Jaya B. Davis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Criminology
and Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts

Service Learning Course(s):

• Juvenile Justice Systems (CRCJ 5366)
• Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Corrections
  (CRCJ 3338)
• Institutional Corrections (CRCJ 4333)

“Service Learning gives students a transformative, real-world, ‘this is how it actually works’ experience."

Dr. Jaya Davis has used her knowledge of Criminology and Criminal Justice to incorporate service learning in many of the different aspects of her classrooms. Through one of her service learning projects, Dr. Davis was able to match students with parolees who had served their time and were living the remainder of their lives in nursing facilities supervised by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This provided Dr. Davis and her students the opportunity to reflect on the criminal justice policies affecting these residents, while also providing them with a sense of community and belonging; something a lot of them have trouble establishing post-release. Some of the community partners Dr. Davis works with are The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, The Dallas County Juvenile Department Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (DCJD-JJAEP) and the Wellington Oaks Nursing Facility among others.

Dr. Davis has published multiple articles on service learning, such as “Engaging Criminal Justice Students Through Service Learning,” “Making Service Learning Partnerships Work: Listening and Responding to Community Partners,” and “Comparative Analysis of Service Learning in Criminal Justice and Social Work Education.”

Dr. Davis advises faculty interested in service learning to make sure they do not add service learning to their courses hazardously or as an afterthought. While service learning is important, you need to be dedicated to making it work to ensure your students will gain as much as they possibly can from the experience.