Harriot College names 2025 Dean’s Early Career Award recipient
East Carolina University’s Dr. Michelle Malkin, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, is the recipient of the prestigious 2025 Dean’s Early Career Award in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Michelle Malkin has been named the 2025 Dean’s Early Career Award recipient in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
Established in 2015 through the generosity of Harriot College’s Dean’s Advancement Council, the award recognizes and rewards exceptional performance by tenure-track assistant professors and primarily honors their productivity in research and creative activity. It represents the college’s breadth of faculty excellence in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics.
“I am beyond grateful for the award,” Malkin said. “I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to create a new opportunity through the Inside-Out course and to provide the first of these courses in the UNC system. I cannot thank Dean Allison Danell and my department chair, Dr. Heidi Bonner, enough for their support of my out-of-the-box thinking around gambling research.”
The Inside-Out course brought together campus-based students with incarcerated students at Greene Correctional Institution for a semester-long course.
Her gambling research led to the funding and establishment of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative in 2023, where she serves as director. In addition, her work led to the Malkin gambling-motivated crime diversion checklist, for which she has received a patent.
Dr. Allison Danell, dean of Harriot College, presents Dr. Michelle Malkin with a plaque to recognize her honor at the spring meeting of the Dean’s Advancement Council. (Photo by Heidi Bonner)
“Dr. Malkin is an exemplary junior faculty member and a role model for new faculty on the tenure track. She is a respected member of the department doing essential work for the discipline, university and community,” said Bonner. “Her unique blend of community engagement, dedication to instruction and research leadership in the unit, university and community truly sets her apart. Since joining ECU, Dr. Malkin has consistently demonstrated these qualities, making her a truly exceptional awardee.”
Malkin began working at ECU in 2021. She teaches about law and legal procedure, traditional and specialty courts, and corrections. Her research interests, which have secured nearly $1 million in external grant funding, with another $1.1 million coming later this year, include gambling behavior and risk; gambling-related harms and gambling-motivated crime; critical criminology; and implementation and evaluation of diversion treatments in the courts, among others.
“When I graduated four years ago, no one could have told me that using my knowledge, passion, lived experience and abilities would lead me to the career I have today,” Malkin said. “I am so fortunate to have an incredible team who care about making a difference to reduce gambling-related harms. I am especially honored to have several undergraduate and graduate students, including two from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, who now understand the importance of research and how research can impact real change.
Malkin’s Inside-Out class, the first of its kind in the UNC system, included ECU students and men who are incarcerated at Greene Correctional Institution taking a class together. (Contributed photo)
“Additionally, the college has been supportive of both my research and teaching in ways that go well beyond what is expected or required,” she said. “Without the support I receive from ECU, the college and my department, there is no way we would be able to successfully create new programs and conduct research that matters.”
Recognized nationally and internationally, Malkin is a frequent interviewee and consultant to the media on gambling-related topics. She has participated in more than 100 interviews through outlets that include ESPN, ABC, CBS, Consumer Affairs, the News and Observer, and National Public Radio.
She is a current and previous member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Society of Criminology, the National Council on Problem Gambling and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
As the recipient of the 2025 Dean’s Early Career Award, Malkin was recognized at a special reception in April and will be honored at the college’s fall convocation ceremony in August.
“Dr. Malkin has established an impressive research agenda during her time as an assistant professor, and I especially appreciate her dedicated efforts to bring national attention to gambling research and highlight the important work being done here at ECU,” said Danell. “She is indeed an all-around excellent professor, and it is my sincere hope that she will enjoy a long, rich and rewarding career at ECU.”