Meet Kayla R. Toohy
Assistant Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice
Preferred Pronouns: she/her
Phone: (813) 257-4085
Email: ktoohy@ut.edu
Address: 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33606
Mailbox: 100F
Building:
KBB
Room: 205
Education
2016 The University of Memphis, B.A.
2018 The University of Memphis, M.A.
2022 The University of Central Florida, Ph.D.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Criminology
Juvenile Delinquency
Violence in America
Career Specialties
Kayla Toohy has primarily focused on the analysis of violent crime (e.g., intimate partner homicide, family mass murder, etc.) through the application of various theoretical lenses within the disciplines of criminology and sociology. She also specializes in the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques to study the influence of geography on crime and other phenomena.
Professional and Community Activities
Toohy has engaged in community-based research projects in a variety of capacities. In her early academic years, she worked with police departments in both Memphis, TN, and Orlando, FL, to conduct violent crime analyses to provide insight for the deployment of law enforcement resources. Additionally, Toohy spent time working with the organization engaging with communities throughout Central Florida by collaboratively working with other team members to bring the idea of to life. Her work with the team to develop interactive geographic information systems (GIS) based activities for K-12 students throughout Florida greatly reinforced her passion for making educational opportunities accessible.
Further, Toohy spent time as a post-doctoral scholar working with the at The University of Central Florida on a variety of national-level and locally-based initiatives directed towards enhancing access to for survivors of intimate partner and domestic violence, developing more effective and aiding in the deployment of a within Student Health Services on UCF's campus among other ongoing projects.
Toohy has been published in a variety of journals including but not limited to the Journal of Criminal Justice, Violence Against Women, The Journal of Mass Violence Research and Applied Geography. Her most recent publications showcase the work she has conducted on the translation of , establishing a better understanding of for survivors of intimate partner violence throughout the state of Florida, and establishing a national-level definition for the crime of . She looks forward to continuing her research and further developing her passion for working with the community and her students at UT.
Honors and Awards
2022 Graduate Student Teaching Award
2020 Women’s History Scholarship for the work conducted translating Pauline Tarnowsky’s
Les Femmes Homicides from French to English