While attending the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC)—an international organization whose members pursue scholarly, scientific, and professional knowledge concerning the measurement, etiology, consequences, prevention, control, and treatment of crime and delinquency—Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJS) Professor Rod Brunson was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASC’s Division of People of Color and Crime.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the awardee for their research on people of color and crime in the field of criminology or criminal justice; teaching and/or mentoring scholars in the field; and service to the discipline and to the community of people of color.

“We join with Professor Rod Brunson in celebrating this important recognition,” said CCJS Professor and Chair Robert Brame. “Rod's receipt of the Lifetime Achievement Award is testimony to the important and lasting contributions he has made to the discipline. The field of criminology and the University of Maryland are both strengthened by Rod's commitment to excellence in research, leadership, mentoring, and citizenship and the example he sets for our younger scholars and students.”

Brunson joined the CCJS faculty in 2021, where he teaches a class on police-community relations (CCJS418K), and conducts and publishes research with multiple graduate students, including Diamond Henry, and CCJS colleagues, including Assistant Professor Brooklynn Hitchens and Associate Professor María Vélez.

Recently, Brunson also began collaborating with CCJS Associate Research Professor Thomas Abt, who is heading the newly launched Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction (VRC), a center tasked with providing effective community violence solutions by combining rigorous research with practical know-how. 

“I am excited to have an opportunity to work together on a shared vision as part of the VRC,” said Brunson. “The VRC is a timely and critical investment during a time when the public is increasingly insistent that fairness should be the bedrock of successful crime reduction strategies.”

Brunson is a renowned expert on community-based crime reduction strategies. His related scholarship has appeared in numerous publications including Criminology, the Journal of Research, Crime and Delinquency and Preventive Medicine. 

He has been an ASC Fellow for the last three years, and before joining UMD, also was the Northwestern University’s Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Chair of Public Life; professor of criminology and criminal justice and of political science; and director of graduate mentoring and diversity initiatives within the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. Immediately before Northeastern, Brunson served as Dean of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University.

“This career award would not have been possible without decades of support from mentors throughout ASC, the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN) and the Division of People of Color and Crime,” said Brunson. “I am very grateful.”