Indiana State University Newsroom

Franklin T. Wilson, PhD, an Associate Professor of Criminology, has received the 2022-2023 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) Outstanding Mentor Award. He is one of six to receive this year’s award. Less than 100 individuals have received this award since its inception.

The international award is presented to individuals who “during the course of their career have made a significant contribution to the professional development of graduate students and junior faculty members in criminal justice.” He is also the first professor from a university in the state of Indiana to receive the award. Wilson was nominated by a former colleague and multiple former graduate students. He will be presented with the award during the awards luncheon at the ACJS Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland in March.

This is not the first time Wilson has been recognized for his mentoring skills and knowledge of criminal justice education. In 2022, he was named a Mentor for the Center for Justice Research’s Researcher Development Institute Fellowship Program. The Research Development Institute (RDI), housed at Texas Southern University, “was established to address the lack of culturally-responsive, justice-related research training and development opportunities for students and faculty.” The fellowship program focuses on the research and professional development of Ph.D. students and new academics across the United States.

In 2019, he was a State of Opportunity in America Summit Invitee. This event is conducted by The Center for Advancing Opportunity (CAO), a Washington, D.C.-based research and education initiative created by a partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Charles Koch Foundation, and Koch Industries. The summit focused on At Risk Communities and the role of education and criminal justice. Only 200 scholars, entrepreneurs, civic and private leaders were invited to take part. Wilson was named in the Indiana State University First Destination Survey by Classes 2020, 2021, and 2022 as having contributed to student success at ISU. In 2020, he was named one of the top 20 Influencers in Criminology by Cronycle and in 2017 he was named one of fifteen Top Criminology and Criminal Justice Professors on Twitter by OnlineEducation.com.