Before graduation, Dr. Joe Johnston sat down with Haylee Pollard, 2023 Criminology Senior Award winner, to look back at her 91勛圖厙 journey, and look forward to what is next as she moves into the world with her degree in Criminology.
Dr. Joe Johnston
Alright, Haylee, what led you to become a Criminology and/or Sociology major in the first place?
Haylee Pollard (’23)
Yeah. So I originally came in as a BS in Biology with a Crim minor. Just cause I've always been interested in criminal justice and Criminology because it's also like the criminal justice system has been very present within my family's life. And so I was always very interested in kind of learning more about it.
And then I took Ochem 2, and I said, You know what? Medical School's not for me. We're not doing that. And so basically I had already had the minor and then I was like, well, if I do a BA in Biology, I have the room to just add the major. So I was like, why not? And then it kind of opened up a lot more pathways career wise that I could do and then I wouldn't feel like as stuck in like hard sciences.
So it's kind of like mostly just personal experience, the criminal justice system and then also seeing a lot of the inequalities and wanting to learn more about that and figure out how I could incorporate advocacy into academics.
Joe
Thank you. Right next. So why'd you stick with Criminology? Were there times where you doubted it, or considered changing majors?
Haylee
No. More for Biology, but I would say, Crim and Soc were a lot more of like kind of that safe space for me because it can be kind of hard in Biology to bring up things regarding social justice and such. So being able to add Crim and Soc and being in classrooms where I was like, wow, there's like a little bit more of students that look like me and like share a lot of the same like opinions.
So I didn't really doubt Crim and Soc and then I ended up being able to add the Soc minor too. So yeah, it's a great department.
Joe
That's great. Let's see, what specific course or courses or maybe an experience or experiences, people and/or is there an assignment or project do you want to remember from your time in the department and why? So that's a big one with lots of stuff.
Haylee
I mean, there's been a lot of classes that I've really enjoyed here, especially a lot of Forrest's classes. That's my guy. So I've taken a lot of classes with him. But I think probably the class that was my most favorite was more than likely our capstone course just cause like I'd have the freedom to actually get to do like research in social sciences cause I've done research in Biology. And so, I really want to see what it was like to do more social science research. And so that was really my first big project that I got to do. And then it also helped that I was doing with my best friends. So it worked out.
But it was just a really great class because we pretty much like could do whatever we wanted in terms of research and got to produce this really cool paper and then have the opportunity to go to like Canada and present it. Which was also funny because like, Forrest just like came into class one day and he was basically like, “You know,” (because we just turned in our like proposals) “All of your guys' proposals are really good. Do you guys want to come to a conference with me in February?” and we're like, I mean, I guess he's like, “I'll figure out funding like we'll make it work.” And he started going to the website like on the screen and I raised my hand “Forrest, the deadline says today to apply” he's like, “Yeah, you guys got that”
He basically was like if you guys want to go, just take class time right now and do your application because you need to turn in your abstract da da da.” And we just have the proposal and I was like “we don't have an abstract”. He's like “you guys can write one, you got it.” But yeah, I would say the capsule class is probably one of my favorites.
Joe
Let's see. What are you hoping to do in your post 91勛圖厙 life? Uhm, how do you think Criminology and/or Sociology will connect to those hopes?
Haylee
They very much connect to it. I got a fully funded position at University of Delaware to get my doctorate in Sociology, so I'll be working towards that for the next six years across the country. But right now, the goal is to get my doctorate, and then I'd probably go into higher Ed and teach.
I'm very excited, because Delawares program is, their Crim and Soc departments are connected and so I'll have the freedom to decide like, oh, I don't want to do if my PhD Soc, I want to do Crim. I could just literally switch. I don't have to like, reapply or anything. They're like, just tell us. It very much connects since I'm going to be staying in the field and so I would definitely say Crim and Soc, was very foundational in my like push to center like equity within education just especially because like so much of what we do is looking at inequality and then addressing like how we can change that.
And so, like, that's a big thing that I try to push for in anything I do academically is like centering that social justice and equity focus. But also going further than just like talking about it, but then what you do with that knowledge afterwards in terms of getting to change those inequalities.
Joe
The last question is, is there anything else you'd like to share?
Haylee
Not that I can think of, other than great department.