Gerald Bayens, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at Washburn University. He also provides direct services and technical assistance to criminal justice agencies, focusing on strategic planning and policy development.

Dr. Bayens teaches courses primarily in law enforcement and correctional management, criminal justice policy, and research methods. He earned a Ph.D. in criminal justice from the Union Institute, a master’s in criminal justice from The University of Alabama, and bachelor’s in criminal justice from Washburn University.

Dr. Bayens worked in the criminal justice field for 22 years in both law enforcement and corrections. He is a former Special Agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations and Director of Juvenile Corrections and Intensive Supervised Probation. Dr. Bayens served as a military police officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1974 through 1978.

Dr. Bayens is the author of numerous research articles, government reports, and books, including the second edition of Criminal Justice Research Methods: Theory &Practice (co-authored with Cliff Roberson). As a former corrections practitioner, his research interests continue to be focused on intensive supervised probation, alternatives to jail incarceration, and juvenile diversion programs.

Dr. Bayens is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences currently serving as chair of the Academic Review and Certification Committee. He is also a member of the American Correctional Association and from 1992–1993 served as president and past president of the state affiliate Kansas Correctional Association. Dr. Bayens is the recipient of the 1993 Washburn Fellow Award.

John Ortiz Smykla, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor at the University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida. He holds a doctorate from the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.

From 1977 to 2002, Dr. Smykla taught criminal justice, international studies and women’s studies at the University of Alabama. He served as criminal justice department chair from 1986–1996. From 2002 to 2005, he served as chair of the department of political science and criminal justice at the University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama. In 2005, he accepted the position of chair of criminal justice and legal studies at the University of West Florida. He returned to full-time faculty status in 2009.

In 1986, Dr. Smykla was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Argentina and Uruguay. In 1987, his paper on Uruguayan corrections won third place in the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) International Paper Competition. In 2011, Drs. Smykla and Bayens traveled with 20 students to the University of the West of Scotland to study Scottish criminal justice.

Dr. Smykla is the author of numerous articles and books, including the sixth edition of Corrections in the 21st Century (co-authored with Frank Schmalleger). His dataset, Executions in the United States, 1608–2008: The Espy File, is one of the most frequently requested data files from the University of Michigan’s ICPSR.

At present, Dr. Smykla and a colleague are evaluating federal reentry court. For many years he served on the Mobile County Jail Planning Committee working with other professionals to develop and maintain strategies to reduce jail crowding. In 2008, he raised a quarter of a million dollars to convert a classroom into a high tech mock trial courtroom on the campus of UWF, the first mock trial courtroom of its kind outside a law school in the state of Florida.

Dr. Smykla is a member of ACJS and the Southern Criminal Justice Association (SCJA). In 1996, SCJA named him Educator of the Year for his contributions to criminal justice education. In 1997, he served as program chair for the annual program committee and in 2000 he served as president of SCJA. In 2011, the University of West Florida named him Distinguished University Professor.