Christina L. Boyd is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Thomas P. and M. Jean Lauth Public Affairs Professor. Her research focuses on judicial politics, public law, women and politics, judicial diversity, American politics, and the intersection of courts and the bureaucracy in American politics.

Professor Boyd’s forthcoming book, Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, will be published in fall 2023 by Stanford University Press. In Supreme Bias, Boyd and her co-authors Collins and Ringhand examine the dynamics of gender and race at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The book uses extensive new data and qualitative evidence to highlight how the women and people of color who have sat before the Committee have faced a significantly different confirmation process than their white male colleagues. Despite being among the most qualified and well-credentialed lawyers of their respective generations, the book’s evidence indicates that female nominees and nominees of color face more skepticism of their professional competence, are subjected to stereotype-based questioning, are more frequently interrupted, and are described in less-positive terms by senators.

In 2022, Boyd’s AJPS article on the decision making of female judges, “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging” (co-authored with Epstein and Martin), was awarded the American Political Science Association Law & Courts Section Lasting Contribution Award. In 2023, Boyd’s working project, “How the Trump Administration’s Quota Policy Transformed Immigration Judging” (with Blasingame, Carlos, and Ornstein), was the recipient of the Midwest Political Science Association Evan Ringquist and American Political Science Association Law & Courts Section Best Conference Paper awards.

Professor Boyd’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation on multiple occasions. Her previous publications have appeared in Oxford University Press and leading political science and law journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Politics, Groups, and Identities, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, Journal of Legal Studies, Law & Society Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and Vanderbilt Law Review. Her research has been discussed in media outlets including New York Times, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, and National Public Radio.

Professor Boyd is a member of the North Carolina Bar (inactive) and grew up in beautiful western Montana.

Dr. Jody Clay-Warner, Meigs Professor of Sociology (view Dr. Clay-Warner's Meigs video) and Director of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, has been at the University of Georgia since 1998. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Emory University, and her specialty areas include social psychology, criminology, and gender.  She is the co-editor of Social Psychology Quarterly and the co-director of the Laboratory for the Study of Social Interaction (LASSI).

The overarching goal of her research is to understand responses to injustice. She considers this issue from both a basic and applied perspective.  Specifically, she examines the underlying processes that guide responses to injustice, as well as the implications of these processes for reactions to concrete forms of injustice, such as criminal victimization. She employs experimental and survey methods to investigate these issues, and her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of State. Her current projects focus on human trafficking victimization in Sub-Saharan Africa, the mental and physical health effects of violent victimization, and the relationship between gendered violence and inequality.

David Mustard serves on the Executive Committe of the Criminal Justice Studies Program. His research explores the racial and gender differences in sentencing, the efficacy  of gun control laws, how casinos and visitors influence crime rates, and the interaction between labor markets and crime. He holds the Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago (1997). For more information please click here.

Justine E. Tinkler earned the Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University in 2007. She employs experimental, survey-based, and qualitative research methods to provide empirical evidence for advancing theory in social psychology, law and inequality. Dr. Tinkler teaches the Sociology of Law (SOCI 4830). For more information please click here.

Sarah K.S. Shannon joined the UGA Sociology Department in 2013 after receiving her PhD (and MSW) from the University of Minnesota.  Sarah's research focuses on systems of criminal punishment and their effects on social life. Her interdisciplinary research has been published in top journals in several fields including sociology, criminology, public health, social work, and geography.

Sarah is also an award-winning teacher, having received recognition for excellence in undergraduate instruction, research mentoring, creative teaching, and service-learning. She proudly facilitates UGA's first-ever Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course in partnership with the Clarke County Jail (SOCI 4470S).

As a publicly engaged scholar, Sarah’s research has been cited in several high profile media outlets including The New York Times, The Economist,  and the Washington Post. Prior to her graduate work, Sarah worked in the non-profit sector. As a result, she cares about doing research that matters for academics, policy makers, and ordinary citizens.

Teaching Accomplishments

• Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor. 2022. UGA Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost.
• Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award. 2020. UGA Office of Service-Learning.
• Richard B. Russell Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. 2019. UGA Office of Academic Programs.
• Creative Teaching Award. 2019. UGA Office of Instruction.
• Research Mentoring Award. 2018. UGA Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities.
• Outstanding Professor. 2018. UGA Student Government Association.
• Service-Learning Fellows Program. 2017-2018. UGA Office of Service-Learning.
• Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award, 2017. Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia.
• Lilly Teaching Fellow. 2014-2016. University of Georgia, Center for Teaching and Learning.

Lindsay Dickerson is from a small town in southwest Georgia that borders the Alabama and Florida line.  She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2012 with a degree in Criminal Justice and Sociology.  Following graduation, she was hired as a felony probation officer with the Georgia Department of Corrections (now Department of Community Supervision).  She left the field of law enforcement to pursue a career in academic advising in 2016 where she felt she found her true calling.  She loves truly getting to know students, helping them navigate her alma mater and pursuing their dreams.  She lives with her husband, a UGA Criminal Justice graduate and former Athens-Clarke County police officer of 20 years, two wonderful stepsons and a thriving toddler.