Southern Criminal Justice Association Names East Lake Resident Outstanding Graduate Student

Shila Hawk, a Georgia State University student, was given the 2013 Southern Criminal Justice Association's Outstanding Graduate Student Award during the SCJA's Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach, on Sept. 20.

Presented annually, the award recognizes exemplary accomplishments in scholarship, leadership and public service by a graduate student within the Southern region.

Hawk is a member of the inaugural class of doctoral students working to earn a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and Criminology offered at GSU's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

On top of her studies and other work to support the department and school, she has been journal book review editor for the Criminal Justice Review and the International Criminal Justice Review. She also has been a mentor in Georgia State’s Criminal Justice Graduate Student Association. She manages Project ATLAS at the Atlanta Police Department and has worked on the DeKalb County Criminal Justice Strategic Plan.

A member of the university’s Urban Fellow’s program and has received the Best Graduate Student Research Paper Award. She earned her master's degree in sociology and bachelor's degree in sociology and criminal justice 
from the University of Arkansas, where she received the Bernice Jones Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2010.