Tampa Republic

Fawn Ngo wasn’t supposed to attend college. Today, she is an associate professor of criminology on the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus.

Ngo’s family came to the United States from Vietnam as refugees following the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. They settled in Orange County, California, where they owned and operated a small business.

“I have five siblings,” Ngo said. “For the boys, college was expected. But my father did not believe girls should pursue higher education. So, when I told him and my mom I wanted to go to college, he looked at me and said, ‘What are you going to do with a college degree?’”

Ngo, the first in her family to attend college, majored in criminology, law and society – the closest thing the University of California at Irvine had to a pre-law program. Ngo soon discovered a love for research and decided to pursue a master’s degree in criminal justice at California State University, Long Beach.

It wasn't long after Ngo completed her master’s program that her thesis chair called her into his office to urge her to pursue a doctoral degree. “I had guest-lectured in his statistics course," Ngo said. “A lot of students struggle with that subject, but my chair told me I had a way of explaining the concepts and motivating the students. He said, ‘You’re going to be a really good professor.’”

In the classroom, Ngo goes out of her way to make sure her students have the support they need. “Most of our students in the master’s program are working professionals, some with long hours,” she said. “So, I’ll meet with them anytime, anywhere, to go over the course material.”

Ngo also makes sure to provide multiple engagement options. “It’s important to recognize that people learn differently,” she said, adding that when she teaches online, she posts video lectures and announcements in addition to written communications, a practice which has garnered positive feedback from her students.

One of Ngo’s favorite students, Gary Ernneus, is a former corrections officer who became visually impaired when an inmate detonated a homemade bomb in his presence. “I am someone who is willing to sit with students and go over the material again and again until they get it,” Ngo said. “But Gary was in my graduate statistics course, and I didn’t know how I was going to explain the materials without the use of visuals and graphs.”

Today, Ernneus speaks fondly of the time he spent on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus. “Dr. Ngo’s statistics course taught me that there are certain things only another human being can help you with,” Ernneus said. “Without Dr. Ngo’s help – without the help of the university and my other professors – there’s no way I would have made it.”

“Gary was determined,” Ngo said. “It was all him. He said, ‘I’m going to get a master’s degree in criminology.’ And he did it. He showed great perseverance. I just admire him so much.”

Both Ngo’s pedagogy and her research interests are inspired by a desire to promote racial equity and justice for crime victims. As a criminologist and professor, Ngo sees it as her responsibility to prepare her students for careers in the criminal justice system as it exists today.

“We treat poor individuals and minorities differently than we treat wealthy, white individuals,” Ngo said. “That’s something I want my students to recognize. It is my hope that my students will take what they learn, here, at the University of South Florida, and go forth and help transform the criminal justice system so that we can have a just and fair system for everyone.”

One such research interest – cybercrime victimization – has Ngo focused on the lack of resources available to internet users with limited English proficiency. “Right now, the data on cybercrime victimization are flawed, and I think that’s because we’re excluding a good number of internet users. We’re not giving them the access to report victimization, and we’re not offering them the resources they need.”

Since 2000, the FBI has hosted the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a webpage where victims of cyberattacks can report incidents and access preventative information about hacking and identity theft. The problem, Ngo said, is that the information is available only in English.

To mitigate the issue, Ngo has begun conducting public workshops with Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking internet users. “This is a critical topic,” Ngo said. “We need to make sure that everyone, regardless of their language ability, has the knowledge to protect themselves online.”

Ngo’s research also has her working with USF’s Trafficking in Persons – Risk to Resilience Research (TiP) Lab and Sarasota-based nonprofit Selah Freedom to help survivors of sex-trafficking and victims of the sex industry turn their lives around through a court program that offers housing, job training and counseling, among other services. Selah Freedom and court officials in Sarasota and Manatee counties have granted Ngo’s team special access to the Turn Your Life Around court diversion program, enabling them to view the court’s diversionary proceedings live and interview the program’s participants to understand how they became entrapped in the commercial sex industry, often for years.

“When you explore the issue, you see that sex-trafficking victims often have underlying problems,” said Ngo. “Many were exploited at a young age – some by family members, some repeatedly – and they’ve suffered deep psychological trauma as a result.” Ngo hopes the team’s research efforts will lay the groundwork for the program’s expansion in addition to creating a blueprint for other agencies to follow.

Recently, Ngo has entered into talks with the Buyer Rehabilitation Project, a local non-profit that seeks to tackle the issue from the other side of the equation by providing group therapy, individual counseling and recovery programs to so-called buyers. “We often focus on supply and ignore demand,” Ngo said. “But it’s important that we understand the demand side of the equation too.”

Original source can be found here.