Alan J. Tomkins, J. D., Ph.D.

Alan Tomkins is the Director of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (appointed as its inaugural director in July 1998) and professor of psychology and law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Tomkins received a B. A. degree from Boston University (1975) with a joint major in Psychology and Philosophy. He earned a J. D. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1984. Prior to joining the University in the fall of 1986, he served as a research associate with the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC, and as a faculty member in departments of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (visiting) and St. Louis University (research). He also has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Southampton (England) and as a Visiting Scholar of Psychology at Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea). From August 2005-July 2006, he was one of two inaugural William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellows at the University of Arkansas School of Public Service. He is a Fellow of the American-Psychology Law Society (Division 41 of the American Psychological Association) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9 of the American Psychological Association). Tomkins serves Co-Editor of Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, working with editor Judge Steve Leben of the Kansas Court of Appeals. Tomkins is first non-judge to serve as an editor of Court Review. From 1989-2001, Tomkins served as co-Editor and then Editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Behavioral Sciences & the Law .

Professor Tomkins's primary research interests focus on public participation and its implications for democracy in policymaking, public trust and confidence in government (especially the courts), the interplay between policies and behaviors, behavioral health systems of care and related practices and policies, program evaluation, and examining issues of justice, fairness and the impact of scientific information in the water resources context. In addition, he is involved in the Center's work on judicial restructuring and administration in Nebraska (looking at possible changes to the boundaries of judicial districts, authority of the courts to create and/or reassign judgeships, utilize technology to make the courts more efficient, etc.), strategic planning with the Nebraska Court of Appeals, and the on-going Minority Justice Project.

Tomkins's work at the Public Policy Center has been supported by local, state and national funders, including the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven; Compassion Capital Fund, Office of Community Services, Administration for Children, Youth & Families, US HHS; Kellogg Foundation; Lincoln, Lancaster County, and United Way of Lincoln/Lancaster County; MacNeil/Lehrer Productions & Public Broadcasting System; National Center for State Courts; Nebraska Court Administrator's Office; Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services; Nebraska Supreme Court and Nebraska State Bar Association; Speaker's Office, Nebraska Legislature; and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.