Professor; Director, African American Studies Program
(205) 934-8516 or 975-9652
UBOB 217 & HHB 321
Research Interests: Corrections; correctional decision making, race, crime, and social policy, victim participation in the correctional process
Office Hours: By appointment
Education:
- BS, Texas Women's University, Sociology
- MA, Texas Women's University, Sociology
- PhD, Florida State University, Criminology
Dr. Kathryn Morgan, PhD, is Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of African American Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology from Texas Woman’s University and earned her PhD in Criminology from Florida State University’s School of Criminology. Her doctoral research examined factors influencing probation outcomes, a line of inquiry that has shaped her long-standing scholarly agenda.
Dr. Morgan’s teaching and research focus on probation and parole effectiveness, correctional decision making, liability issues in community supervision, and the role of race in probation and parole outcomes. She has published extensively in these areas, and her work has been widely cited. Her article, “Factors Influencing Probation Outcome: A Review of the Literature,” which serves as the foundation for this proposed monograph, has been cited over 100 times and reprinted multiple times, underscoring its continuing relevance to both researchers and practitioners.
In addition to her academic credentials, Dr. Morgan brings substantial professional experience to her scholarship. She previously served as a Felony Adult Probation Officer with Jefferson County Adult Probation Services in Beaumont, Texas, where she supervised general and specialized caseloads, prepared presentence investigation reports, and taught court-mandated DWI programs. This practical background informs her writing and distinguishes her work as both theoretically grounded and practice-oriented. Dr. Morgan is also the author of Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections Work in Theory and Practice (2015; 2nd ed. 2022), which is widely used for its case-based approach to developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Download Curriculum Vitae Opens a PDF. Scholars ProfileOpens an external link.
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Recent Courses
Criminal Justice
- Race, Crime, & Social Policy
- Violence: An American Tradition
- Probation and Parole
African American Studies
- Introduction to African American Studies
- Introduction to African History and Culture
- History of Sport: The African American Experience
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Select Publications
- Morgan, K. (2017). Issues related to the Pretrial Release of Women Offenders in Encyclopedia of Women and Crime. Edited by Kelly Fralling & Frances Bernat. Beverly Hills, CA: Wiley- Blackwell.
- Kaelyn Little, O. Hayden Griffin III, H. Daniel Butler & Kathryn D. Morgan (2022): A Review of Inmate Litigation Challenging the Constitutionality of Solitary Confinement, Corrections, DOI: 10.1080/23774657.2022.2156935
Book Chapters
- Morgan, K. (2017) Parole Process and Practice. Handbook of Corrections in the United States. Edited by Hayden Griffin and Vanessa Woodward. New York, NY: Routledge Publishers.
- Morgan, K. (2017). Probation and Parole: Captivity Beyond Prisons in Hispanics in the U.S. Criminal Justice System: The New American Demography, 2nd Edition. Edited by Martin Urbina. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas Publishers.
Published Books
- Morgan, Kathryn (2022). Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections Work in Theory and Practice. Second Edition. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
- Morgan, K. (2016). Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections: Work in Theory and Practice. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
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Academic Distinctions & Professional Memberships
- Springer Series Editor: Community Corrections, Probation & Reentry Studies.