Professor Dean Wright

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R. Dean Wright

Professor of Sociology

Office: 124 Howard Hall

Phone: Office: 271-3618

Home: 225-3314

E-Mail: dean.wright@drake.edu

R. Dean Wright received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Pittsburg, Kansas State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He teaches courses in poverty, homelessness, criminology, youth and crime, and research methodology. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Delhi University in India, held a National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship in Hindi, and has been awarded fellowship from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Iowa House at the University of Iowa, and the Northwest Area Foundation. He is active in criminal justice areas for the State of Iowa, where he chaired the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Advisory Council for fourteen years. In the past he has chaired or been a member of a number of committees and commissions, including the chair of Attorney General Miller's Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Attorney General's Campbell's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sentencing. Dr. Wright is also active in civic affairs, including being past-chair of the Advisory Board of the Greater Des Moines Salvation Army and currently is a member of the Administrative Cabinet and chairs Compassion in Action for the Des Moines Area Religious Council. In 1995, Professor Wright became the first recipient of the Madelyn M. Levitt Distinguished Community Service Award. In 1996 he was inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame. He is President and currently Treasurer of the Midwest Sociological Society. His current research interests are in the areas of poverty and homelessness. He and Dr. Susan Wright have recently completed four state-wide studies of the educational needs of homeless children for the Iowa Department of Education. They currently have two grants for research relating to death and dying among homeless populations.

Classes taught by Dr. Wright: