James Robertson
Robertson, who teaches in the Department of Sociology and Corrections, came to Minnesota State Mankato in 1980 after working in a research center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. "I came to this university with anything but a concrete research agenda," says Robertson. "Diverse work and educational experiences had honed my research skills but not my interests."
When Robertson arrived, the department asked him to teach a course on correctional law. Because prisoner rights had been unheard of until the late 
1960s, it was a relatively new subject. Little research had been done and few publications were available at the time—which gave Robertson the perfect opportunity to make his mark. "I was lucky to get in at the ground level," he explains. "My career evolved as the field evolved, and there were a lot of opportunities to explore areas that other scholars hadn't yet."
Twenty–eight years later, after publishing more than 50 individually authored journal articles, Robertson is known as one of the leading figures in the field of correctional law. His articles are read regularly by law students and scholars and are also consulted frequently by both judges and lawyers. As a result of his work, drastic changes have been made in prisoner rights, especially with regard to prison rape. "Thanks in part to Dr. Robertson's work in drawing public attention to this horrible problem, action is being taken by the government to address it," states Dr. Michael B. Mushlin, a professor of law at Pace Law School.
