Evan Marie Lowder, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at George Mason University, has been honored with the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Award by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Recognized as a “Rising Star,” Lowder’s research focuses on reducing justice-system contact and improving behavioral health outcomes among justice-involved adults, and she directs the Early Justice Strategies Lab at the university. This accolade places her among a prestigious group of educators and marks her as the 29th Mason faculty member to receive this award since its inception in 1987.
Louise Shelley, also from George Mason University, holds the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair and is a University Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government. She is the director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) that she founded. Shelley is a noted expert on the intersections of terrorism, organized crime, and corruption, with specific emphasis on human trafficking, transnational crime, and terrorism, especially in relation to the former Soviet Union. Her research also delves into illicit financial flows and money laundering.