Victor W. Bumphus, a member of UTC’s Department of Social, Cultural and Justice Studies since 2002, passed away on May 31. He taught criminal justice, mentoring undergraduate and graduate students as well as his junior colleagues in the department.
He was nationally and internationally recognized for his research on policing, police accountability and ethics, and he examined issues such as race, bias and attitudes on drug control policy and sentencing. His work was published in such journals as International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Review and American Journal of Criminal Justice.
He was principal investigator working on strategies to enhance law enforcement response and service to victims of crimes and also was developing a Southeastern Command and Leadership Academy and evaluating a Tennessee Meth Task Force. He served as an evaluator for a UTC Violence against Women grant and most recently was chair of the UTC Police Hiring and Promotion Board.
