Stacey Nofziger, Ph.D.

Stacey Nofziger, Ph.D.

Title: Associate Professor; Director of Undergraduate Studies in Sociology
Dept/Program: Sociology
Office: Olin Hall 264
Email: sn18@uakron.edu
Curriculum Vitae: Download in PDF format

Biography

Dr. Nofziger earned her PhD at the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the faculty at The University of Akron in 2003, she was an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University.

Her area of expertise is in Criminology and her primary research interest is on Control Theories. Specifically, she focuses on the role of parenting and family processes in developing social and self-control. She has used these theories to examine behaviors as wide ranging as bullying, gun violence, sex and gender differences in offending, suicidal ideation, victimization, and even playing Bingo.  Her current work pushes control theories still farther to examine how self-control can explain the connections between pre-natal alcohol exposure and negative life outcomes. In 2020, she received a Faculty Research grant and worked with an undergraduate student to examine how pre-natal alcohol exposure is related to self-control and deviant behaviors in adolescence.

Dr. Nofziger also recently organized a team of faculty across campus to work on bringing experiential and service learning to online courses.  This will provide students in many disciplines unique opportunities to apply what they learn in their courses to make a real difference in their communities.

Research

Current Research Interests

Control theory, Parenting and Self-control, Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

  • Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: Dr. Nofziger was awarded a Faculty Research Grant for the Summer of 2020 to examine how self-control can explain the connection between prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and patterns of risky drinking behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood. She hired an undergraduate student who learned how to download data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, recode and analyze these data.  The challenges presented by covid-19 slowed this work, but Dr. Nofziger is continuing to work with this student to write a paper based on their findings and has encouraged the student to develop her own presentation related to this project.
  • Online Service Learning: Some of the most valuable experiences for University of Akron students happen outside the traditional classroom setting. Students want to not only finish their degree but also make a difference in the world.  The increase in students who are balancing work and school, along with the Covid-19 epidemic, means that more students are taking online courses.  This does not mean that valuable experiences like service learning have to stop. Dr. Nofziger was awarded the 2019-2020 Faculty Development Initiative Grant from The University of Akron EXL center to work with a group of faculty from across the campus who will all develop courses that incorporate service learning into the online class format.

Recent Research Support

Nofziger, Stacey.  2020. “Using Self-Control Theory to Explain the Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Risky Alcohol Behaviors from Adolescence to Adulthood” Faculty Research Grant, The University of Akron. $10,000

Nofziger, Stacey. 2019-2020. “Online Service Learning Course Design Working Group” EXL Faculty-Driven Initiative Grant, The University of Akron. Awarded $6748

Publication Outlets include:

Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Gender Issues, Deviant Behavior, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Feminist Criminology, Violence and Victims, Journal of School Violence, Youth and Society

Publications

2020 Nofziger, Stacey and Taylor Johnson. Revisiting the Concept of Stability in the General Theory of Crime. Crime & Delinquency, 66(6–7), 739-769.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719890264

2019 Nofziger, Stacey. “Beyond the footnote: A return to the girls in the Richmond Youth Study.” Pp. 99-131 in Barbara J. Costello and James C. Oleson eds. Fifty Years of Causes of Delinquency: The Criminology of Travis Hirschi. Routledge

2018 Nofziger, Stacey, Katherine Newton. “Self-control, parental crime, and discipline across three generations.” Deviant Behavior. 39 (12): 1533-1551.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2017.1410616 .

2016 Nofziger, Stacey and Valerie Callanan. “Predicting Suicidal Tendencies Among High Risk Youth with the General Theory of Crime.” Deviant Behavior. 37(2): 1-17.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2014.1004029

2010 Nofziger, Stacey. “A Gendered Perspective on the Relationship Between Self-Control and Deviance.” Feminist Criminology, 5: 29-50.
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1557085109353892

2009 Nofziger, Stacey. “Victimization and the General Theory of Crime.” Violence and Victims. 24(3): 337-350.
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0886260508323667

2001 Nofziger, Stacey. Bullies, Fights and Guns: Testing Self-Control Theory with Juveniles. New York, NY: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.

2000 Chapple, Constance and Stacey Nofziger. “Bingo!: Hints of Deviance in the Accounts of Sociability and Profit of Bingo Players”. Deviant Behavior 21(6): 489-517.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620050184645

Education

  • Ph.D., Sociology (Criminology, Juvenile Violence and Victimization, Criminal Justice and Community), University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 1999
  • M.A. Sociology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 1995
  • B.A. Sociology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington (cum laude), 1993

Courses

3850 330: Criminology (Lecture and Online)

3850 360: Social Effects of Crime in the Media (Online)

3850 416: Women and Crime (Lecture and Online)

3850 428: Victim in Society (Lecture and Online)

3850 430: Juvenile Delinquency (Lecture)

3850 441: Sociology of Law (Lecture and Online)

3850 445: Family Violence (Lecture)