SHANI GRAY
Criminal Justice
Spring 2005
For recent Indiana University Criminal Justice graduate Dr. Shani Gray, Ph.D., choosing a field of research was not difficult. She has been fascinated with the world of cops and robbers since she was five years old.
"I always had to be the sheriff," she said, and at one point later as a teenager, she and a friend had grand plans for being FBI agents. But at 16, her dad told her that he didn't think she was wired that way and that she just didn't have the heart for that kind of work.
Though still interested in law enforcement, true to her dad's words, Shani's interests changed as she filled the role of caretaker for her juvenile delinquent brother when both her parents needed to work. She now wanted to serve her community by helping young people move beyond their troubles and was no longer interested in the FBI lifestyle.
She received her undergraduate degree from Taylor University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and with her professor's encouragement, applied for graduate school at Indiana University Bloomington -- her research topic, juvenile justice.
"At IU, I was able to investigate things in a broad sense and then narrow in on what I'm really interested in," Shani said. "I came in with a phenomenal cohort -- a group of people committed to academic excellence and helping each other."
When she arrived at IU, the department of Criminal Justice paired her with a minority peer mentor who gave Shani a map, took her shopping, took her to church and helped her get her id card.
Although the transition into graduate school can be as trying as the transition into college from high school, Shani believes she is lucky to have had training in dealing with different cultural settings -- from her mom. When she was little, her mom would do things to introduce Shani to other worlds, like having fancy dinners and teaching her about salad forks and butter knives.
"My mom taught me that you can still function in a diverse world," Shani said. "People will treat you as a person if you be yourself, also, color is not the only issue and sometimes is not the primary one."
This fall, she'll begin as an assistant professor on a tenure track position at Valdosta State University in Georgia. Shani is delighted about her new position, but also about being closer to her grandmother in Alabama, to living in the south and to drinking sweet tea.
"My mom is originally from Georgia," Shani said, and from her new Valdosta home, Shani "can do more to understand her history and heritage."
Her students will mostly come from the surrounding area, she said, and will have good minority representation, although that representation is not reflected in the faculty.
On the topic of graduate school, Shani has this advice for students wanting to apply:
-Make sure you evaluate the financial commitment and the time commitment. Both are important to your success.
-Start applying for grants early.
-You'll want two people to advise you.. an academic advisor and a mentor. Pair yourself with someone in your department and someone outside of your department. It's important to have that mentor who's not wrapped up in your department's hierarchy.. someone who you can bounce ideas off of, learn academic writing from, who will help you look at academic papers, write good exam questions and make comments on everything. Find that person and they will help you focus.
-Also, find a student or group of students in your department to work with. It's good to have someone on ground level to run stuff through.
-Work hard in graduate school, but take time for at least one non-school activity or interest. You'll need it to survive mentally.
-It's important to build a support network for yourself at graduate school, especially if your family and friends have not been through graduate school and might not understand. Finding outlets to talk about school will also save your relationships with your immediate family and friends, because they get tired of hearing about it!
Shani Gray is recent graduate from the Criminal Justice Ph.D. program at Indiana University.
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