Laura E. Chavez, PhD

Department maintains and enhances public safety and provides rehabilitation services to ~400 youth and ~5,100 adults within the county. ● Supervised multiple research and technology projects, stakeholder engagement, ten staff, partners, and projects totaling over $10M budget. ● Oversaw complex research, data analytics, program development, and evaluation of vendor contract performance. ● Improved outcomes and efficiencies by creating and deploying strategy and infrastructure for data-based decision-making. ● Created framework for data collection and reporting to external stakeholders regarding juvenile realignment (SB823). ● Collected and disseminated data via impactful data visualizations by building and implementing a process to collect 200 KPIs. ● Improved quality outcomes by adding performance measures and standards to vendor contracts. ● Increased number of cases assessed by validated risk and needs assessment tool by 275% within six months. ● Improved speed, quality, accuracy by building case management system to track outcomes, manage invoices, and deadlines. ● Improved transparency, speed, and costs by replacing manual responses to data requests with publishing data on website. ● Boosted efficiency by updating case management database from paper and legacy tech to cloud-based software. ● Improved executive decision-making and client experience by developing, administrating, and presenting multiple surveys. ● Published peer-reviewed research in multiple outlets that boosted research profile.

Research university; 27,000 students, and 948 academic staff. ● Led research collaborations between university departments, local, state, and federal agencies, and funding organizations. ● Engaged in strategic planning with cross-functional internal stakeholders. ● Managed $1.8M budget and staff during a period of organizational change. ● Managed 30 staff, faculty, administrative support, graduate research, and teaching assistants.

Assistant Professor, 8/2012-7/2017 ● Published 20+ peer-reviewed journal articles, a book, several chapters, and encyclopedia entries. ● Led multiple research projects on youth victimization, offending, drug use, and community responses to crime. ● Utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to collect, clean, code, and manage data for ethical research projects. ● Disseminated research findings across print, television, and media outlets, held professional conferences, and invited talks. ● Taught diverse undergraduate and graduate level courses, and supervised research assistants. ● Revised and assessed curriculum at course and program levels.

Minors in Psychology and Women's Studies Graduate Assistant: 2005-2011