Tierra Houston, Criminal Justice

Despite the multiple bumps she encountered on the road in her life, Tierra Houston has rolled over every one of them with grace, kindness and an innate instinct to advocate for those around her. 

The Egg Harbor Township native is a non-traditional student – she started her higher education journey later in life amidst going through kidney dialysis every night, caring for her son as a single mom and grieving the then-recent passing of her father.

Even after making it through her first and second years, the challenges didn’t stop: her son was diagnosed with cancer in July 2020, which prompted a gap year for Houston.

Those obstacles, however, never deterred Houston, who credits her resilience to her Christian faith. Her faith also makes her keenly aware of the challenges of those around her, which made her the perfect advocate for students in Stockton University’s Women’s Gender & Sexuality Center (WGSC).

“I was given a job under the GEER II Grant for the WGSC,” Houston recalled. “I began to do programming for power-based personal violence (PBPV) initiatives. I began to see that there are a lot of students who need help with reporting acts of violence and do not know where to turn for advocacy.” 

Houston’s programming quickly became popular on campus – she collaborated with multiple departments and student organizations and worked to create programs that center discussions about PBPV around students of color.

“I believe, in different ways, that every event impacted students in different ways and for various reasons,” Houston said. “We started with ‘Hip Hop and Stealthing’ where Dr. Kimoni Yaw Ajani taught the audience about lyricism and how they impact our minds and numb us to the issues in the lyrics regarding rape and sexual assault. We ended the two-year series with the phenomenal Erika Gilchrist, who taught us how to ‘Move Forward Fearlessly.’ We even had Super Bowl champion William Gay come and teach us about masculinity, anger and the importance of mental health counseling.”

The Criminal Justice major plans to continue her advocacy work after graduation. After enjoying her summer vacation and continuing to beat her son at Just Dance (“Despite the scooter, I am the champion in my home!”), Houston will pursue her Master of Arts in Criminal Justice at Rowan University.

“I will miss the people. From my coworkers, directors, colleagues, administrators, students, janitors and everyone in between. The people are what make Stockton.”

The feeling is mutual – but, thankfully, Houston doesn’t plan to stay away for too long.

“My ultimate goal is to open a Violence Prevention and Intervention Office for Stockton University’s Atlantic City campuses and dorms,” Houston shared.

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