Victoria Ream
Victoria Ream ’15, ’17M graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University with her B.A. in Sociology-Criminology and Psychology with a Spanish minor. She knew she loved learning about different cultures and diverse groups of people. She also knew she wanted to continue her education, so she pursued her Masters in Sociology at OHIO.
“This was a great experience for me because I was able to conduct my own research to write my thesis as well as gain teaching experience, which solidified my decision to work in academia,” Ream says.
She is now an online facilitator at Ohio University for an Introduction to Sociology course, while pursuing her Ph.D. at North Carolina State University. She plans to study intersections of crime and the environment, and continue teaching undergraduate students in the classroom.
How OHIO Prepared Her
Ream advises students to get involved beyond the classroom. Going to office hours helped her understand course content better and begin developing relationships with her professors. She points to the mentoring by faculty as an important part of her experience at Ohio University and encourages students to be proactive in their educational career by extending themselves and making the effort to take the extra step.
She also joined several groups on campus that related to professional and recreational interests that helped her develop her resume for her career and opened opportunities for summer jobs, internships, and more.
Roberta Roberson, Sociology and Criminology Internship Coordinator, helped her get an internship with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Adult Parole Authority in Logan.
Her role there included assisting officers in their daily tasks, attending drug courts and shadowing supervisions with offenders with parole officers, and helping with daily office tasks such as filing and copying. She also had opportunities to go into the field with parole officers, including visiting offenders’ homes, and to work with the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS).
She says that her internship was very rewarding not only because of the practical experience it gave her, but also because she was able to apply that experience to her research project, and incorporate sociological methods to understand the Ohio Risk Assessment System. The project focused on advantages and disadvantages of ORAS, its effectiveness and connections to the communities it was targeting.
“Now that I have been at the front of the classroom, I can’t stress enough that students should ask for help when they need it. Your peers and professors are resources to help you succeed!”
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