Christine Ruva

Christine Ruva is a Professor and Chair of the Sarasota-Manatee campus in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Florida, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. She has been a faculty member since 2001, initially as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Tampa before joining the Sarasota-Manatee campus as an Assistant Professor in 2004, where she was later promoted to full Professor.

Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Psychology (Cognitive and Neural Sciences) from the University of South Florida and a BA in Psychology from the University of Tampa. Prior to academia, she served as a probation and parole officer with a specialization in sex offender cases, providing real-world legal system experience.

Dr. Ruva's research centers on Psychology and Law, particularly jury decision-making. She investigates how pretrial publicity, implicit bias, memory, and group dynamics influence juror perceptions, deliberations, and verdicts. Her work uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, including content analysis of mock jury deliberations.

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend in analyzing racial and gender bias in legal contexts, evaluating interventions like implicit bias education and expert testimony to reduce juror bias. She also explores how jury composition and deliberation can mitigate or amplify pretrial publicity effects.

Dr. Ruva actively mentors students, many of whom co-author her publications. Her research has had real-world impact, including contributing to a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief in United States v. Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev (2021) and being featured in the Excited Utterance – Evidence and Proof Podcast (2018).

• Active faculty member at the University of South Florida
• Professor and Campus Chair, Sarasota-Manatee
• Research integrates psychology with legal systems
• Focus on bias reduction and juror behavior
• Regularly publishes in high-impact journals

She has been involved in research teams and collaborations across interdisciplinary domains, particularly at the intersection of cognitive science and legal policy. While no formal lab name is mentioned, her work involves running mock jury studies and qualitative data analysis, suggesting a structured research group or team under her leadership.