The next Community Engagement Series will be presented by School of Humanities and Social Sciences faculty, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Mengie Parker and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Stephanie Whitehead.

Mengie Parker

The presentation, “Contemporary Gangs: Culture, Crime and Community,” will be held on Thursday, March 24, at the Wayne County Council Chambers, 401 E. Main St. in Richmond.

Each presentation in the series begins with a reception at 5:15 p.m. followed by the lecture at 6 p.m. The presentation is free and open to the public. Due to the nature of some presentation material, participant discretion is advised.

“Contemporary Gangs: Culture, Crime and Community” examines salient issues surrounding the contemporary gang culture in the United States. Special attention is paid to emerging criminal networks and intervention methods designed to limit the impact of gangs in society. The presentation contains artifacts recovered from actual gang members.

Stephanie Whitehead

Parker received his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and serves as chair of the criminal justice and political science department at IU East. His research areas include gangs, transnational crime, Anosognosic Management and Bureaupathology.

Whitehead received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University. She teaches courses in Police in Contemporary Society, Criminal Justice Data, Methods, and Resources, and the Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice. Whitehead’s research interests include policing, race and gender issues in criminal justice, and ethnographic methods. In addition to being an assistant professor of criminal justice, she is also the director and advisor for Women’s and Gender Studies.

The Community Engagement Series is presented by the Indiana University East School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

For more information on the Community Engagement Series, contact the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at (765) 973-8484 or visit iue.edu/facultypresents.