Criminal Justice and Criminology - Program News

Bowes serves and protects as Connecticut state trooper

Growing up in Massachusetts, Shane Bowes '20, '22 (M) had a long-standing interest in law enforcement. After attending a student trooper program in high school, he decided to fully commit to his lifelong career dream and pursue higher education to achieve this goal.

Now a Connecticut state trooper, Bowes says that Salve Regina's mission has been central to his experience. "Having those humanitarian values instilled throughout my college education has allowed me to be more comfortable in providing empathetic service to victims," he said.

Poplawski named Newport Police Department's first LGBTQ+ liaison

Caitlin Poplawski '09, a detective with the Newport Police Department, was recently named the department's first LGBTQ+ liaison. With this position, she aims to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community feels safe in the city. "There's no written rule of what this can or does entail," Poplawski said. "I'm just trying to be a resource for whoever needs police assistance and isn't comfortable talking to officers in a uniform."

Poplawski hopes to transform the position into one that can help people. "I hope I can show that although we wear a uniform, we are all human beings," she said. "We all want to help people, which is why we became police officers."

Cortes graduates ROTC program as a second lieutenant

Reserve Officer Training Corps senior cadet Benjamin Cortes '22 was recently commissioned into the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. He also received the William G. Schanck Jr. USMC Memorial Award and the George C. Marshall Award. During his time at Salve Regina, Cortes was named battalion commander, the highest rank for ROTC cadets.

"I eventually want to make a career in the military, whether it be active duty or national guard," Cortes said. "I also would like to work towards getting a job in the intelligence community or federal law enforcement."

Melo-Severino combines unique fields of study

Mary Melo-Severino '23, an administration of justice major with a minor in theatre arts, has found unique opportunities to combine her fields of study, making for an interesting career path ahead of her.

Actors use sense recall to accurately depict sensations and emotions on stage, and they use observations to identify and assume their characters. These skill sets require a keen sense of empathy to effectively depict a variety of roles. These skills are also helpful to a career in law, according to Melo-Severino, because empathy is critical to working with clients.

Bendiksen publishes memoir about Alzheimer's disease

Ashley Bendiksen's first book, a memoir titled "The Language of Time," sheds light on the untold story of her journey into being a caregiver to her mother, who developed an unexplained case of early-onset Alzheimer's disease at just 48 years of age.

In her 20s and pursuing her bachelor's degree in administration of justice at the time of her mother's diagnosis, Bendiksen became a caregiver trying to navigate the often strange and unpredictable progression of Alzheimer's.

Wagner works in cybersecurity at Lockheed Martin

It took Thomas Wagner '18, '19 (M) five years and a lot of hard work to complete Salve Regina's combined bachelor's/master's program in administration of justice and homeland security, but the education has been well worth it. With just a few years of experience, he landed a top job as an information system security officer at Lockheed Martin shortly after graduation.

While much of his work is classified, Wagner supports government customers to ensure security compliance and governance standards, and helps to defend against cybersecurity attacks.