Graduation 2025

Author: Megan Pesek | Major: Psychology, Criminology, Sociology | Semester: Spring 2025

I am Megan Pesek. I just graduated from the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Criminology, and Sociology with Departmental Honors in Criminology. This semester I completed my study and successfully defended my undergrad honors thesis. Now that I have graduated, I am going to be attending Loyola University Chicago to pursue a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice and Criminology. My goal is to further my skills and knowledge in research to continue into a research career.

I researched how shame and guilt may be used as a deterrent for drug crime and drug use recidivism. The research is based on John Braithwaite’s theory of Reintegrative Shaming. My research will not only further the literature on the theory, but also further the knowledge in ways to reduce drug crimes and drug use. This research is specific to driving under the influence and so my study can further understand drunk and smoking marijuana while driving and what ways can prevent it.

I became interested in drug use and crime recidivism my junior year. I was in a class called Criminological Theory with Dr. Angton. She presented the class a question: would you rather go to jail, serve your sentence, and no one finds out. Or would you rather not serve your sentence but everyone knows. For me, I would serve the sentence but a lot of my peers chose the latter. She then presented the theory of Reintegrative Shaming. I was immediately hooked. From there I did a pilot study for my Social Research class where I did a short study that was the inspiration for my Honors Thesis study.

My mentor, Dr. Lindsay Ham has been the most integral part of this journey for me. I would not have a study or thesis without her. I was already in the Alcohol Research Lab when I joined the Honors College, so she was incredibly willing to take on this project with me. She pushed me and wanted me to grow my ideas and my writing. She kept me accountable with the due dates and getting stuff to her on time. She always wanted me to advocate for my thesis and what I wanted it to look like. Genuinely an incredible woman with insane talent and intellect.

Getting the thesis done was honestly the toughest part of it all. I got my data back 2 weeks before spring break and the thesis had to be done the week after spring break. So it was a stressful time. But what I learned about myself is that forcing myself to do just a little bit every day or so is so much more efficient than getting it all done in one day. Which I had been doing since the beginning of the semester. Writing the thesis was difficult. There is still a process of unlearning how to write narratively which was tricky, but through research classes I have improved. In early April I successfully completed and defended my thesis. It was nerve-wracking, but I had an incredible panel of women that I knew and they were all cheering me on the whole time.

Overall, I am incredibly fortunate for this opportunity to start my career in research. The research grant has been beneficial to me because it allowed me to focus on my studies. As well as helping me with graduate school.