Christine Nix, Ph.D., the first African-American female Texas Ranger, will serve as
keynote speaker at Trine University’s Criminal Justice Symposium on Friday, April
21.
The symposium will be held in Fabiani Theatre inside the Rick L. and Vicki L. James
University Center on Trine’s campus. Local students and members of the public are
invited to join Trine students for the free event.
The theme for the symposium is “Criminal Justice Diversity: Where We’ve Been, Where
We Are, Where We’re Going.”
Following a 15-minute presentation by Trine’s Admission Office at 9 a.m., Dr. Nix
will tell her story of the challenges she experienced entering the field of criminal
justice as an African-American female in the 1970s and the triumphs she experienced
rising to the top of law enforcement in the state of Texas and becoming a criminal
justice professor. Her address will last about an hour.
Those in attendance will then break for 15 minutes and return for a panel discussion.
A US Army veteran, Dr. Nix became was the first African-American female promoted to
serve in the Texas Rangers in 1994. She retired in 2004 after 20 years with the Texas
Department of Public Safety.
She currently serves as associate professor of criminal justice at the University
of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas.
For more information, contact Teresa Davidson, administrative assistant for Trine
University’s Department of Criminal Justice, at davidsont@trine.edu.