ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Legal Studies

B.S., M.A. Eastern Kentucky University

Ph.D. Old Dominion University

Office: 273C DeVos

Phone: 616-331-7131

FALL 2025 OFFICE HOURS:
TUESDAY & THURSDAY, 11:30 - 12:30 
WEDNESDAY, 10:00 - 11:00 (VIRTUALLY)

Expertise

Crimes of the powerful; qualitative methods; securitization

 About

Dr. Travis Milburn is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, and earned his Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Old Dominion University. Before joining GVSU, he served as an assistant professor at Tennessee Tech University, where he also served as Director of Criminology & Criminal Justice, and Penn State University. Dr. Milburn taught a wide range of courses, including corrections, policing, the sociology of murder, white-collar crime, organized crime, and research methods. Outside of academia, Dr. Milburn worked for the U.S. Secret Service.

Research Interests

Dr. Milburn’s research interests are social responses to crime, crimes and harms committed by those with social power (e.g. corporate crime and state crime), crimes against the environment, and securitization in society.

Courses Taught

• CJ 101 Justice and Society
• CJ 201 Criminology
• CJ 300 Research Methods in Criminal Justice
• CJ 312 Police Process
• CJ 330 Correctional Process
• CJ 400 Qualitative Research Methods
• CJ 408 White-Collar and Corporate Crime
• CJ 495 Issues in Criminal Justice

Recent publications

Milburn, Travis & Iffath Unissa Syed. (2024). An interdisciplinary examination of a gunshot detection system: The public health context of a policing technology.” Critical Social Policy.
Syed, Iffath Unissa & Travis Milburn. (2024). Rethinking counterfeit medical supply chains: A critical review of the current literature. Health Care Science.
Turner, Justin & Travis Milburn. (2024). Citizen empowerment as a police force multiplier: Reproducing social domination through a 21st-century personal safety app. Crime, Media, Culture.
Milburn, Travis. (2023). Review of Closing the Enforcement Gap: Improving Employment Standards Protections for People in Precarious Jobs. Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime. 4 (1): 78.
Milburn, Travis & Favian Guertin-Martín. (2020). Tapping into environmental harm in brewing: An exploration of waste and pollution in beer production. Critical Criminology, 28(3), 407-423.
Milburn, Travis. (2019). Review of Jeff Ferrell’s Drift: Illicit Mobility and Uncertain Knowledge. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology. 7 (3): 239-240.