Faculty and Staff Directory

Robert R. Ulmer, Ph.D.

Robert R. Ulmer is dean of the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. The college is designed to engage a unique collection of interdisciplinary students, faculty, and staff to develop original solutions for producing effective urban communities. Ulmer’s work on organizational/community renewal informs and predicts why some cities in today’s headlines have struggled to prepare for terrorism…

Nicholas Barr, Ph.D., received his bachelor of arts degree in comparative religion from Columbia University, where he studied Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. As a Princeton in Asia fellow, he worked in education and development in Laos before earning his MSW with a concentration in adult mental health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then worked as a clinical social worker for the…

Dr. Alexa Bejinariu is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She also serves as the Internship Coordinator for the department and Faculty Advisor for Alpha Phi Sigma (APS) – Theta Tau, the National Criminal Justice Honors Society. Bejinariu teaches introductory level criminal justice courses as well as upper division courses…

Lee Bernick is a professor with expertise in state and local public policy, survey research, public budgeting, and legislative behavior. He has been published in a variety of professional journals including Public Administration Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Journal of Politics, and State and Local Government Review. Prior to coming to UNLV Bernick taught at Iowa State University…

Emma Frances Bloomfield (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is a rhetorician interested in scientific controversies, environmental communication, and the interactions of identity, ideologies, and storytelling. Her primary area of study is climate change communication and the obstacles to and opportunities for environmental conversations. She is the founder and co-director of Greenspun…

Linda Dam, Ph.D., specializes in public relations and strategic communication practices, communication and media theory and research, and cross-cultural communication. Her research interests include cross-cultural communication strategies, uses and effects of new media technologies, parasocial relationship formations within a social media landscape, and food-related influencer marketing. Her work…

Dr. Joshua W. Donnelly is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence at the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, where he specializes in policing, crime prevention and analysis, and community safety. He is dedicated to creating impactful learning experiences that enrich his students' intellectual development. As a key contributor of the Tourist Safety Institute, Dr. Donnelly has spearheaded several…

Jayce Farmer, Ph.D., is an accomplished scholar and the director of the School of Public Policy and Leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he also serves as an associate professor. His research explores critical areas of public policy, including local public finance, urban sustainability, county government administration, state-local relations, and interlocal collaboration.…

Miliaikeala SJ. Heen, Ph.D

Assistant Professor

Miliaikeala SJ. Heen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. Heen received her doctoral degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her dissertation, “(Non-Consensual) Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll: Sexual Harassment and Violence at Live Music Events,”examined the…

Amber Krushas received her doctoral degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and her bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from the University of Wisconsin. Her dissertation, Examining Theoretical Correlates of Personal Recurrent Victimization in Adulthood, explored how several victimological theories differentiated…

Ben Leffel is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership. Dr. Leffel is interested in the science and practice of sustainability governance by cities, states and corporations globally, served as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, and earned his doctoral degree at the University of California…

Joel Lieberman, Ph.D., received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Arizona in 1997. His work involves the application of social psychological theories to criminal justice issues. More specifically, his research focuses on jury decision making, inter-group conflict, and police use of technology, including social media and unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e., drones). In addition,…

Dr. Lim is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Dr. Lim earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Regional Planning. For four years between 2003 and 2007, he had served as a research assistant for REAL (Regional Economics Applications Laboratory)…

Terance D. Miethe received his doctoral degree in sociology from Washington State University. His areas of interest include criminology, law, quantitative methods, and evaluation research. He developed (with Wendy Regoeczi and Timothy Hart) the statistical method of conjunctive analysis and is the author of 18 books and over 50 research articles on violent crime, victimization, and criminal…

Sam received his master's degree in public policy from the Pennsylvania State University and his bachelor's degree in Criminology, Law & Society/Psychology & Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine. He worked as a research associate for the Criminal Justice Research Center examining drug markets, patterns of substance-related police stops, and criminal justice-oriented…

Garrett Pace, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Garrett Pace, Ph.D., MSW, is an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Social Work. He received his doctoral degree in social work and sociology from the University of Michigan. During his doctoral education, he was a population studies trainee at the Institute for Social Research. Prior to his doctoral education, he worked as a researcher for three years at the…

Dr. Edgar E. Ramírez de la Cruz is a professor at the School of Public Policy and Leadership at UNLV. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He served as Director of the Public Administration Division of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico City from 2017 to 2022, where he was also a professor. Ramírez has published in academic journals such as…

Rebecca Rice (Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder) researches and teaches in organizational communication. Her research focuses on inter-organizational collaboration, high-reliability organizing, and security. Recent projects explore emergency management collaborations, hierarchy and authority in collaboration, and challenges to responding to natural disasters and security threats in local…

Alexandra Slemaker received her Ph.D. in sociology from Iowa State University, her master’s in science in investigative psychology from the University of Huddersfield in England, and her bachelor of arts in Psychology and minor in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma. Her interdisciplinary research uses qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine mass murder,…

William Sousa, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Crime and Justice Policy and a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The focus of his research is on crime and disorder reduction policies implemented by police agencies, including the New York City Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. His current projects involve police…

Dr. Steven Pace is an assistant professor-in-residence within the Department of Criminal Justice at UNLV. He is a sociologist by training and a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent by trade. During his tenure with the FBI, Dr. Pace worked primarily on complex criminal and counterintelligence investigations. Specifically, he developed expertise in working on long-term criminal enterprise…

Afsha Bawany was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. Afsha graduated from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She earned her master's degree in urban leadership from UNLV. She is a former reporter and forever a writer. Her articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, Las Vegas Sun, Henderson Home News, Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Orange County Register, Nevada…

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