Rachel Elizabeth Lovell
r_e_lovell.jpg
 Title: Assistant Professor
Director, Criminology Research Center
 Dept: Criminology and Sociology
 Office: UR 363
 Phone: 216-687-4526
 Email: r.e.lovell@csuohio.edu
 Address: 2121 Euclid Ave. UR 363, Cleveland, OH 44115

Courses Taught

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Research Keywords:
Gender-based violence, violence, victimization, sexual assault, rape, sexual assault kits, rape kits, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, sexual offenders, serial sexual offenders, offending typology, gun violence, evaluation, program evaluation, community-based research, applied research, quantitative, qualitative, methodology
 
Education:
Ph.D., Sociology, The Ohio State University, 2007
M.A., Sociology, Baylor University, 2001
B.A., Sociology, Baylor University, 2000
 
Brief Bio:
Rachel E. Lovell, PhD, (The Ohio State University, Sociology, 2007) is an Assistant Professor of Criminology in the Department of Criminology and Sociology and Director of the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is an applied criminologist and methodologist whose research focuses on gender-based violence and victimization, particularly sexual assault, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence.

Since 2015, Dr. Lovell has been the Principal Investigator on several large action research projects on untested sexual assault kits in collaboration with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office and the Akron Police Department, with funding provided by the Department of Justice's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. As an extension of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, she serves as the lead researcher on the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office's Lawfully "Owed" DNA Initiative.
Dr. Lovell is also the Principal Investigator on a recently completed National Institute of Justice grant that used machine learning to analyze the narratives of nearly 6,000 police reports of rape for ¿signaling¿ language regarding a victim¿s credibility.

She is an established scholar with over $6 million in external funding in the last nine years and authored several dozen peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and the recently released Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape from Routledge Press. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic, Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Pro Publica, and Sports Illustrated.
 
Honors and Awards:
2023 Outstanding Women¿s and Gender Studies Faculty Scholar Award. Women¿s and Gender Studies. Cleveland State University

2022 Best Overall Paper Award. Levin College of Public Affairs and Education¿s Founding Faculty Research Showcase, Cleveland State University

2022 Most Impactful Paper for Policy, Practice, Community Change. Levin College of Public Affairs and Education¿s Founding Faculty Research Showcase, Cleveland State University

2019 Women of Achievement Award. Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, Case Western Reserve University
 
Research Interests:
Criminology, Victimology, Evaluation Research, Violence and Victimization, Interpersonal Violence, Women and Criminal Justice, Gender-Based Violence, Social Statistics, Social Research Methods, Gender Studies/Sociology of Women, Social Stratification/Inequality.
 
Teaching Areas:
Criminology, Victimology, Evaluation Research, Violence and Victimization, Interpersonal Violence, Women and Criminal Justice, Gender-Based Violence, Social Statistics, Social Research Methods, Gender Studies/Sociology of Women, Social Stratification/Inequality.
 
Professional Affiliations:
Division of Victimology, American Society of Criminology
Division of Women in Crime, American Society of Criminology
American Society of Criminology
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
 
Research Grants:
Current awards:
The City of Cleveland. ShotSpotter Evaluation. Co-PI (with Stephanie Kent). (2023-2025). Total Award: $149,999

American Rescue Plan Funding. FY22, Prosecuting Violent Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (federal flow through with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor¿s Office), PI, Research Partner (2022-2024). Total Award: $989,628.30, Research Award: $89,643.75

U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Assistance¿s National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2022, Purpose Area 1 (federal flow through with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor¿s Office), PI, Research Partner (2022-2025). Total Award: $2.0 million, Research Award: $330,562

BJA's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2021, Purpose Area 1 (with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office), PI, Research Partner (2021-2024). Total Award: $1.5 million, Research Award: $200,000 (15PBJA-21-GG-04308-SAKI)

BJA's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2021, Purpose Area 1 (federal flow through with the Cleveland Division of Police), PI, Research Partner (2021-2024). Total Award: $2.5 million, Research Award: $298,643

Ohio Department of Mental Health and Additional Services, FY22 OhioMHAS Covid-19 Block Grant Funding Opportunity for Partnership in Eliminating Youth Human Trafficking (state flow through with the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center), PI, Research Partner (2022-2023). Total Award: $1.3 million, Research Award: $100,000

BJA's Innovative Prosecution Solutions FY 2020 (federal flow through with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office), PI, Research Partner (2020-2022). Total Award: $360,000, Research Award: 100,000 (2020-YX-BX-0008)

OVC FY 2019 Direct Services to Support Victims of Human Trafficking (with Cleveland Rape Crisis Center), PI, Research Partner (2020-2022). Total: $547,235, Research: 68,999 (2019-VT-BX-0077).

BJA's Assistance's Innovative Prosecution Solutions FY 2019 (with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office), PI, Research Partner (2019-2021). Total: $360,000, Research: $89,589 (2019-YX-BX-0018).

BJA's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2019, Purpose Area 1 (with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office), PI, Research Partner (2019-2022). Total: $2 million, Research: $328,100 (2019-AK-BX-0005).

BJA's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2019, Purpose Area 3, Owed DNA (with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office), PI, Research Partner (2019-2022). Total: $1 million, Research: $200,000 (2019-AK-BX-0029).

BJA's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative FY 2019, Purpose Area 1 (with City of Akron), PI, Research Partner (2019-2022). Total: $2 million, Research: $425,000 (2018-AK-BX-0004).