Lauren M. Barrow, Ph.D.
Lauren M. Barrow, Ph.D. is currently Chair of the Center for Education, Advocacy & Social Justice, and an Associate Professor of Justice Studies at Chestnut Hill College. She began her criminal justice career at the National Victim Center (NVC) in Arlington VA. While working at NVC, she was a team-member for the Looking Back—Moving Forward: A Guidebook for Communities Responding to Sexual Assault and the Focus on the Future: A Systems Approach to Prosecution and Victim Assistance projects. She left Washington DC to pursue graduate studies at CUNY Graduate Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. During her career, she worked on several federal and national research projects, including assessing Federal Drug Treatment Evaluation in NYC (Urban Institute), and surveying AAC Board users regarding victimization (Inst. For Excellence, Temple University).
Dr. Barrow has been teaching criminal justice courses for over 20 years and has taught undergraduate, graduate, and online students. She first taught as an adjunct instructor for undergraduates at John Jay College and Queens College in New York, then as a graduate instructor at Monmouth University, NJ before joining Kaplan University as a full-time online instructor. She joined the full-time faculty at Chestnut Hill College in 2011, and since then, has taught a wide range of criminal justice courses and is regionally recognized for her innovative course designs
Ryan Murphy, Ph.D.
Ryan P. Murphy, Ph.D. holds a PH.D. in sociology from Temple University. As a sociologist, Dr. Murphy teaches courses that examine how social structures shape human behavior and how social institutions influence individual choices. Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on structural inequalities in the Catholic Church, with particular emphasis on how women religious respond to gendered constraints in the day-to-day. Dr. Murphy has published articles in peer-reviewed and non-academic journals and has presented papers at both National and International conferences. Dr. Murphy is married to his loving partner, Krista, and the couple have one son, William “Liam.” In his spare time, Dr. Murphy enjoys traveling, cooking, baking, running, and playing guitar.
Kathleen Smith, J.D.
Kathleen M. Smith, JD, is an experienced educator and attorney. She joined the faculty of Chestnut Hill College in 2019 as an associate professor and coordinator of the College’s Law and Legal Studies (Pre-Law) major. Prior positions include Visiting Scholar at the Rendell Center for Civics and Civics Education, where she continues to volunteer. She is also a founding member of the Regional Youth Court Advisory Committee and was recently appointed by the Rendell Center to their Advisory Committee on Judicial Independence. She was previously employed by Community College of Philadelphia where she earned the academic rank of professor and directed the paralegal program and also founded and directed the Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society which provides seminars, civic engagement projects, reentry support and service-learning opportunities.
Her work in developing service-learning opportunities has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Bar Association which awarded her the Jeffrey A. Enrico Award for Public Service. She has also been the co-recipient of four League of Innovation Awards and a finalist for the Bellwether Award and the Pennsylvania Council for Social Studies for her work in developing a college-level Youth Course curriculum. She also served as the chair of the Social Science Department at CCP for eleven years, co-chairing the College’s Middle States Self-Study, serving as a Curriculum Facilitator and as a member of technology and curriculum committees. She has also served as a Commissioner on the American Bar Association Standing Committee for the Approval of Paralegal Programs for three terms and was appointed and served on the Pennsylvania State Senate Advisory Committee on Youth Courts. She received her B.A. cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D. from Antioch College School of Law.
