Metro State gave Allison Cotton the opportunity to teach her true passion: criminology.

Allison Cotton, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, became interested in crime and deviance after Ted Bundy may have crossed her path.

Cotton was at Red Rocks Amphitheater with her family when her father met a man who “looked just like him. It was a man claiming to be an attorney.” This was several years before the charismatic murderer was caught, about the time Bundy was later found to have killed several women in Colorado. The story had impact on Cotton’s career choice.

“This is a story has been told so many times it’s become family legend,” Cotton said. “It solidified my interest in serial killers.”

A good kid herself—she never once touched drugs and rarely drinks—Cotton became fascinated with crime and deviance and “why people broke the rules.”

“I never understood. Criminology and sociology has answered my questions. I understand it better.”

Cotton pursued this interest all through college. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado in sociology in 1991, a master’s in sociology from Howard University in 1995, and returned to Colorado to get her doctorate in sociology at CU in 2002. She has since published widely in her field, addressing such controversial issues as race and justice, death row, abusive relationships and the influence of the media on the legal system.

Cotton’s cheerful face belies the sometimes gruesome nature of her interest and it is evident that her passion for criminology makes her a natural teacher. Cotton started teaching at the Community College of Aurora in 1995 and has since taught in “just about every community college in Colorado.” She began teaching sociology but it wasn’t until she came to Metro State that she got to teach her true passion: criminology.

“I’m very happy. I love my department chair (LiYing Li).” Cotton gets the support to innovate “because [Li] sees that I get results. I challenge the students in a way that might not have been done before. I help students grow and develop.

“It’s just wonderful to help students open their minds and view the world through different eyes,” Cotton said, “I enjoy cleaning the lens.”

One of her methods for giving students a broader view of our criminal justice system is to assign debates on controversial topics such as the death penalty and mandatory sentencing. “I do everything in my power to give them more exposure than just their own experience,” Cotton said, “The debates get them to actually look at real issues. We use actual case histories.”

Cotton’s latest innovation is a class called Crime, Criminal Justice and the Media. “Spin is an incredible force in our society which is why I’ve developed this course,” she explained. “I get very frustrated with how the media portrays criminals. We talk about how the media spins things.”

Cotton’s purpose in teaching about “spin” is to awaken future judges, lawyers and law enforcement officers—people who will make life-impacting decisions—to the often hidden stereotypes and judgments the media perpetuates through its choice of which facts to present. Cotton wants her students to stop and think