Dr. Tracy Tully

“The best part of being a professor is the interaction with the students and working with them to achieve their full potential.”

If you’ve ever seen detectives, corrections officers, or even federal agents walking around campus, there is no need to be alarmed! These guests are more than likely giving a presentation or attending an event for the criminal justice department. Dr. Tracy Tully, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Faculty Advisor for the Criminal Justice Club, and Criminal Justice Honor Society, truly goes above and beyond in her positions at STAC to ensure her students leave her classes well prepared for their future in this field.

Dr. Tully’s primary field of research is centered around juvenile delinquency and mental health. “More than half of those incarcerated in the United States have mental health issues, and this number is trending upward. The increasing number of individuals with mental health and substance use conditions in the criminal justice system has enormous fiscal, health, and human costs therefore making this a relevant and critical topic to research. Since juveniles are the greatest national asset and reserve, it is important to understand correlates to delinquency. Juveniles account for over 16% of annual violent crime and almost 30% of property crime, indicating youth are responsible for a significant amount of annual crime. By researching juvenile delinquency, prevention and intervention efforts can be established,” says Dr. Tully.

Dr. Tully teaches a variety of courses in the Criminal Justice Department, including Introduction to Criminal Justice; Criminology; Forensic Psychology; Women in the Criminal Justice System; Race, Crime and Gender; Research Methods. Through her courses, Dr. Tully covers essential material and encourages her students to engage in meaningful discussion. Student Georgina Thomatos says, “Professor Tully has all the qualities a student could hope to find in a teacher. She teaches with a precision and accuracy that only those who have absolute mastery of the subject can demonstrate and this means that her students recognize the difficulty of the subjects she teaches but do not let themselves get intimidated. I admire Dr. Tully intellectually, professionally, and as a person for the passion she puts into her work. She has always made me feel supported with each challenge and obstacle that might surface during my journey through college.”

Dr. Tully looks forward to her teaching every day because St. Thomas Aquinas is truly student-focused. She establishes positive teacher-student relationships in her courses and through her active roles on campus including both criminal justice club and honor society. She mentioned that high-quality teacher-student relationships are critical in determining student engagement and success. Professors are able to build close relationships with their students. It’s rare for a college to have the family-like feel that we have here. What I value most, is working with colleagues who are kind and thoughtful on top of being experts in their fields” says Dr. Tully.

When she is not on campus teaching or organizing an event for the criminal justice club or honor society, Dr. Tully enjoys hiking, cooking, and reading, her favorite genre is non-fiction mysteries. Some fun facts about her is that growing up she collected I Love Lucy memorabilia, she loves animals and grew up with a Golden Retriever and she also took martial arts (Kung-Fu) growing up! Dr. Tully is just one of the College’s amazing professors that makes an awe-inspiring impact on her students every day.

Dr. Tracy Tully joined the St. Thomas Aquinas Criminal Justice faculty in 2019 from The City University of New York (CUNY), where she worked for the better part of a decade. Her research interests include juvenile delinquency and mental health. Dr. Tully teaches a variety of courses, including but not limited to, Criminology, Women in the Criminal Justice System, Race, Crime and Gender, and Sex Offenses and the Criminal Justice System. In addition to teaching, she has worked as a school psychologist in Westchester County, New York.

In her spare time, Dr. Tully enjoys spending time with her family, reading mystery novels, cooking and traveling. Some of her favorite vacations spot include Aruba, The Adirondacks (Lake George, NY), and Florida, where she visits family.