Dr. Rachel Rayburn

About Dr. Rachel Rayburn

Dr. Wan-Lin ChangRachel L. Rayburn is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). She holds a B.S. degree from Florida State University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from The University of Central Florida. Prior to joining UTRGV, Dr. Rayburn worked at Purdue University Fort Wayne as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Public Policy. Her research examines why and how people leave lives of criminal activity. She has published articles on homelessness, drugs, and desistance from crime that have appeared in journals such as Deviant Behavior, Applied Social Science, Society, and Sociology Health Review.

Course Redesign Project and Experience

Dr. Rayburn has been engaged with affordable course material alternatives for many years. One of her favorite course redesigns was for an alternative core graduate criminal justice course titled Criminal Justice Policy Analysis (CRIJ 6306). In this course, students are expected to critically analyze and critique criminal justice policy, the operation of the criminal justice system, and its effects on individuals, communities, and society. Due to the wide variety of topics in this course, such as mass incarceration, race, immigration, gangs, and poverty, it is crucial to have a wide variety of books available for students. The library has been instrumental in providing students access to their assigned course materials at no cost to our students.

Redesigning and rebuilding this course was relatively straightforward with the help of the Textbook Affordability Program. Before considering adoption, Dr. Rayburn had plenty of time to familiarize herself with course materials and just the right amount of guidance from librarians and staff.

Reflections

Overall Dr. Rayburn believes faculty should just try it out! She encourages faculty to apply for the Affordable Textbook Adoption Grant because there are options available through the library that faculty may be unaware of. For example, she wanted to incorporate a recent text by NYU Press, and the library was able to help students purchase an online version.

She is very grateful this program exists. Without any financial aid available at the graduate level, her students really appreciated the availability of free course materials through the library. It has also saved her a lot of time in preparing new courses.

Dr. Rayburn Contact Information