As a victim specialist for the FBI in Baltimore, Capella University graduate Renee Murrell provides assistance to victims of federal crimes. While the crime and the criminal are investigated, Murrell\u2019s role is to look at the victim\u2019s side, see how the crime has affected them, and then help them through the process.<\/p>\n
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Murrell\u2019s work puts her in contact with many young victims of sex trafficking, and over the years she was surprised to find that there was little helpful research on the topic. \u201cI realized the lack of research data hinders our prevention and remediation efforts,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt took my breath away when I realized that we didn\u2019t have a lot of research on the growing problem of sex trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was saying, \u2018We don’t know what the problem is, we don’t know all these things.\u2019\u00a0I wanted to find out how I could conduct needed research in this field. How am I going to give my town some data to effectively enforce laws or make needed changes to the laws or secure funding? I believe change is ultimately driven by the research.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Knowing first-hand that trafficking was a growing problem, she decided to take an active role towards a solution by searching for a PhD in Human Services program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of my job, I’m out at night and I get called 24 hours a day,\u201d Murrell says. \u201cI needed an online program that would understand a little bit about what the FBI does. Representatives from Capella came to our workplace and talked to us. A lot of schools did, but the difference for me was that Capella understood the mission and priorities of the FBI. I thought, \u2018They understand it, they did the research; that’s going to be the school I go to.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Between her demanding job and family life, Murrell was apprehensive about taking on the rigors of a PhD program, so she started by taking just one course. She quickly realized that Capella offered a lot more than just the online course itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved the flexibility of being able to work in the middle of the night if I needed to,\u201d she says. \u201cBut equally important, I could always call in for help when I needed it.\u00a0The ability to talk to an advisor, the accessibility of my faculty mentor\u2014all those things were what I needed. Knowing that\u00a0someone would call me back or respond with an email was huge. It was just a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
When her job responsibilities caused her to have to back away from studies for a semester, her faculty mentor provided the feedback and support she needed to do what was necessary. \u201cI talked it all over with her,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though I’ve never met her in person, it was personal. She gave me the time needed to talk about my issues and why this was important. When I made the decision to take a semester off, she told me what to do and how to do it. She said, \u2018Come back, I’m going to check on you.\u2019 When the next session came, we were back on track, and it was really wonderful. My mentor was there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Her passion for helping the FBI solve the problem of trafficking has always been evident, but the PhD opened new doors for Murrell. \u201cMy colleagues see me differently,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey always knew I had the passion for the work, but the PhD upgraded my credibility to where people really want to hear what I have to say. Now when I’m talking about this issue, people see me as an expert in this field. I’ve done the research, and I can present it with authority in a way that’s clear. What\u2019s more, they understand the depth of the trafficking problem in a new way. Just in the short time that I’ve had the PhD, I\u2019ve received many invitations to present on my study, and I’m hoping that will make people change their views about this particular crime and see how they can help.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The doctorate not only affected her current career, but her outlook towards the future, and the new possibilities the PhD provides. \u201cI think my ultimate dream is to be able to increase awareness about this issue and the issue of violence against women,\u201d Murrell says. \u201cI want to able to talk about it and to do more research. I get really excited about everything. I\u2019ll be retiring soon, so I think that’s opening up the doors for me to do more. I’m looking forward to my future and what that holds.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Murrell has advice for others considering a PhD. \u201cBe flexible,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought that if I just structured it out and had the plan, that I would not have to deal with obstacles. But when I got into the independent study, I had\u00a0a lot of challenges. And it almost threw me because I was so rigid in my thinking. I had to learn that you can’t control everything as much as you want to, and that was life-changing because, in fact, I can’t control much. My program taught me to think differently and become a more flexible person. It was eye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Learn more about Capella\u2019s <\/em>PhD in Human Services<\/em><\/a> programs. <\/em><\/p>\n Renee Murrell, FBI Victim Specialist in Baltimore, pursued a PhD in Human Services for deeper knowledge and more credibility in her work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[320],"tags":[7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5306,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5305\/revisions\/5306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n
See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at Capella Results<\/a>.<\/h6>\n
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