Wall of Fame

Denise Paquette Boots received her B.A. (1995), M.A. (2001), and Ph.D. (2006) in Criminology from the University of South Florida and is currently an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is a former juvenile residential counselor for adjudicated youth, Border Patrol Agent trainee, and Pre-Doctoral Fellow with the National Consortium on Violence Research. She previously served as Graduate Director and Associate Chair at UT Dallas. Her present research focuses around violence and public policy, with an emphasis on neuropsychological correlates of violence, life-course perspectives, mental health, child abuse, domestic violence, parricide, capital punishment, youth crime, and intersections of race, gender, and ethnicity. In 2009, Dr. Boots was one of nine tenure-track professors across the University of Texas system chosen to receive the prestigious UT Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award for excellence in the classroom. Her professional service activities include serving as the Faculty Mentor to the Terry Scholars Program, on the Editorial Board of the journal Violence Against Women, as the inaugural president of the UT Dallas chapter of the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and as a consultant to various non-profit organizations and local and national media outlets on topics related to violence. 

Carl W. Hawkins, Jr. retired in 2009, as a Colonel from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office with nearly 35 years of progressive law enforcement experience. While at the sheriff's office in 1996, Colonel Hawkins was awarded a Community Policing Fellowship to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. There he researched and helped develop the Small Town and Rural Community Policing Train-the-Trainer Program. From 2009-2010, he worked for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) as a Senior Associate. In 2011, his consulting business was established.

Colonel Hawkins earned a Doctor of Public Administration degree and Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Nova Southeastern University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of South Florida. He is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police at PERF. the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville, and the Delinquency Control Institute at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Hawkins has 30 years of college/university teaching experience and published ten journal articles, eight book chapters, thirteen management studies, and two federal government reports. He is a frequent guest speaker throughout the United States on criminal justice issues and leadership development.

R. Gil Kerlikowske has served as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy since 2009. As the Nation's "Drug Czar," Mr. Kerlikowske coordinates all aspects of Federal drug control programs and implementation of the President's National Drug Control Strategy. Mr. Kerlikowske holds a B.A. and M.A. in criminal justice from the University of South Florida, and is a graduate of the National Executive Institute at the Federal Bureau of Investigations Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Mr. Kerlikowske brings nearly four decades of law enforcement and drug policy experience to the position, most recently serving 9 years as the Chief of Police for the Seattle Police Department. In his previous positions as deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Mr. Kerlikowske strongly supported community oriented policing services, which promote partnerships and problem-solving techniques to address conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, drugs, and social disorder. Mr. Kerlikowske also served as police commissioner of Buffalo, New York, where his selection by the then-mayor became the first outside appointment in 30 years, and chief of police of two Florida cities, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, both of which received the Attorney General's Crime Prevention Award. Mr. Kerlikowske also served in the U.S. Army Military Police. His awards include the Presidential Service Badge, the Dr. Nathan A. David's Award for Public Service and the Seattle University Community Leader Award.

Mr. Kerlikowske has served as chair of the board of directors of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and on the Seattle/King County Advisory Board for the Salvation Army. He also was an adjunct faculty member at Florida Atlantic University, Buffalo State College and Seattle University.

Rick Ramirez received his Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Management from Warner Southern College and a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of South Florida in He is also a graduate of the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute, Senior Leadership Program, Class 14.

Mr. Ramirez began his career with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office as a Deputy Patrolman and investigator for the Special Investigations Unit. In 2000, he joined the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) where he served as a Special Agent for the Orlando regional office. In 2006, he was promoted to Special Agent Supervisor at the Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center, and in 2008, he was promoted to Assistant Special Agent In-Charge, Chief of Investigative Operations.

On September 29, 2011, FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey appointed Rick Ramirez as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FDLE Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center and co-chair of the Regional Domestic Security Task Force (RDSTF) for Region 4.

SAC Ramirez served as an active duty member for both the United States Navy and United States Army National Guard for over ten years. . In 2011, SAC Ramirez served as the President of the Tampa Bay Area Chief of Police Association and presently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and an Adjunct Faculty member at the Hillsborough Community College.

Jennifer Wareham is an Associate Professor at Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit, MI. She earned several degrees in Criminology from USF, including a B.A. in 1998, M.A. in 2001, and Ph.D. in 2005. She also earned a Graduate Certificate from USF in Geographic Information Systems in 2003. Dr. Wareham teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on research methods, criminological theory, and juvenile justice. She has co-authored over 30 scholarly publications. Her research focuses primarily on understanding the causes and correlates of juvenile delinquency, with an emphasis on mental health and substance use problems.

In 2009, Dr. Wareham received two grants to conduct secondary data analyses, one from the National Institute of Justice and another from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That same year, she was also awarded an internal grant by WSU to conduct a survey of Detroit residents about community problems, satisfaction with police, and social control mechanisms. While Dr. Wareham believes that she has been blessed with many professional achievements, she feels her most notable achievement is her nine-year-old daughter.

