New Associate Dean Joins College Leadership Team

Ryan Meldrum, Ph.D., recently joined the College of Social Work and Criminal Justice as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Student Services and Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

In addition to his scholarship and mentorship accolades, Dr. Meldrum brings considerable research expertise that further integrates our college disciplines and advances FAU’s Race to Excellence. His work explores juvenile delinquency and young adult offending, sources and consequences of low self-control, behavioral and health consequences of lack of sleep among teens, and racial and ethnic disparities in adverse childhood experiences, school discipline, and juvenile justice sanctioning among youth. He also recently served on an interdisciplinary team of prosecutors and researchers that established 55 prosecutorial performance indicators to promote more effective, just and transparent decision-making in prosecution across diverse jurisdictions.

Dr. Meldrum's teaching interests focus primarily on Research Methods and Criminological Theory. In addition, he developed a course on Biosocial Criminology, which teaches students about the neural, genetic, and biological underpinnings of antisocial behavior and how these factors intersect with social factors emphasized by mainstream criminological theories.

Our college strategic plan – Turning Commitment into Transformation – highlights our path toward becoming a leadership vanguard that can bridge and reimagine our two professions, and inspire and prepare the leaders, scholars and policymakers of tomorrow to enact positive change. Dr. Meldrum will play a valuable role in moving our mission forward.