A new center at the University of Virginia endeavors to develop scholarship and critical understanding in the realm of public safety.
Last week, the university’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies announced the creation of the UVa Center for Public Safety and Justice, which will focus on fostering academic collaborations among scholars and law enforcement agents to examine and shape current public safety practices.
“Our goal is to create a continuous learning environment where our scholarship reaches communities, and the experiences and needs of those communities inform our teaching and improve practices,” Bryon Gustafson, director of UVa’s master of public safety program and a former Stockton, California, police chief, said in a statement announcing the news. “We will collaborate with students, alumni, community members and industry partners to advance this work.”
Public safety experts who have already been conducting research at the university say the new center, which will provide …