Louise I. Shelley

Louise I. Shelley is a professor at George Mason University in Virginia. She is also founder and director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC).
She graduated from Cornell University "cum laude" in Penology and Russian literature in 1972. While there, she co-founded the Risley Residential College. She served on the Cornell Board of Trustees. She got a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Criminology in 1973. In 1973/74, she held a Columbia University, International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Fellowship used to study in the Sociology Department, Law School and the Russian Institute. In 1977, Shelley earned a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
She joined the American University as an Assistant Professor in 1977. She became a full professor in 1986. In 2007, she moved to George Mason University. Shelley has studied at Moscow State University as a Fulbright-Hayes Fellow.
She studied the prison system of Russia and other nations. She studies how criminals make their money hard to trace (money laundering).