Teaching & Advising

Teaching philosophy and approach

My teaching integrates innovative, cross-disciplinary strategies that bridge academic rigor with practical application. I believe in making complex concepts accessible while maintaining scholarly depth, using real-world applications to enhance student understanding.

Student-centered learning

Most of my courses feature some (or all!) of these:

Flexible attendance policies with credit for class participation
Use of in-class teamwork and collaborative learning
Integration of news media content and real cases
Assignments requiring incremental work over entire semester
Universal design features meant to meet diverse learning needs

Gamification and interactive learning

Many of my courses involve some form of gamified or interactive learning. For instance, in 2023, I developed and deployed a set of gamified, branching narrative ("Choose-Your-Own-Adventure") scenarios for criminal justice ethics education, where students played roles of ethics investigators working on real-world cases of professional misconduct. A paper on this course was published in the journal Criminal Justice Education.

Background, disciplines and courses

Since I started in 2016, I have taught nearly 50 sections of 21 different courses, and developed content for 4 additional courses. I've taught both traditional on-campus and online-asynchronous courses. My interdisciplinary background has been very helpful in teaching courses at five different institutions (UMass Lowell, Clark University, Merrimack College, SNHU, and currently, at Southern Miss), in three disciplines: Psychology, Criminal Justice and Sociology. My primary areas of interest in teaching involve topics that intersect with my research interests: forensic psychology, decision-making, research methods, professional ethics, and lifespan development.

What I teach at Southern Miss

HON-303 Honors Seminar: “Decisions, Decisions”
CJ-200 Introduction to Criminal Justice
CJ-360 Introduction to Juvenile Justice
CJ-377 Introduction to Terrorism
CJ-435 Capstone: Organization and Management
CJ-480 Seminar: Diversion, Intervention, Mitigation

CJ-482 Criminal Justice Ethics
CJ-580 Seminar: Diversion, Intervention, Mitigation
CJ-580 Seminar: Legal, Investigative, & Forensic Psychology
CJ-600 Graduate Seminar in Criminal Justice Theory
CJ-670 Graduate Seminar in Criminal Justice Policy

What students say...

"Honestly, this class rocked. I've never had a professor like Dr. Frazier but I would take every class she teaches. You can tell she truly cares about her students and if they are understanding her course material."

- CJ 360 Student

"I really like how engaging Dr. Frazier was. Her submission comments were the most constructive and helpful I have ever received from any instructor."

- CJ 480 Student

“Can't think of anything [to improve in the course]. Dr. Frazier is extremely accommodating and was the best professor I had the privilege to learn with this semester”

- CJ 482 Student

Graduate program coordination & advising

As the Graduate Program Director at the School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security at Southern Miss, I have a wide variety of responsibilities for the M.S. in Criminal Justice Program. I was appointed to the role in Summer 2023, and have been tasked with growing the online program and improving its student outcomes, while retaining our high academic standards. As part of the role, I have been responsible for:

Spearheading curriculum re-design (currently underway!) and program improvement initiatives
Designing and leading student recruitment and retention efforts
Chairing the graduate program committee, which is tasked with admissions decisions, as well as development and enforcement of program policies

I am also in charge of advising all graduate students in the program, with current enrollment at 30.

Program growth and accomplishments

Since I started in the role of program director, we have...

ranked top-50 in the nation among our peer programs, as the best-ranked program in Mississippi.

U.S. News & World Report (2025) Rankings, Best Online Graduate Programs in Criminal Justice.