Kathryn A. Branch is an Associate Professor and Internship Coordinator in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Tampa. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of South Florida. She is a member of the National Society of Experiential Education and a graduate of the Experiential Education Academy.

Her research focuses on forms of gendered violence including dating violence and sexual assault. She is a member of the Division of Women and Crime of the American Society of Criminology and the Victimology section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Her recent work can be found in Feminist Criminology, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Violence Against Women.

Dr. Branch is an active participant in community efforts to raise awareness about sexual assault and dating violence. She is a member of the Sexual Violence Task Force of Tampa Bay. She is involved with the Red Flag initiative at the University of Tampa and is currently an Editorial Board Member for the One Student Campaign. For the past two years, Dr. Branch has participated in Operation Freefall: The Two-Mile High Stand Against Sexual Assault. When someone asks Dr. Branch what she does for her cause, she proudly proclaims: "I jump from airplanes!"

Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR. He received his Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA in May 2012. Oliver earned his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Bemidji State University in Minnesota and a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology from Marymount University in Virginia. He was previously employed at the University of Hong Kong .When he was in the U.S., DR. Chan interned and was later employed by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Case Review Units as one of its first two Federal Bureau of Investigation's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program analysts.

His research focuses on sexual homicide, offender profiling, sex offending, homicide, stalking behavior, and criminological issues related to the Asian population. Oliver has published and presented widely on these topics, especially in the area of sexual homicide. He is an Associate Editor of International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, and a reviewer for many scholarly journals. In July 2012, he was interviewed by CNBC Asia Pacific on gun-control issues in the wake of the Colorado massacre.

Jennifer H. Peck, MA is a second year doctoral student in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida. She received both her B.A. in Criminal Justice and B.A. in Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She completed her M.A. in Criminology at the University of South Florida in May 2011. Jen Peck has been the Assistant Managing Editor for the Journal of Crime & Justice since 2010. She is also a past officer and current member of the Criminology Graduate Student Organization (CGSO).

Her research interests include criminological theory and the role of race and ethnicity in the juvenile justice system. Her recent research appears in Crime & Delinquency, Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, & the Journal of Family Violence. Since coming to USF, she has presented her research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), and the Midwest Criminal Justice Association (MCJA) annual meetings.

Ms. Reddick graduated from University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree and graduated from Florida State University's Certified Public Manager Program. Ms. Reddick recently graduated in the Criminal Justice Master's Program at the University of South Florida in 2012.

Ms. Reddick retired from the Florida Department of Corrections in 2012 after 35 years of service in various positions in Community Corrections. Ms. Reddick started as a Probation Officer and worked her way through the ranks to Deputy Circuit Administrator before being promoted to Circuit Administrator for the 3rd largest circuit in the State of Florida, Circuit 06. Ms. Reddick was the Circuit Administrator in Circuit 06 (Pinellas and Pasco Counties) for 9 years before returning to Circuit 13 (Hillsborough County) as the Circuit Administrator in 2004.

Ms. Reddick works with various criminal justice agencies to ensure public safety and the reintegration of offenders back into the community. She was instrumental in helping to establish a First Step Program for Hillsborough County. This program is designed to have offenders help offenders, providing them with access to food, clothing, shelter, self-help programs and transportation without using taxpayer dollars. She incorporates her leadership skills in everything she does and the community is better for it.

Tara N. Richards is an Assistant Professor at the University of Baltimore. She also holds a Research Coordinator position in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida's Louis de la Parte Mental Health Institute where she is involved in ongoing funded research on opioid abuse/treatment for Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration. Dr. Richards earned her PhD in criminology from the University of South Florida in 2011.

Her major research interests include violence against women; mental health, substance abuse, and trauma/violence; and evaluation research. Currently, she is involved in an evaluation of the STARR training program for North Carolina's office of federal probation and parole. Some of her most recent published work appears in Crime and Delinquency, Violence Against Women, and Journal of Interpersonal Violence. She is also the recipient of the 2011 American Society of Criminology Division of Women and Crime's graduate scholar award.

Lauren A. Shumate attended University of South Florida on a full athletic scholarship to join the USF Women's Varsity Tennis team graduating magna cum laude in December of 2010 with a Bachelor's degree in Criminology and Minor in Political Science. During her undergraduate studies completed an internship at the Pinellas County Courthouse under the Honorable Judge Raymond Gross, conducting legal research and statutory analysis. During her senior year, Ms. Shumate was selected for a Fulbright Scholarship to Serbia. While in Serbia, she lectured at the University of Nis, Faculty of Law on topics related to criminology and law. She is a member of Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board, and was selected for the 2012 USF Golden Bull Award. Ms. Shumate is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Political Science focusing on areas of comparative politics and international law.