At K-State, he has taught sociology courses, including Social Problems, Juvenile Delinquency, Police and Society, Intro to Sociology, Sociology of the Criminal Justice System and Corrections.

Before he entered graduate school, Travis worked as a prison guard, a child welfare worker and a probation officer. In all, the Kansas State University doctoral student in sociology has spent 10 years on the front lines of the U.S. justice system. It's that real-life experience that him to return to school and study the connection between race and gender and incarceration. Just before he went to K-State, he also led a multi-year research/intervention project on the over-representation of minority youth in juvenile justice.

His research interests include the area of punishment, social control, media, and culture. Travis is particularly interested in examining race and gender considerations related to incarceration. His doctoral research examines drug use and drug control in non-urban spaces. Travis has conducted projects to study the effects that methamphetamine abuse and control have on the lives of rural rural residents, and the influences of court and community context on criminal sentences. Travis has published numerous articles, many in peer-reviewed journals. Travis explains his interests this way,

"Many things are terribly wrong with our criminal justice system. However, current injustices reflect broader social inequalities that are perhaps deeper and not as easy to see. The study of crime provides perhaps the best glimpse and opportunity to examine all manner of social inequalities based on race, class sex, and more.

"My research is influenced by various lineages of sociology and critical criminology. My research focuses on inequalities articulated through the criminal and juvenile courts and the cultural significance of crime and punishment."

One of his favorite quotes comes from Emma Goldman: "One cannot be too extreme in dealing with social ills; the extreme thing is generally the true thing."

We don't expect Travis to only write about his academic interests! Travis is well-rounded person with many interests. We've even heard through the grapevine that he's also a poet. Here's what he has to say:

"You can a expect some obscure humor, discussions of sociology and criminology, music and media, and will have to navigate run on sentences, redundancies and other exaggerated hyperbole."

We're delighted that Travis has joined our band of citizen journalists.

To learn more about any KFP writers, we encourage you to browse our directory of citizen journalists.