Liza Chowdhury

Liza Chowdhury


Assistant Professor
Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice

EMAIL: lchowdhury@bmcc.cuny.edu

Office: N-662

Office Hours:

Phone: +1 (212) 220-8000;ext=5274

Dr. Liza Chowdhury is a scholar-activist and certified yoga instructor with several years of experience working in community corrections and teaching in higher education. Prior to her current appointment, she was an Assistant Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaching undergraduate and graduate-level courses, and was an instructor at Rutgers University-Newark and NJ Step program, inside state correctional facilities. Dr. Chowdhury continues to ceaselessly advocate for continued opportunities for students inside correctional facilities around the country. She loves her students and believes that their achievements are her greatest rewards in life.

From 2004 to 2014, Dr. Chowdhury held the position of Probation Officer, advancing to Senior Probation Officer with New Jersey Judiciary in the City of Paterson. During her tenure as a Sr. Probation Officer, she fulfilled the required duties and sought innovative, evidence-based, trauma-informed community-centered programming to support the justice-involved youth under her supervision. Liza was an ongoing advocate for these young people and collaborated with local schools to create safe spaces for local youth.

Expertise

Degrees

Rutgers University-School of Criminal Justice
Doctoral degree (2015)
Master of Arts (200

Rutgers University-Newark (SCJ)
Bachelor’s in Science (2003)

Courses Taught

Research and Projects

In 2017, Dr. Chowdhury co-founded the nonprofit, Reimagining Justice, to reimagine a justice system that provides love, empathy, equality, and opportunities for our communities. The organization has partnered with Belize, Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York agencies and communities to provide transformative mentoring, narrative therapy, resilience circles, training, support, and consulting services. Most recently, Reimagining Justice, in collaboration/partnership with St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, received a $1 million grant from the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General to implement the first Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) in Passaic County – Paterson Healing Collective (PHC). PHC offers support and intervention services for survivors of violence.

Dr. Chowdhury’s research interests are intersectionality, juvenile justice, gender and crime, mass incarceration, restorative justice, collective efficacy, prison infractions and punishment, racial disparity and the criminal justice system, and trauma-focused violence interventions. Her most recent co-authored scholarly publications include Agents of Change in Healing Our Communities in Prisoner Reentry in the 21st Century: Critical Perspectives of Returning Home (2019); Laying the Foundation of Punishment Against Black Males in Black Males and the Criminal Justice System (2019); and, Contemporary Ethical Issues in the Criminal Justice System: A Textbook Reader (Cognella Publishing, 2018) among others. In addition, she has experience in teaching research methods, corrections, gender crime and justice, gangs and street crimes, introduction to criminal justice, contemporary issues, community resource management, advanced corrections, race and crime, and juveniles and violence.

Publications

Honors, Awards and Affiliations

Additional Information