have one of the smaller numbers of faculty. That speaks volumes about the dedication, hard work and productivity of this group,” Dean said.
“It is rewarding to see the hard work of the criminology faculty and our collective academic productivity reflected in these rankings. We have a truly outstanding and talented group of faculty with a wide range of areas of expertise related to criminology and criminal justice public policy.”
Dr. Denise Paquette Boots, associate professor and head of the criminology program at UT Dallas
Scholarly productivity is an important indicator of an intellectually engaged faculty, which contributes to more effective graduate training, according to the study. Each of the UT Dallas criminology department’s 12 faculty members had an average of 20 authorships.
“It is rewarding to see the hard work of the criminology faculty and our collective academic productivity reflected in these rankings,” said Dr. Denise Paquette Boots, associate professor and program head of criminology.
“We have a truly outstanding and talented group of faculty with a wide range of areas of expertise related to criminology and criminal justice public policy. I am grateful to work with such dedicated, diverse and productive scholars.”
The criminology program was previously ranked No. 19 for the 2005-2009 time frame.
The program ranked fifth in the world in a 2012 study in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education assessing the academic impact of publications.
UT Dallas offers the following criminology degrees: bachelor’s, master’s, PhD and an Executive Master of Science in justice administration and leadership.