Gary LaFree, CCJS Professor & Founding Director of START, Named Distinguished University Professor

Gary LaFree has received the highest academic honor the university confers upon faculty: Being named a Distinguished University Professor. 

"This is a truly exceptional accomplishment for Professor LaFree," said BSOS Dean Susan Rivera. "It is a great honor to be recognized by the University of Maryland in this way—just as it is very much an honor for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences to be able to add another Distinguished University Professor to its ranks thanks to Professor LaFree's contributions. On behalf of all of us at BSOS, congratulations, Professor LaFree."

LaFree came to the University of Maryland from the University of New Mexico—where he held multiple teaching and leadership roles, including Chair of the Department of Sociology—in January 2000. He assumed two positions upon his arrival at Maryland, acting not only as a Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, but as a Faculty Affiliate for the Department of Sociology, too.

Five years later, LaFree took a leading role in launching the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence headquartered at the University of Maryland that brings together an international network of scholars committed to the scientific study of the human causes and consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world. 

“Gary's recent appointment to Distinguished University Professor is extremely well-deserved,” said Bobby Brame, CCJS chair. “Gary has been a leading proponent of bringing the study of terrorism and related issues into the mainstream of criminological research; efforts that culminated in the establishment of the Division on Terrorism and Bias Crime within the American Society of Criminology in 2015. The division's establishment gives a measure of terrorism's centrality within the discipline, and serves as important validation of Gary's efforts in the scientific study of terrorism over the years.”

In 2018, when Maryland Professor of the Practice William Braniff took over as the Director of START, LaFree became chair of the CCJS department. He held that position for three years, at which point Distinguished University Professor Sally Simpson—who co-authored LaFree’s nomination letter—began serving as chair in an interim capacity.

“I was very pleasantly surprised to be named a Distinguished University Professor,” said LaFree. “More than anything, I think this recognition reflects my good fortune to have been associated with an incredible group of colleagues in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department and at the START Center for more than twenty years.”

LaFree is now the sixth CCJS faculty member to have received this award, following in the footsteps of Lawrence Sherman, John Laub, Terrence Thornberry, Sally Simpson, and Peter Reuter.

“I’m very excited to pursue future research looking at how terrorism is changing over time, how it has been affected by the COVID pandemic and also examining how it relates to gangs, homicides, mass shootings, and political ideologies,” added LaFree.

Published on Thu, Aug 18, 2022 - 1:00PM