Michael J. Lynch, PhD, a professor of criminology in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS), has been elected a Fellow of the (AAAS), one of the world’s largest general scientific societies.
Lynch was elected in the Social, Economic, and Political Sciences Section. He is widely recognized for his extensive contributions to criminology, including his role as the founder of green criminology — a field that examines environmental harms, crime, justice, law, and social control through a criminological lens. His work also addresses issues in radical criminology, corporate crime, environmental sociology, environmental justice, and racial biases in criminal justice processes.
"Dr. Lynch’s election as an AAAS Fellow is a powerful recognition of his pioneering scholarship and global impact on the field of criminology," said CBCS Dean Julie Serovich, PhD. "His work has shaped how we understand environmental harm and justice, and his commitment to mentoring the next generation of scholars reflects the very best of our college.”
Since joining ͬɫ in 1997 as the founding director of the Department of Criminology’s doctoral program, Lynch has established a distinguished record of scholarship and mentorship. He is the author or editor of 23 books, more than 135 peer-reviewed articles, and 60 book chapters. As a mentor, he has chaired 28 doctoral dissertations and 25 master’s theses and area papers. He also has been recognized for his commitment to student success, receiving the William R. Jones Most Valuable Mentor Award for his contributions to the education of McKnight Doctoral students in Florida.
His recent scholarship has earned national recognition. His edited volume, The Handbook on Inequality and the Environment, was named a top-10 academic book of 2024 by the Association of College and Research Libraries. In addition, his 2023 article on the “ecocide-genocide nexus” was selected as Article of the Year by the Division on White-Collar and Corporate Crime of the American Society of Criminology (ASC).
Lynch has earned two Lifetime Achievement Awards for Scholarly Contributions to Criminology from the ASC: one for contributions to corporate and white-collar crime research, and the second from the Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice for research in radical and green criminology.
He joins eight other CBCS faculty members who have been named AAAS Fellows, including Michelle S. Bourgeois, PhD, CCC-SLP (2019), Richard Dembo, PhD (2022), Howard Goldstein, PhD (2020), William E. Haley, PhD (2018), Kathleen Heide, PhD (2018), Raymond Miltenberger, PhD, BCBA-D (2020), Julianne Serovich, PhD (2019), and Marilyn Stern, PhD, CRC (2021).