From a “hippie commune” in British Columbia to researching terrorist analytics in Washington D.C., associate professor Omi Hodwitz uses her knowledge to educate not only University of Idaho students, but militaries around the world.
Hodwitz grew up in a commune outside of Nelson, British Columbia. After her high school graduation, she decided to travel the world doing activist work for about six years. She worked for Greenpeace, an international environmental organization.
“I worked for them as an actual employee for less than a year and then I became what we call an action coordinator. I started coordinating direct actions or civil disobedience, and I specialized in climbing actions, banner hangs, things of that sort,” Hodwitz said. “Then I stared working with a variety of different organizations, environmental and social justice organizations around the United States and in Asia.”
Between her high school graduation and starting her undergraduate studies, Hodwitz coordinated civil disobedience for a variety of organizations all across the world. Hodwitz said she found herself entangled with law enforcement multiple times.
She said she was arrested in many places in North America and Asia because of her protests. She protested for a variety of different issues from social justice to genetically modified foods, logging and deforestation on indigenous peoples’ land.
Her arrests overseas in Hong Kong and Beijing were because of her involvement with the Tibetan campaign, in which Tibet sought autonomy from the Chinese government. The charges, which were dropped, varied from disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment, failing to disperse and obstruction of justice.
These arrests spiked her interest in criminology and the justice system. Her last arrest was in Los Angeles, where she applied to college while in jail. She attended Simon Fraser University, where she received undergraduate degrees in criminology and psychology and a master’s degree in criminology. She received her Ph.D in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland (UMD).
She then worked for a homeland security research center and ran data and analysis on terrorism attacks around the world. She also spent time traveling around the world, giving lectures and training foreign militaries and government and non-governmental organizations, informing of terrorist tendencies through her research. This data and evidence was used to inform policies and practices instead of spontaneous decisions made in reaction to a terrorist attack.
She traveled to places like Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey to speak with their militaries about their practices in dealing with terrorism. She continues to travel around the world, teaching individuals about evidence-based terrorism policy.
Her decision to teach at UI was because of the proximity to her family living in Canada, but she said the friendly faculty also played a large role in her decision to work.
During her time in D.C., she also taught a few classes at UMD. She said the difference in students living and attending college in such close proximity to Capitol Hill were significant.
“The students at UMD were very politically charged in their opinions and a little less raw,” Hodwitz said. “I think living so close to Capitol Hill, a lot of the students are surrounded by politicians and diplomats, so students had very strong opinions, but they spent most of their youth learning how to practice speaking in a way that might have a positive outcome but won’t necessarily rock the boat.”
She said students at UI certainly have their opinions, but are not as worried about being “politically correct” and concentrate more on making sure their opinion is understood.
Junior Kelsie Rumsey has taken classes with Hodwitz and said she enjoys her teaching style. Rumsey said Hodwitz fosters a unique learning environment.
“Omi is a professor that inspires students to want to learn. She makes the topics interesting and exciting. She is willing to go above and beyond to help her students in a classroom setting and with other academic opportunities,” Rumesy said.
Hodwitz assists with the implementation of the Inside-Out Program, where selected students at UI will be able to travel to the maximum-security prison in Orofino, Idaho and take a class alongside inmates.
She brought the idea to UI and the sociology department at the beginning of her career at UI and was able to complete the training in order to be a facilitator of the class.
Half of the training took place in the prison in a simulated learning environment, where she was able to take on the role of student. The next step was negotiating with prisons and the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC).
She negotiated with IDOC since November and got the final approval for the program earlier this month. Twelve UI students have been chosen for the program that will take place this fall.
Emma Takatori can be reached at [email protected]