Nikolas Roberts

Dr. Nikolas C. Larrow Roberts, Ph.D. (AKA Nik Roberts) brings 15 years of college teaching to Saybrook, where he co-teaches TSC7085-Globalism and Power with Dr. Marc Pilisuk. A tenure-track assistant professor of conflict resolution and criminology at California University of PA, Dr. Nik Roberts previously worked for the PA Department of Corrections and with the U.S. Library of Congress' Teaching with Primary Sources program. His academic interests include corrections education and policy, militarization in the justice system, socialization, and instructional strategies across the social sciences. A subject matter expert in qualitative research (oral history, grounded theory, phenomenology, and narrative inquiry), Dr. Roberts has served as a methodologist on numerous Ph.D. dissertation committees at Walden University and supervises Doctoral Research Portfolios for Doctor of Criminal Justice students at "Cal U." Dr. Roberts lives with his family in Pittsburgh, PA where he volunteers with the Pennsylvania Prison Society as an Official Prison Visitor. Dubbed "fellow prison traveler" by the late Howard Zinn, one of his earliest visits helped facilitate the one and only meeting between Dr. Zinn and Mumia Abu-Jamal. A 12-year member (and prior president and vice president) of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Dr. Roberts spends his spare time playing with his children, collecting vinyl records, and playing guitar.

Fun fact: The character, "Nik," in Dr. David W. Lonich's 2013 Steel Town Showdown (see tiny.cc/ivrjuz), and in his 2018 sequel, Steel Town Shootout (see tiny.cc/jvrjuz), was loosely based on the real Nik Roberts.