Alumni Spotlight

Sophie Solan, MPS

Sophie attended Elon from 2018-2022, receiving a BA in Psychology and with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. During her time at Elon, Sophie worked alongside Dr. Meredith Allison on a study pertaining to the believability of alibis. Additionally, in summer of 2021 she interned at the North Carolina Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP), where she worked in offender intervention counseling services. After graduating from Elon, Sophie pursued her Master’s in Clinical Psychological Sciences from The University of Maryland and graduated in November 2023. Throughout her Master’s program she also worked as a research coordinator at Maryland Treatment Centers, an inpatient substance use treatment center. Her research focused primarily on relapse prevention medication and psychotherapy to treat youth and adults with opioid use disorder. Sophie is now a first-year Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student at Auburn University, where she is part of the BRAINS lab that focuses on biobehavioral research for addiction and internalizing disorders.

Jacob Hayward, JD

Jacob attended Elon from 2016-2020, receiving a B.A. in Sociology and Policy Studies with minors in Political Science, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice Studies. While at Elon, he completed undergraduate research on the relationship between funding for prison healthcare and the partisan makeup of state legislatures. After graduating from Elon, he attended Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MĂ and received his Juris Doctor degree in May of 2023. As a law student, he participated in the law school’s Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, where he represented a client serving a life sentence before the Massachusetts Parole Board and secured his release on parole. He also served as a teaching assistant for the clinic and an Evidence course and conducted legal research on the constitutionality of granting clergy members an evidentiary privilege in criminal cases.

He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar as an attorney in November of 2023.  Currently, he works as a Trial Attorney at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the statewide public defender agency in Massachusetts. He represents clients charged with criminal offenses in Boston, advocating for clients in court before judges and juries at evidentiary hearings and at trial. He also volunteers as a coach for college mock trial in his free time

If you are a CJS alum, we would love to hear from you. Please email Dr. Zito.