Dr. Kristy Holtfreter: 2024 Wall of Fame Inductee
December 11, 2024
Dr. Kristy Holtfreter is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, where she is also affiliated with the Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging, alum of the School of Criminal Justice at MSU, and a 2024 Inductee into the School’s Wall of Fame.
Dr. Kristy Holtfreter, the daughter of an accounting professor and a K-12 educator, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Washington before pursuing a Master of Science degree at Michigan State University (MSU). While at the MSU School of Criminal Justice, Dr. Holtfreter’s interest in criminology was shaped by Dr. Christopher Smith (Professor in the School of Criminal Justice) and other faculty who encouraged her to pursue a Ph.D.
As a doctoral student, Dr. Holtfreter worked as Project Manager on a National Institute of Justice-funded study led by Dr. Merry Morash, who became her mentor, dissertation chair, and research collaborator. Together, they co-authored a series of articles that led to significant changes in the assessment of recidivism risk for women and girls. Reflecting on her time at MSU, Dr. Holtfreter says, “Being at MSU really taught me about the importance of bringing research to practice.”
During her doctoral studies, Dr. Holtfreter was also influenced by the research of Dr. Mahesh Nalla and Dr. Steven Dow, both faculty in the School at the time, who served on her dissertation committee. Her project focused on the legal responses to white-collar crime. Dr. Holtfreter taught six undergraduate courses, earning MSU’s prestigious “Excellence in Teaching Citation” Award. This experience teaching undergraduate courses instilled a passion for mentoring which has become a cornerstone of Dr. Holtfreter’s career, and she says, “Helping students make new discoveries is extremely fulfilling.”
After beginning her faculty career at Florida State University (2004-2008), Dr. Holtfreter was recruited by Dr. Scott Decker to join Arizona State University (ASU) to play a central role in developing its new Ph.D. program. As a graduate program administrator from 2010 to 2018, she spearheaded numerous curricular and professional development initiatives, contributing to ASU’s #2 ranking by U.S. News and World Report. Outside the classroom, Dr. Holtfreter is an internationally recognized expert in criminological theory, white-collar crime, and victimization. Her research has been funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Justice, and the AARP, among other sources.
Dr. Holtfreter is a founding member and the first elected Chair of the American Society of Criminology’s Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime. She has held professional appointments on the National Crime Victimization Survey redesign team, a National Academy of Sciences panel on corporate criminal justice reform, and Stanford University’s Financial Fraud Research Center workgroup. Her contributions to research, teaching, and service have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the American Society of Criminology’s Mentor Award (2024), the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Outstanding Mentor Award (2021), and the Marguerite Q. Warren and Ted B. Palmer Differential Intervention Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Corrections and Sentencing (2020).
Beyond her professional achievements, Dr. Holtfreter is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and an amateur baseball historian. Her personal interests in genetic genealogy and archival research in the Cook County (Illinois) court system recently culminated in solving a 100-year-old family DNA mystery. Dr. Holtfreter says, “Oddly enough, the skills I developed as a criminologist have helped me in my hobbies as well.”