Celebrating the two-year anniversary of its founding, the Criminology Department held a Penn Criminology Day and Reunion on Saturday.
The department is currently ranked 10th in the country among similar schools, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The day's events included a panel entitled "Criminology in the News Media," organized and hosted by Criminology Chairman Lawrence Sherman and Laurie Robinson, director of the Master's Program in Criminology.
"This was a fascinating discussion of the challenges of taking important information and giving it to the public," Sherman said.
The panel consisted of three renowned professionals in the field of criminal justice: Northeastern University criminology professor James Fox, Mount Holyoke College professor Richard Moran and Benjamin Renshaw, former director of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Each panelist spoke for approximately 20 minutes on his own experiences in the field and offered advice for aspiring criminologists.
Fox noted that most criminologists have not made the most of mass media, and instead, lawyers and psychologists have taken advantage of the publicity. He said that being involved in the media and getting ideas published can lead to access and influence for many criminologists.
"Always say something meaningful. Stupid questions deserve good answers, and never say, 'I don't know,'" Fox said, regarding contact with the media.
Criminology doctoral candidate Reagan Daly attended the event to see what avenues criminologists are pursuing today.
"I thought [Fox] had a really good perspective on how to best use the media to get [credit] for your research," Daly said.
Though the event was inspirational in tone, speakers tried to mix the motivation with practical advice.
"I'm not sure when students are getting an undergraduate education, they ought to be seeking to set the world straight," Moran said. "An undergraduate education is about disengaging from the world to learn."
Approximately 30 people attended the panel discussion. It was held in the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at 3619 Locust Walk.
The University also will be holding a major criminology conference featuring a number of speakers, including Gov. Ed Rendell, this August.
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