Dr. Colleen Mair receives her Ph.D.

When she graduated from Western Connecticut State University in 2016 with a B.S. in Justice and Law Administration and B.A. in Psychology, Colleen Mair had a huge list of accomplishments under her belt. Among them: the Willerman Memorial Award (Psychology), Justice and Law Administration Award, T.J. Lobraico Memorial Scholarship, Kathwari Honors Program Merit Scholar, Alpha Phi Sigma IOTA Alpha Chapter: National Criminal Justice Honor Society, Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society, Eric Wellman Scholarship, W. Jason & Ellen Hancock Endowed Scholarship, Dean’s List, Summa Cum Laude in Psychology and Summa Cum Laude in Justice and Law Administration. Mair also was a member of the Astronomy Club and Debate Team and won nearly a dozen awards for her debate skills.

Mair also received the Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award in 2016, and when she was interviewed at the time, she said, “I am proud to say that I will start my Ph.D. in criminology next fall on a full scholarship. I am thankful for the time I have spent at WCSU. I believe it has challenged me to courageously seek out the lessons that the world has to offer.”

After graduation, Mair moved to Albany, New York, to pursue a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. “Fortunately, this was a fully funded program through the university and the Carson Carr Fellowship I received,” she said. “In addition to my coursework in research design, theory and statistics, the program required students to complete a ‘paper’ comprehensive exam. This milestone required that I prepare a research project and write a publishable piece. My project focused on the impact of the Rockefeller Drug Laws on the prison population in New York. My comprehensive exam is published in Feminist Criminology, a peer-reviewed criminology journal dedicated to research related to women, girls and crime. I am preparing two articles based on my dissertation, which focused on the impact of access to fringe banking institutions, specifically payday loans, on reported crime in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is part of my larger interest in the impact of legislation on crime and factors like economics that tend to disproportionately affect women’s contact with the criminal justice system. I successfully defended my dissertation in March 2023.”

Mair said that while attaining her Ph.D., she worked as a graduate research assistant at the Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York’s statistical analysis center. “The unit I work in prepares, analyzes and maintains the criminal justice data for New York. I primarily work on the statutorily required reports and datasets for New York. After reaching candidacy in 2021, I accepted a full-time position in the same unit, where I have more responsibilities as a supervisor, and I have taken ownership of more projects. In addition to this, I teach introductory criminal justice courses at UAlbany during the summer and winter intersessions.”

She graduated from WCSU eight years ago, but Mair still carries the experience with her. “My time at WCSU definitely impacted both my Ph.D. work and my current position at DCJS,” she said. “At WCSU I developed and practiced good habits like communicating effectively and seeking out opportunities like internships. The wide variety of courses allowed me to learn about different subjects so I could learn what interested me. The professors at WCSU have a wealth of knowledge from their own research and their professions outside of their positions at WCSU. The skills I learned helped me prepare for my graduate courses.”

Mair said the two internships she completed while at WCSU gave her the opportunity to see what the day-to-day job of a probation officer looked like. They also gave her the opportunity to speak directly with individuals that interact with the criminal justice system in different ways. “The coursework provides a great foundation, but you’ll set yourself apart from others by showing that you have experience applying your skills and knowledge to the real world,” she said. “For state jobs, like mine, these internship hours could make a difference when hiring panels are determining if you meet the minimum qualifications to apply for a role. Experience could also come from your work as a member of a club, an editor on a journal, or other involvement in the community. You learn to work in teams, organize your time, prioritize projects, and more. In my studies and now in my current role as a supervisor and member of a hiring panel, I’ve seen that this experience is important and matters.”

The Kathwari Honor’s Program is also something Mair points to as making a difference in her education. It offered her the ability to take additional credit hours with priority registration to maximize her schedule. “These benefits helped identify classes I could take over the summer and ultimately enabled me to complete both of my degrees within four years,” she explained. “The generous merit scholarship was a game changer for my family as well, especially since my parents were putting my twin sister, Nicole, also a merit scholar, and me through college at the same time.”

In addition to her Kathwari Honors Merit Scholarship, Mair said there were other resources available at WCSU. “Scholarships are a great way to offset the growing cost of education, but the benefits often go far beyond the dollar amount,” Mair said. “The Staff Sgt. Todd James “TJ” Lobraico Memorial Endowed Scholarship was particularly impactful for me because it allowed me to participate in the Experiential Learning Program with the Connecticut Department of Probation under the supervision of Dr. Casey Jordan. My internship allowed me to see the intersection between mental illness and the criminal justice system in real time and is ultimately the reason I declared Psychology as my second major.

(l-r): Nicole and Dr. Colleen Mair

“Additionally, the generosity of Staff Sgt. Lobraico’s family went beyond the generous award,” Mair added. “His mother, Linda Rohatsch, who now serves as the Director of the Air National Guard Medical Service, the first non-physician and first woman in this role, visited me in Albany when she was in town for her duties. Her visits really helped me adapt to my new life in Upstate New York. I’ve continued to share his story and encourage everyone to watch the documentary ‘Family Mission: The TJ Lobraico Story,’ which details the life and sacrifice of Staff Sgt. Lobraico and the dedication of his entire family to the idea of service above self. This is just one example of the amazing families who have ties to WCSU. There are a lot of generous scholarships at WCSU, many of which were created to memorialize great members of our community that we should all learn about.”

Speaking of family with ties to the university, Mair and her twin sister, Nicole both have gone on to success in their respective fields since their 2016 graduation. Nicole is an associate director at Adelphi Research Global, a health care market research company. “Nicole, my older sister, Tanisha, and I are first-generation Americans because my grandmothers and parents immigrated from Jamaica for better lives, specifically better education,” Mair said. “Sadly, both of my grandmothers passed away this year. I dedicated my dissertation to my grandmothers and, thankfully, was able to share it with them before they passed.”

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