DeAnza A. Cook (she/her) is an assistant professor of American History and Leadership at The Ohio State University. Her research specializes in police reform, police science, and community resistance to American law enforcement challenges during and after Civil Rights and Black Power struggles of the 1960s. She teaches courses on policing, incarceration, and social justice movements as part of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP). To explore and enroll in OPEEP Courses, visit: https://opeep.osu.edu/courses-0. 

DeAnza was born in Jacksonville, FL, but she spent most of her childhood in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain region of small-town Virginia. She graduated with a BA in History in 2017 from the University of Virginia where DeAnza studied the intellectual history of broken windows policing in America. Thereafter, she earned a MA and PhD in History from Harvard University in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Her current book project builds upon her doctoral research to examine how evolving ideas and newfound identities in the American law enforcement profession ultimately revolutionized urban police business at the neighborhood and national level throughout the post-Civil Rights era. DeAnza’s writing on criminalization and law enforcement in America’s past and present is featured in the Metropole, Black Perspectives, and Annual Review of Criminology. DeAnza also serves on the Board of Directors for a Boston-based nonprofit called Healing Our Land, Inc., where she teaches civic education classes at city jails as part of the Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy project.