Topic: Criminal Justice/Criminology
Michala Stock
Andrew Traver
Andrew Traver, B.A., is a professor of practice in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He joined MSU Denver in fall 2019 teaching federal law enforcement and terrorism, which explores the relationships among federal law-enforcement agencies; and American gangsters, which examines the nature and causes of gangs. His experience and background will help students bridge the gap between theoretical and practical worlds in criminal justice and cybersecurity.
Traver began his 32-year federal law-enforcement career investigating gang-related crimes and violations of federal firearms, narcotics and explosives law. He served as special agent in charge in the Denver and Chicago field-division offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and held several supervisory positions throughout his 26-year career with ATF. Traver served as Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) director 2013-19, focusing on the myriad global threats to the Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in cyberspace, including foreign-intelligence challenges, terrorism and criminal behavior. He joined MSU Denver on July 1, 2019, as a visiting faculty member and as a special advisor to President Davidson.
Traver earned a bachelor’s in sociology and criminal justice from Northern Illinois University, graduating summa cum laude. He later joined the Navy, graduating third in his class from Officer Candidate School before graduating with honors from Surface Warfare Officer School.
Rebecca Trammell
Rebecca Trammell, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department. She currenlty serves as Interim Dean of the College of Health and Applied Sciences.
Trammell studied sociology at San Diego State University, where she received her bachelor’s in sociology. She then received her master’s in sociology from the University of California, Irvine in 2002 and her doctorate from the same university in 2007. She specializes in inmate violence, incarceration, prison culture and gender. She has published articles on relational violence, the inmate code, violence against child molesters in prison, and legal practices in Islamic countries.
Her book “Enforcing the Convict Code: Violence and Prison Culture” focuses on how culture is transmitted in prison and how male and female inmates differ with regard to how violence is socially constructed. She was a principal investigator for a comprehensive study of male and female inmates in Nebraska where she researched conflict between inmates and staff and the connection between respect and violence in prison. She has taught courses in Criminological Theories, Research Methods, Victimology, Juvenile Justice, Female Offenders, and Punishment and Society.
Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith has more than 20 years of professional experience including service in the U.S. Army, law enforcement and corporate security. During his law enforcement career, Smith served as a field training officer, an operator with the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT), an instructor with the Regional Police Academy and as an undercover narcotics detective with the Special Investigations Unit.
Smith now serves as the deputy security manager of a utility company where he helps develop and oversee daily operations of the Enterprise Security Department. In this capacity, he conducts vulnerability and risk assessments, criminal investigations, develops and implements enterprise-wide policy and procedure, oversees large-scale security projects, executive protection and partners with other business units to maintain a culture of security compliance. Smith also works closely with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and participates in monthly trainings and briefings.
Since working in the Corporate Security sector, Smith has earned security certifications through ASIS that include: Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designation, Physical Security Professional (PSP) designation and Professional Certified Investigator (PCI) designation. He also earned the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) designation through the American Crime Prevention Institute.
He became a member of an elite class of security professionals throughout the world that holds all three security ASIS certifications after receiving the PCI designation in 2013.
Rebecca Rivera-Serrano
Rebecca Rivera-Serrano, Ed.D. is an affiliate professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She spent 20 working in law enforcement for the Department of Justice and as a senior probation officer for the 18th Judicial District in Colorado. During this time, she taught motivational interviewing through probation services within the State Court Administrator’s Office.
Rivera-Serrano teaches and mentored men and women returning from prison at a post-secondary level and have designed post-secondary curriculum for correctional education. She developed a life skills curriculum for juveniles and adults who are in high risk environments and/or are serving some form of corrections sentence.
She obtained her doctorate from Creighton University in correctional education. Rivera-Serrano dissertation research addressed: Identifying the Practices that Reduce Criminality Through Community-based Post-secondary Correctional Education.
Marina Pereira
Professor Marina Pereira has taught graduate courses in the Graduate Social Work program as MSU Denver. She has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1999.
Professor Pereira is well versed in topics of mental health and families. She has special interest in issues of acculturation, diversity and first-generation Latino students. She was an advisor for the Student Association of Social Workers (SASW), a student organization that helps students develop and increase their sense of civic responsibility and community engagement by service learning activities.
Before teaching at MSU Denver, Pereira worked in the areas of medical social work and mental health, where she specialized in treating and advocating for children and families with a history of domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse.
Hyon Namgung
Hyon Namgung, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include policing (both American and Korean), police organizations, and community policing. He currently teaches American Policing, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, Criminal Justice Admin Behavior, and Research Methods and Basic Statistics for Criminal Justice and Criminology. His research areas cover comparative criminal justice, drug policy change and community policing.
Namgung received both his doctorate degree and master’s degree in criminal justice and criminology from University of Missouri – St. Louis in 2013 and 2010, respectively. He received an additional master’s degree in public administration and public policy from the University of Exeter in 2003. He received his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Korea National Police University in 1997.
Denise Mowder
Denise Mowder, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she currently teaches classes in criminal justice ethics and victimology. Mowder has worked as an attorney and for more than 10 years as prosecutor in Oregon, where she has prosecuted cases involving domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault. She specializes in trail practice, investigations and victim advocacy, and her research areas involve the impact of current immigration law, undocumented battered Latina women and the wrongful conviction of factually innocent.
Mowder received her Ph.D. in criminal justice from Washington State University in 2010, her J.D. from Willamette College of Law in 1994 and her bachelor’s from the University of Colorado Denver.
Jeffrey London
Jeffrey London, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
London has been teaching at MSU Denver since 2007, where he started as an assistant professor. He currently serves as the evaluator for the administration of a National Science Foundation grant (Denver Metro Chem Scholars). London is a member of the Colorado Department of Higher Education’s General Education Council, an elected member of the Colorado Faculty Advisory Council and a member of the MSU Denver Faculty Senate Retention, Tenure and Promotion Committee. Previously, he taught at CU Boulder where London was awarded the 2003 Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2002 GPTI Instructor of the Year Award.
In 2010, London published his first book titled, “How the Use of Marijuana Was Criminalized and Medicalized, 1906-2004,” which investigates the social construction of the processes of marijuana criminalization and marijuana medicalization. It is the first substantive study on the subject to include a detailed historical context in which to situate a new theoretical model for examining the contemporary U.S. drug policy debate. His additional research interests include health and well-being of children of incarcerated persons, history of drug prohibition, legislation, penology and medical marijuana public opinion polls.
London received his doctorate in criminology and sociology from the University of Colorado in 2006 and a master’s in sociology and criminology from University of Florida in 1998.