Her Story
About Rosalyn
Rosalyn Harrington serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Johnson C. Smith University. She has been in this role for two years and has accumulated over a decade of experience in higher education since starting as an adjunct professor in 2010. Her teaching career includes positions at multiple institutions focused on criminal justice and criminology. Prior to academia, she spent 11 years as a police officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, where she worked as a homicide detective and became the first Black female public information officer in the department's history. She holds a PhD in Emergency Management and maintains her law enforcement certification, reflecting a combined 20 years in law enforcement and related fields. Harrington received the Margaret Lang Willis Outstanding Criminal Justice Educator Award presented by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association for her contributions to teaching.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rosalyn
01What do you attribute your success to?
Secretly I'm an overachiever. Just my drive to do. I'm a busybody. If I'm still, it's because I'm sick or completely drained. I'm constantly doing something. I go to work, pick up my nephew, take him to practice, do homework, dinner, and start over.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never take no for an answer. If someone tells you you don't have the experience or you're not qualified, you always have applied experience. We all have applied experience. It may not look like it's supposed to look on paper, but it's there. Because if I would have stopped at the first no, I would not have done everything I wanted to do in law enforcement.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Being a black woman in America is a challenge. My goal with my PhD was to consult with small businesses but I shut my business down because the only way to get anything accomplished was if I was connected with someone else's business or it was a man doing the introduction. On the opportunity side, higher ed is very different now. AI cannot run everything so there is opportunity in digital literacy and data analytics. There are opportunities for growth in criminology beyond just policing, including the court system, attorneys, clerks, judges, and federal government jobs.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I value integrity. I value ethics. I value people putting their best foot forward. I'm not saying you have to be perfect, but if you put your best foot forward, I can meet you halfway and get you to the finish line.
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