While some members of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Association (OKCJA) had prior contact with each other within the long-lasting Oklahoma Sociological Association, and in other criminal justice, law enforcement, and corrections venues, no state organization existed prior to 2005. (See the addendum with pertains to the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Research consortium.) During the fall of 2004, several criminal justice faculty members were in attendance at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Faculty Curriculum Transfer Meeting on September 16, 2004, held at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, OK. In the midst of the meeting, I informally suggested to some others (including Sid Brown, University of Central Oklahoma, Arnold Waggoner, Rose State College and Dan Denny, East Central University) that we should organize a state association for criminal justice faculty and practitioners. Strong support was the response to the suggestion.

The first organizational meeting was held at Rose State College in Midwest City, OK, hosted by Arnold Waggoner and Ted Logan on February 18, 2005. In addition, others in attendance included Harrison Watts, Cameron University, Dan Denny, East Central University, K.C. Boone, Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center, Donna Barlow, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Stephen Kandeh, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Sid Brown, University of Central Oklahoma, and Delores Meyer, Mid-American Christian University. I was elected Chair of the meeting, at which time the group determined a name (Oklahoma Criminal Justice Association), worked on a mission statement and constitution, membership requirements, officer positions within the organization, and decided that the first conference would be held at Rose State College during April 2006. Officers for 2005-2006 were elected as follows:

Additional meetings were held in preparation for the first conference as well as ongoing organizational work. The conference was scheduled for April 7, 2006, at Rose State College. Justin Jones, Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections was the keynote speaker. Since that time, the organization has held annual meetings at the site of the President entering office for that year, which to this point has been on university campuses. Table 1 provides this information.

CONFERENCE YEAR	CONFERENCE HOST INSTITUTION/AGENCY	CONFERENCE HOST CITY	PRESIDENT
2006	Rose State College	Midwest City, OK	Philip D. Holley
2007	Rose State College	Midwest City, OK	Arnold Waggoner
2008	Cameron University	Lawton, OK	Harrison Watts
2009	University of Central Oklahoma	Edmond, OK	Mark McCoy
SCHEDULED
2010	East Central University	Ada, OK	Dan Denny
2011	Southwestern Oklahoma State University	Weatherford, OK	Dan Brown

Several faculty members from universities around the state had prior contact with each other with the formation of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Research Consortium, organized within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, in 1992. Research money was made available to the Consortium of researchers through the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC), with conferences held twice a year. The organization also published a journal, with the early volumes in hard copy and on the ODOC website. Later volumes were published on the website.

Consortium activities allowed to acquisition of funded research, networking with other academics, practitioners within the ODOC, as well as collaboration with individuals in the state agency and institutions. Participants were drawn from Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, regional state universities, and private universities.

The consortium continued for about five years, until the funding was no longer available.

An Evaluation of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Research Consortium: http://www.doc.state.ok.us/offenders/ocjrc/96/An%20Evaluation%20of%20the%20Oklahoma%20Criminal.pdf.