Deanna L. Wilkinson is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Human Sciences in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University, where she was appointed in January of 2006. She is also an affiliated faculty with Criminal Justice Research Center at OSU, the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, the Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male, the OSU African and African American Studies Community Extension Center, the Kirwan Institute, and the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Before that she held her first faculty post in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA from 1998-2005.
Dr. Wilkinson is a criminologist and expert on urban youth violence, illegal firearms use, community processes, and violence prevention. Professor Wilkinson earned her Ph.D. from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, her Masters of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. She was raised in the small rural town Capron, IL; grew up on welfare; and was the first person in her family to attend college. She lives outside Columbus, Ohio with her husband, Associate Professor of Bioengineering Keith Gooch, and two children.
Wilkinson’s primary research and teaching interests are adolescent development, risk and problem behaviors, youth violence, evidence-based practice, firearm use, prevention, event perspectives, community-police partnerships, citizen participation in social action, collaborative processes, program evaluation, and urban communities.
She is author of the book, Guns, Violence and Identity: Among African American and Latino Youth (LFB Scholarly Publications, 2003). Wilkinson has authored more than 80 scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports in the areas of grassroots community organizations, substance abuse, drug abuse prevention education, young fatherhood, dropout prevention, violence and suicide prevention, intimate partner violence, father-son relationships, organizational change in policing, community policing, and coping with trauma.
She has directed several large-scale research projects. Wilkinson has received funding for her research from the National Institute of Justice, the William Penn Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, and the Ohio State University Office of Outreach and Engagement. She is the 2008 recipient of the Society for Research on Adolescence Young Investigator Award. She was honored at the 13th annual SAVE awards on April 30, 2009 with the Les Wright Youth Advocacy Award. On May 24, 2010, she received the College of Education and Human Ecology’s Dean’s Distinguished Service Award for her devotion to community service in Columbus. She received the 2010 Fire and Focus Award as well. In 2011, she was honored as “Woman of the Year” by the I’m Every Woman National Expo. In 2012, Dr. Wilkinson was recognized with an Julius Debro Outstanding Service Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division of People of Color and Crime and by the College of Education and Human Ecology with the Dean’s Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award. In 2013, she received a Community Service award from the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice Ohio Chapter.
Professor Wilkinson is a deeply committed to Ministries4Movement working closely with Men for the Movement, Family Missionary Baptist Church, National Center for Urban Solutions, and various community partners to make lasting changes to improve the quality of life on the South side of Columbus. For the past two summers (2013 and 2014), she has had the great pleasure to work with approximately 100 amazing children from the community. In 2013, youth engaged in the There’s No Place Like Home curriculum Dr. Wilkinson designed specific for engaging youth at Family Missionary Baptist Church in community building. In 2014, youth created a community garden, worked on academic enrichment with a focus on literacy and technology enhanced math refreshers, and more community building activities through art.