Lori Scott-Pickens Exploring New Adventures
Lori Scott-Pickens (Scott-Pickens), known to her students as Director Scott-Pickens, will be exploring new adventures. Having been with Rutgers University-Newark’s School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) for 22+years, she was recruited to the SCJ by the late Dr. George Kelling, who founded the Police Institute (PI) at Rutgers. She served as the Deputy Executive Director. Scott-Pickens also often served as an Advisor to many community and law enforcement collaborations representing the SCJ.
The Police Institute served as the Neutral Convener for several community and law enforcement collaborations; the Greater Newark Safer Cities, the Serious and Violent Offender Re-Entry Initiatives, Operation Cease-Fire, the Gun Strategy, Newark Violence Reduction Initiative, and four of the five Fugitive Safe Surrender programs held in NJ; Newark, New Brunswick, Atlantic City and Jersey City where NJ leads the nation in serving more than 17,000 participants.
Later she would be named as the Director of Community Outreach for the SCJ. In that role, she served as the liaison between criminal justice partners across the criminal justice continuum and the SCJ. And for several years, Scott-Pickens served as a Part-time Lecturer for the Internship Course, for BA and MA students, successfully assisting students in securing employment.
Scott-Pickens has worked for some of Newark’s premiere non-profit organizations; the Advocates for Children of New Jersey, Unified Vailsburg Services Organization (UVSO), Newark Fighting Back Partnership Inc. and Community Agencies Corp of NJ and a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and Board President, of the Newark School of the Arts/UVSO. Currently, Scott-Pickens serves as an Advisor to the Rutgers Newark Public Safety Collaborative.
Scott-Pickens is a committed community advocate for children and families and has been involved in the development of several publications, grants, and articles on behalf of Newark’s children and families. She served two terms as co-chair of the Essex Vicinage’s Advisory Committee on Minority Concerns, is a Commissioner for the Youth Services Commission of Essex County. In addition, she has also been a Board Member for the US Department of Justice’s COPS Office’s Policing Resource Advisory Board appointed by the then Clinton Administration. She is an active member of various organizations involved in criminal and social justice on both the local and national levels.
Ms. Scott-Pickens has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work and has received a BA in Sociology from Montclair State University and an MA Degree in Public Affairs and Administration from Rutgers University.