As Dr. Jillian Turanovic (Bachelor of Arts '09 and 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient) walked into her classroom at Florida State University on February 15, 2018, and looked out at her students, she saw the effects of school violence – a focus of her research – reflected at her in the faces of students in her criminology and public policy course.

The day before, a shooter opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.

"Several of my students were from that community. Some were Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumni, and a few even knew students who were at the school that day," says the associate professor of criminology and criminal justice. 

The Parkland school shooting, in particular, she says, deeply rattled many local communities and spurred discourse about how to end school violence – the subject of much of her recent research. Dr. Turanovic is part of a research group that received a grant from the National Institute of Justice's School Safety Initiative to take stock of what the research to date revealed about the root causes of school violence in the U.S.  

"The reality of what I study has never been lost on me, and I am motivated to do work that has real-world implications and can make schools safer," says Dr. Turanovic.

Here, the alumna, who began her path in sociology at MacEwan, shares insights into the issue of violence in American schools.

How do you even begin addressing a problem this complex? We needed a good understanding of what influences school violence and victimization in the first place. There were six decades of research but no effort to systematically organize it. That left us with a disjointed way of thinking about the problem, with explanations spread across several academic fields that were difficult to make sense of. 

You conducted a massive meta-analysis of almost 900 studies. What were your findings? While the evidence suggests that youth are more likely to be victims of violence at home or in the community than at school, the perception that violence is imminent can negatively affect learning and deteriorate the school climate. We found that victimized youth rejected by their peers and those high in aggression were most likely to perpetrate violence at school. We also found that many youth who are victimized at school are not at risk for engaging in violence themselves (e.g., LGBTQIA+ youth are at high risk for school victimization but not school violence). We put forth several recommendations for policy, practice and future research based on our recently published findings in the book Confronting School Violence: A Synthesis of Six Decades of Research.

Are policies that put armed guards and police officers in schools, have zero-tolerance for school discipline and ramp up surveillance of youth the answer? Many policies advocated for and implemented don't have much research evidence to show that they actually work. The research shows that these harsh and punitive policies and increased security presence may do little to prevent violence and can sometimes make the school environment seem even more hostile and less inclusive. 

This is difficult, emotional work. What keeps you going? I want to do work that can inform how to improve the school environment and peer dynamics to make schools healthier and safer places for students and teachers. I am fortunate to have been invited to testify to the Florida Senate, to meet with officials from the Florida Office of Safe Schools to talk about how to improve school safety and to present my findings to audiences who have been directly impacted by school violence – including survivors from major school shootings, such as Columbine and Parkland. I never lose sight of the fact that my research is based on real people, their stories and horrific tragedies. 

MacEwan was where you earned your first post-secondary credential. What did this place mean to you? MacEwan is a very special place for me. There, I figured out what I was interested in and found a path that worked for me. I started university elsewhere, planning to study the hard sciences, but during my first semester at MacEwan, I took sociology and psychology classes and learned from fantastic and passionate professors who truly changed my life. That's why receiving this award means so much to me.