“Everything I’ve done, 22 years working or volunteering for the county, multiple degrees in and around sociology/criminology, and operating my own business have all prepared me for this campaign and to serve on the County Commission.” ~ Kelli Grant

About Kelli

Kelli Grant has been involved in local government work for the past twenty-two years. She has worked both directly with clients and in administrative roles in multiple county department offices.

Kelli currently serves on several boards including the Sedgwick County Corrections Advisory Board and the Wichita State University Internal Review Board as the prison research expert. She recently stepped down from the Diversity Inclusion and Civil Rights Board for the City of Wichita in order to run for public office.

Kelli received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Wichita State University where she previously taught courses, and she has taught courses at both Newman University and Kansas State University. She is currently a doctoral candidate (ABD) in Criminology and Social Inequalities.

Kelli has been involved with education programs regarding race and implicit bias with her local church and has been a frequent guest speaker for events and classes on the topics of social inequality, policing, corrections, gender issues in criminal justice, and family violence.

Kelli has worked to facilitate policy change through community activism and is focused on system and community improvement. She has also been involved in work related to juvenile justice in rural communities and served as a contributor to a technical report related to improvements in these types of communities.

Kelli Grant is committed to community improvement, especially for underrepresented and oppressed populations, and has a track record of performing transformational work throughout her career.

Kelli’s qualifications

Education

Master of Arts – Criminal Justice with extended study in Sociological Statistics (Wichita State University)

Bachelor of Science ­– Criminal Justice, minor in Sociology (Wichita State University)

Doctoral candidate: Sociology (Kansas State University) 

Published Research

Terry, A.N., Williams, L.S., Edwards, M., Grant, K. (Forthcoming, 2022). Gender blindness for at-risk girls in rural communities. In Z. Qi, A.N. Terry, & T. Lynn (eds.) Tales untold – Understanding gender-based violence and rurality in the 21st century. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. Accepted – In progress.  

Terry, A.N. & Grant, K. (Forthcoming, 2022). Women’s imprisoned bodies: Carceral food and hunger on the inside. In A. Conyers, V. Lynn, & M. Leigey. Mass incarceration in the 21st century: Realities and reflections. England, UK: Routledge. In progress. 

Grant, K. (2021). “ABD in COVID-19: Balancing graduate school and family during a global pandemic.”  Newsletter for the American Sociological Association Section on Teaching and Learning.

Grant, K. (2020). Who will be at the table? In Our Town Our Kids Final Report & OTOK Toolkit: K- State Juvenile Justice Collaborative, p. 15-17.

Grant, K., Edwards, M-E., Terry. A.N. (2020). Framing the issue. In Our Town Our Kids Final Report & OTOK Toolkit: K-State Juvenile Justice Collaborative, p. 56-59.

Grant, K. (2020). Growing together: A parent’s perspective. In Our Town Our Kids Final Report & OTOK Toolkit: K-State Juvenile Justice Collaborative, p. 139-140.

Conference Presentations

  • American Society of Criminology, November 2017

     The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Policing: The Mediating Effect of Procedural Justice, roundtable participant

     Midwest Sociological Society, March 2018

     Lipstick and Badges: Perceptions of Gendered experiences from Women in Policing, roundtable participant

     American Society of Criminology, November 2018

     Qualitative Analyses of Women in Policing: Experiences in a Male-Dominated Field: Perceptions of Gendered Experiences from Women in Policing, panel presentation

    Midwest Sociological Society, April 2019

     Does Food Promote Deviant Behavior? Examining Prisoner Adaptations in Highly Regulated Prison Food Environments, roundtable presider and participant

     American Society of Criminology, November 2019

     Emotional Labor: Coping with Overcrowding and Short Timers in a Midwestern Women’s Prison, roundtable

     Pregnancy in Policing: How Police Officers Navigate Pregnancy on the Job, Lightning Talk (limited to five minutes)

     Not for Human Consumption: Controlling Women Through Prison Food Policy, roundtable

    Our Town Our Kids, April 2020

     Celebrating Our Youth, Panel discussion

     Midwest Sociological Society, March 2021

     ABD in COVID-19: Balancing Family and Graduate School in a Global Pandemic

     Disparities in Juvenile Justice: The Power and Persistence of Whiteness in Rural Areas

     American Criminal Justice Society, April 2021

     Who Should be at the Table and What Should be on the Plate: Juvenile Justice Reform in the Heartland

     Invited Presentations:

    Navigating Family Violence. (October 2017). Lecture given in Alayna Colburn’s Family Violence in the Criminal Justice System course. Kansas State University.

     Navigating Family Violence. (February 2018). Lecture given in Dr. Lisa Melander’s Family Violence in the Criminal Justice System course. Kansas State University.

     Police Interaction with Communities. (April 2018). Lecture given in Krystal Cooper’s Police in Society course. Kansas State University.

     Social Norms and Stereotyping, a Personal Narrative. (September 2018). Lecture given in Mari-Esther Edwards Introduction to Sociology course. Kansas State University.

     Creating and Cultivating Connection in an Online Learning Environment. (September 2018). Have a Byte Annual Conference. Kansas State University (Global Campus event).

     Examining Issues Surrounding Food in Prison (April 2019). Lecture given in Adrienne McCarthy’s Introduction to Sociology course. Kansas State University.

     Applications of Sociology in Everyday Work (October 2019). Panel member in Trina McKnight’s Applied Sociology course. Kansas State University.

     Applications of Sociology in Everyday Work (November 2019). Panel member in Alex Pimental’s Introduction to Sociology course. Kansas State University.

     Thin Privilege (November 2019). Lecture given in Alayna Colburn’s Power, Position, and Privilege course. Kansas State University.

     A Raisin in the Sun: Raising a Black Boy in America (February 2020). Panelist for Black History Month Activities. Newman University.

     Gender and Punishment (February 2020). Lecture given in Jamilya Anderson’s Prisons and Punishment course. Kansas State University.

     Race, Poverty, White Privilege, and Implicit Bias (June 2020). Guest lecture given to the Micah Corp Interns of the Midwest Greater Plains United Methodist Micah Corp.

     Implicit Bias and the History of Race in the United States (August and September 2020). Invited discussion College Hill United Methodist Church.

     Treatment versus Punishment Models in Prisons and in the Current Kansas Department of Corrections Approach – Interview (August 2020). Interview on KLTV by Kansas Coalition for Sentence and Prison Reform.

     I’m not who I am on the outside: A journey from survival to authenticity. Guest trainer for social workers and employers regarding differential punishment of girls and women in society (January 2021).

     I Wear Lipstick and Will Still Kick Your Butt. Podcast episode for University of Central Missouri regarding historical and current issues related to women in policing. (January 2021).

     Recipe for Resistance: Prison Food as a Gendered Experience. Podcast episode for University of Central Missouri regarding gendered food experiences for incarcerated women (January 2021).

     Pursuit of Justice: Unconscious Bias in the CJ System. Virtual Forum on Anti-Racism & Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology (& Academia) (June 2021).