Sudderth

Lori Sudderth, associate professor of sociology, has received a Fulbright scholarship to research domestic violence policy in Costa Rica.

Sudderth’s research is in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Costa Rica President Oscar Arias receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for drafting a historic peace plan that settled the Guatemalan Civil War and eased tensions in Costa Rica and neighboring El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Sudderth will study the impact of the peace treaty on human rights in Costa Rica over the last 20 years, particularly violence against women.

“We know when a country experiences violence from war, that impacts women differently than it does men,” Sudderth said. “I want to find out about the reverse. If there is peace in the country, how does that impact women, particularly violence against women?”

Sudderth, director of Quinnipiac’s criminal justice program, will travel to Costa Rica this summer and conduct research through the Fall 2007 semester. She will study archives at the National Institute of Women in San Jose, domestic violence hotlines, arrest records and surveys.

Sudderth was in Costa Rica in the summer of 2006 learning Spanish and visiting the University of Costa Rica, University for Peace and the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress.

“People were very welcoming, very hospitable and willing to help,” Sudderth said.

Sudderth received a grant in 2000 from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management to research domestic violence and child sexual victimization in rural areas. The state published a report in 2001 based on her study, “The Community Partnership Team: Organizing a Collaborative Response to Domestic Violence and Child Sexual Victimization in a Rural Area.”

“That project gave me a lot of experience thinking about domestic violence policy,” Sudderth said.

She wrote two papers based on that research: “An Uneasy Alliance: Law Enforcement and Victim Advocates in a Rural Area,” published in “Feminist Criminology” in 2006, and “An Uphill Climb: The Challenge of Collaboration in Response to Family Violence in a Rural Area,” published in the “Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma” in 2003.

Sudderth joined Quinnipiac in 2000. She earned her doctorate in 1993 and master’s degree in 1988, both in sociology from Indiana University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Texas in 1984.

International business professor Chadwick Nehrt was the last Quinnipiac faculty member to receive a Fulbright scholarship before Sudderth. He taught business courses and conducted research in Morocco in 2005.

Created by Congress in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program providing funding for students, scholars, teachers and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.