Recent Graduate Students

Dr. Taylor Petty is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Indiana located in Evansville, Indiana. Dr. Petty graduated with her Doctorate in Psychology and Master of Legal Studies from UNL. Her research explores perceptions of victims in the legal system. More specifically, she studies how community members and legal professionals make judgements and decisions about sex trafficking victims, both children and adults. She serves on two community organizations that provide support and resources for trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual violence victims. 

Dr. Petty specializes in criminal courts and law, specifically in juvenile and family court settings. She teaches statistics, criminological theory, criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal courts and law. In her spare time, Dr. Petty enjoys completing puzzles, reading, spending time with her family and friends, and spoiling her two dogs, Bilbo and Captain.

I am a Research Manager for the Research and Data Analysis division of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. I design and perform high-level statistical research and evaluation to provide policy makers and program managers with information to support innovations that improve the effectiveness of services for clients, and to provide DSHS program staff and contracted service providers with access to data-driven support applications to improve decisions about client care. 

A lot of my work is surrounding the implementation and evaluation of programs made in response to the Trueblood lawsuit, which challenged the unconstitutional delay in competency evaluation and restoration services. For fun I enjoy hiking and exploring the PNW with my husband, son, and dog. 

I live in New York City (Queens) and work as a Senior Research Associate at the NYC Department for the Aging. I conduct evaluations on the programs and services that NYC offers to older adults and their caregivers. In addition to assessing whether the service was received/used as expected, these evaluations typically measure client satisfaction and the impact of the program/service on the client's mental health and ability to age in place. I also do a lot of data analysis work for our mental health and crime victim/elder abuse services to help ensure that program providers are implementing the service as intended and the service is reaching its target audience. 

My husband and I take advantage of living in New York City by seeing as much theater as we possibly can. We saw 34 of the 36 shows that opened on Broadway, including all of the shows that were nominated for Tony Awards, in the 2023-2024 season. I've run 2 half marathons in Brooklyn, and I love snuggling with my cats (Izzy and Ms. Frizzle). 

As a graduate student at UNL Colin oversaw the administration of a federally funded NIJ grant which involved a multi-year study of the Nebraska Probation Administration, a division of the State Judicial Branch. He conducted applied advanced statistical analysis to applied research and program evaluation for the Nebraska Judicial Branch, Adult and Juvenile Probation Services Divisions. Dr. Holloway has conducted evaluations of juvenile justice and treatment court programs and has studied social and policy decision-making in areas of criminal law, jury behavior, voting behavior, and rehabilitative justice. 

After graduation Colin served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Creighton University, in Omaha Nebraska where he taught course in Introductory Psychology, Social Psychology, and Research Methods / Statistics and managed student research projects as part of course work. Currently Dr. Holloway continues his work in applied social psychology as a Project Director/Research Associate at NPC Research, Portland, Oregon where he has major responsibilities for conducting the California Shriver Civil Counsel Act evaluation, as well as several treatment court evaluations.