Three In-Person Minicourses Offered for Spring
“Women and Crime" Dr. Meghan Sacks, Associate Professor of Criminology, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 5 Monday mornings 10 am - 12 pm March 27, April 3, 10, 17, and 24.
Women have been excluded historically from studies on crime as the crime was originally perceived as a male phenomenon. However, more recently, researchers in the field have begun to examine the female offender, acknowledging that crime is by no means limited to male offenders. This course will examine theoretical explanations of female offending and their crimes. We will analyze the sociological, cultural, and political forces that have shaped the construction of the female offender in society. We will also explore the victimization of females, the treatment of females by the criminal justice system, and the evolution of women in the workforce in the field of law enforcement. In sum, we will examine the role of gender in shaping the female experience within the criminal justice system as a whole.
Meghan Sacks is a Professor of Criminology and the Graduate Program Director at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She teaches classes including Women and Crime, Serial Killers, and Crime Policy. Her research focuses on bail reform, plea bargaining, sentencing policy, and corrections. She has published her work in several journal articles and periodicals, coauthored two books on the criminal justice system and corrections, and contributed to several more. Her work has been cited by the Huffington Post and bail reform advocates.
Dr. Sacks received both her Master’s degree and her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Prior to her academic career, she served as a United States Probation Officer in the Southern District of New York, working on presentence investigations for offenders convicted of federal crimes.
Dr. Sacks is also the creator and co-host of several podcasts, including Women and Crime, Campus Killings, and Direct Appeal, where she uses her expertise to explain criminal offending, victimization, and the functioning, or lack thereof, of the various parts of the criminal justice system.
“Postwar Art in Europe and the United States, 1945-1990”
Dr. Kimberly Rhodes, NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities & Professor of Art History, Drew University; “5 Wednesday afternoons 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm; April 12, 19, 26; May 3 and 10.
In this course, we will explore art movements in Europe and the United States that emerged after World War II and demonstrate both the rich influence of modernism and innovations due to changing technologies, social upheaval, and experimentation with materials. Movements under discussion will include Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Earth Art, Feminist Art, and Neo-Expressionism. Artists under discussion will include Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Yves Klein, Donald Judd, Judy Chicago, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Julian Schnabel.
Kimberly Rhodes (Ph.D., Columbia University) is an NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Art History at Drew University. She writes and teaches about modern and contemporary art history and has worked as an art historian in both museum and academic settings. Her publications include numerous articles on British visual culture from the eighteenth century to the present and the book Ophelia and Victorian Visual Culture: Representing Body Politics in the Nineteenth Century (Ashgate, 2008).
“American Reform Movements”
Dr. Gary Darden, Associate Professor of History, Chair, Department of Social Sciences and History, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 5 Thursday mornings 10:00 – 12 pm; April 13, 20, 27; May 4 and 11.
This lecture series looks at key chapters in modern American history when elected officials in Washington passed laws that addressed pressing national reform movements. These efforts stemmed from a variety of conditions that ranged from social and economic turmoil to the impact of civil unrest and even the aftermath of a civil war. The chapters include the Civil War & Reconstruction; the Progressive Era; the New Deal; the Great Society; and the 21st-century outlook for reform.
Gary Darden is an Associate Professor of History and the Chair of the Department of Social Sciences and History at Fairleigh Dickinson University. His specialization is modern American political history. He earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 2005, the same year he began his career at FDU. He is a native of Texas and lives in New York City.
