Megan Dingee

Growing up in the small town of Dover Plains, New York, Megan Dingee was part of a senior class of about 80 students when she graduated in 2021. In fact, the town is so small that its 2020 census population of 1,322 is close to the number of students who graduate from Danbury High School in any given year. So, when Dingee was looking at college options, she wanted to go someplace close to home with affordable tuition on a small campus that felt familiar to her. It didn’t hurt that her sister was already attending Western Connecticut State University when she applied.

“I graduated from high school with honors and already had completed 15 college credits and received multiple scholarships,” Dingee said. “I applied to and was accepted at four other colleges, but I decided to come to WCSU. I knew exactly what I wanted to study when I got here, I just didn’t know where it would take me.”

As a Justice and Law Administration major focusing on Criminology, she took a variety of other classes and determined that she could add a Psychology minor without overloading herself with extra work. She also found a mentor in Professor of Justice and Law Administration Dr. Hasan Arslan.

“As part of my Research Methodology class, I undertook a large research project that investigated celebrity victims of murder, under the guidance of Dr. Arslan,” Dingee explained. “Initially a compilation of data from about 90 such cases, Dr. Arslan encouraged me to expand the sample to 150 and submit the research to Western Research Day (WRD) in 2024. As a result, I received a Presidential Award that enabled me to become a paid research assistant to Dr. Arslan to expand the research.”

Megan Dingee at ACJS.

Following WRD, Arslan encouraged his student to widen the geographic limits beyond the United States to include other world regions, and submit the resulting information to the Academy of Criminal Justice Students (ACJS) for consideration for its 2025 Conference in Denver, Colorado. This was Dingee’s first professional conference at which she was a presenter, and while there, she and the professor were invited to submit the research — now expanded to 252 cases — to a subsequent conference in the future in Clearwater, Florida. Hosted by the Homicide Research Working Group, it is a prestigious academic community at which Arslan is invited to present the findings from his research to which Dingee contributed, and she is listed as a co-author.

While an undergraduate student, Dingee regularly commuted the 40 or so miles to campus. She was a member of Alpha Phi Sigma, the Criminal Justice Honor Society, and was inducted into the National Society of Leadership Success. Despite family tragedies in 2024 that included losing her uncle to addiction and the loss of her grandparents’ home to a fire, which they thankfully survived, she was undeterred in her commitment to her studies, and was named to the Dean’s List her final semester as an undergraduate. Because of her perseverance, she will receive a Provost’s Student Award for Academic Achievement and Resiliency at the 2025 Honors Convocation.

Arslan added that she also assisted with the Third Interdisciplinary Conference of the Society of North American Scholars on “The Impact of AI on Higher Education,” held in October 2024 at the Westside campus. “She contributed as a member of Alpha Phi Sigma,” Arslan said. “The conference hosted both domestic and international scholars from various disciplines, and attendees were impressed with her professionalism, organizational abilities, and excellent reception skills.”

Dingee had enough credits to graduate in December 2024 and will participate in Commencement exercises this May. She’s already pursuing a Master of Science in Homeland Security at WCSU, continuing her academic journey to further explore the intersection of criminal justice, law enforcement, and national security. Ultimately, she hopes to work in law enforcement at the federal level.

Ironically, the small-town student has now researched and presented data on celebrity murders from around the world.

“WestConn has been a home away from home,” she said. “I spent many hours on campus and I always felt safe and welcome there. Every person I met was always kind, generous, focused and hardworking. It’s a place where people can be themselves, or discover a new self. WCSU helped me find a new version of myself, giving me hope for future me.”

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.