Dr. Matthew Matusiak joined UA Little Rock in 2024, and currently serves as the College of Business, Health, and Human Services’ Associate Dean for College Operations. He is also an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Prior to UA Little Rock, Dr. Matusiak was a faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida (UCF) for 11 years (tenured and promoted, 2019). While at UCF, he served as the Undergraduate Program Director (2022-2024) where he led the creation of the Criminal Justice B.S., Professional Track, which allowed undergraduate students to graduate with state certification in law enforcement or corrections.
Dr. Matusiak earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University in 2013. He completed his master’s degree in Criminal Justice at UCF and his bachelor’s degree at Tri-State University (now Trine University) where he majored in Criminal Justice and Psychology, with a minor in History. His research has focused on law enforcement organizations and executive law enforcement leadership. His work explores how law enforcement executives identify and prioritize stakeholders and how that influences the priorities of their agencies. Much of his work draws on organizational theory to explain law enforcement executives’ decision making. He served on the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Expert Panel for the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey and as a reviewer for BJS Law Enforcement Core Statistics proposals. His work with LEMAS data has also allowed him to assess relationships between law enforcement organizations’ structure and the changing law enforcement officer population.
Dr. Matusiak is active in national and regional Criminal Justice professional organizations as well. He has served on Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) committees and the executive board of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association (MCJA). He is the current MCJA Membership Chairperson and was recently awarded the Tom Castellano Award for Sustained and Outstanding Service.
Matt Matusiak can be reached via email at [email protected] or 501-916-5793.