Clarksville, TN – Several members of the Austin Peay State University (APSU) Department of Political Science and Public Management traveled to Franklin, Tennessee, October 30th-November 1st, to present their research at the annual Mid-Southern Interdisciplinary Sciences Association (MISA) conference.
Dr. Chinyere Ogbonna-McGruder, professor of political science and public management, is a member of MISA’s executive board, and she served as chair for the conference’s criminal justice panel, “Mass Incarceration Dilemma.”
Obgonna-McGruder also served as graduate research paper reviewer and coordinator for the conference.
Ogbonna-McGruder worked with APSU student Keyshona Oatis on a research paper titled “Analysis of Exonerations in Tennessee,” which analyzed exonerations within a specific period in Tennessee. Oatis won the undergraduate student research presentation at the MISA conference, and Ogbonna-McGruder and Oatis plan to submit the paper for research publication.
APSU undergraduate student Briannah Malone presented a paper, “Comparative Analysis of Recidivism in Tennessee.” Malone received a $3,000 Undergraduate Research Enrichment Funds grant from Austin Peay to conduct research with Ogbonna-McGruder. They hope to publish their paper, co-authored by Tennessee State University’s Dr. Alex Sekwat, in a scholarly journal.