Dr. Steven D. Walker

Dr. Steven D. Walker has dedicated more than 25 years to promoting higher education, professional development, and training programs for crime victim advocates, victim service providers, and allied professionals. In 1988, as a faculty member at California State University, Fresno (CSU, Fresno), he initiated the first academic Victim Services Certificate, and in 1989, he created the Victim Services Summer Institute, a 4-week session tailored to the needs of full-time practitioners who were not able to acquire the Victim Services Certificate during the traditional academic calendar. Since the inception of both programs, thousands of individuals have received the Victim Services Certificate. 

In 1992, Dr. Walker received approval from CSU, Fresno, to develop a bachelor's program in victimology, the first undergraduate degree of its kind. CSU, Fresno, currently has more than 250 students majoring in victimology, making it one of the largest majors in the College of Social Sciences. Shortly thereafter, he created graduate-level and online courses in victimology. In 2007, Dr. Walker received approval to develop a joint doctoral program between CSU, Fresno, and the University of California, Davis, in forensic behavior sciences with an option in victimology. The first such program in the United States, it will welcome its first students this fall. 

Dr. Walker has also been a faculty member and previous academic coordinator of the Office for Victims of Crime's National Victim Assistance Academy. At the state level, he served as the California Victim Assistance Academy's codirector and was a consultant for the creation of several other state victim assistance academies. 

He is one of the founding members of the Joint Center on Violence and Victim Studies, an interuniversity consortium of CSU, Fresno; the University of New Haven; and Washburn University, designed to advance research about victimology and its practice through professional development programs and academic courses. In this capacity, Dr. Walker has taught numerous professional development courses throughout the United States and has served as a consultant for states creating such courses for victim service providers. He also was the founding vice president of the American Society of Victimology. 

Steven Walker, Ph.D., was nominated by Dr. Bernadette T. Muscat, Assistant Professor, California State University, Fresno.