Rachel Hite, a recent Mason graduate with a double major in Criminology, Law and Society and Psychology, has written an award-winning paper that will be published in the fall volume of the George Mason Review. The George Mason Review is a student-edited journal sponsored by Mason's well-respected Writing Across the Curriculum program. Rachel's article grew out of a final paper she submitted for the department's writing and synthesis course, CRIM 303 (now CRIM 495), taught by Dr. Danielle S. Rudes (with Lincoln Sloas as the teaching assistant). In her paper, Rachel uses self-collected qualitative data (interviews and observations) to consider recidivism differences between offenders who receive mental health treatment while incarcerated and offenders who only complete a mental health court program. Chosen among a number of exemplary submissions, Rachel's paper received the journal's top overall submission prize this year and Rachel received a cash prize for her accomplishment!
During her time at Mason, Rachel was an active member of Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Criminal Justice Honors Society, and received professional training in applied behavioral therapy to assist children who are diagnosed with autism. She also worked as a research assistant and has volunteered to speak with juveniles in the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center. Next year, Rachel will be attending Argosy University's Psy.D. program in Clinical Psychology, with a concentration in forensics. Rachel hopes to work as a Clinical Psychologist within the Bureau of Prisons.
June 24, 2011
