Information About the Web Author

This CJ Ed web site is fortunate to be receiving over 200 visitors per day and many of you are correctly interested in having information that allows you to evaluate this site as you determine how helpful it might be in meeting your needs.

There are several web sites providing criteria used to evaluate web content. An efficient way to find many of those resources is to review a bibliography of such sites. Three especially comprehensive bibliographies are the Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources, the Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources, and Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators. Those and other sites provide suggestions about resource evaluation that can be summarized as falling into five categories:

1. Authority: Does the author— or organization, company, agency—have appropriate credentials to provide information on this topic?
2. Objectivity: Is the information presented in a fair and unbiased manner or is it designed to sway opinion?
3. Currency: Is the source updated frequently enough to assure timely information and up-to-date links?
4. Verifiability: Can the information be verified with at least one other independent and reputable source?, and
5. Quality: Does the web site suggest a sense of pride and responsibility on the author’s part by being well organized, easily navigated, and one that follows basic elements of style and grammar?

I received my BS degree in Sociology from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln and both my MS and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from Kansas State University in Manhattan. Between my bachelors and masters degrees I worked at the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex (as it was called then) in Lincoln.

After receiving my MS degree I decided to try teaching for a few years so I could contrast that experience with my job at the prison. I taught for four years at Augusta College (now Augusta State University) in Georgia and then took advantage of the college's offer to hold my position and provide some financial support to work on my Ph.D. After completing that degree, and my commitment to Augusta College, I accepted a position at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. I remain here at UNC where I am a tenured full professor in the sociology department.

My teaching and research interests are primarily in corrections and comparative criminal justice. I have published articles in several professional journals and currently have two textbooks in the marketplace. In addition to this CJ Ed web site, I maintain web pages geared specifically to the classes I teach and to my students and advisees at UNC. 

Why is this a .com domain rather than .edu?

That question, which I am often asked, is reasonable since it concerns the "objectivity" evaluation point. The main reasons for this web site being at a .com domain rather than part of the university's .edu domain are ones of accessibility and availability. The site was originally on a university server but it began taking considerably more space than one faculty member should and the server was too often in a "down" mode. I created my own domain site in January 2000 and, to help defray the costs, I link to a few retailers that award commissions for purchases made at their site by referral from another site. If you purchase books found at this site through my Barnes and Noble links or History/A&E videos using the footer links, I receive a small commission without any increase in cost to you. So far, those monies (about $8 per month) do not exceed my expenses for domain name registration and monthly fees to my ISP.