Jean Denious (she/her) | CEO | jdenious@omni.org

Dr. Jean Denious is OMNI Institute’s Chief Executive Officer and serves as a member of its Board of Directors. Dr. Denious oversees OMNI’s strategic direction and provides oversight across OMNI’s practice areas with a specific focus on creating an equitable and inclusive culture at OMNI and ensuring that equitable evaluation practices are a core part of every project. She also provides executive oversight to OMNI’s Best Practice Teams as well as across OMNI’s proposal development and go-to-market strategy.

Dr. Denious brings more than two decades of experience in the design and implementation of complex, multi-method research and evaluation spanning content areas of Justice, Community Health, and Behavioral Health, with a specific focus on interventions that advance opportunity and equity for justice-involved populations, marginalized youth, and LGBTQ+ communities. She has served as Principal Investigator/Evaluator on multiple federal grants, including those funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); and has published in peer-review journals including the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation and Substance Abuse. Her OJJDP-funded work resulted in the recent publication of Demasiados Problemas: A Focus on Gender, Ethnicity, and Juvenile Diversion Programming in the book Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders, published by NYU Press.

Outside of OMNI, she loves cooking, New York Times crosswords, and spending time with her wife, daughter, dog, and cat.

“Our mission comes with the responsibility to continually learn and grow, and the privilege of working alongside so many others who are committed to effecting positive social change. I feel incredibly proud and lucky to work for OMNI and those we serve.”

CONTENT EXPERTISE

Justice

Community Health

Behavioral Health

EDUCATION

Arizona State University
Ph.D., Social Psychology

Indiana University
B.A., Psychology

+ Certifications, Memberships, Awards, and Service

  • Departmental Candidate, McKeen Cattell Award for outstanding doctoral dissertation in psychology, Section of Psychology of the New York Academy of Sciences
  • Nomination, Featured Faculty, Arizona State University Co-Curricular Programs
  • Ad-hoc reviewer: Psychology of Women Quarterly, Journal of Social Issues; Basic and Applied Social Psychology
  • Technical editor and reviewer, APA Presidential Initiative on Women in Science and Technology
  • Member, Society for Prevention Research, American Evaluation Association, Justice and Research Statistics Association

+ Selected Publications

  1. Pasko, L., & Denious, J. (2021). 4. Demasiados Problemas: A Focus on Gender, Ethnicity, and Juvenile Diversion Programming. Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders, edited by Vera Lopez and Lisa Pasko, New York, USA: New York University Press, 2021, pp. 83-101. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479804641-006.
  2. Denious, J., & Pasko, L. (2017). Characteristics and Predictors of Juvenile Diversion Program Success for Girls: A Focus on the Latina First-Time Offender. Supported by Award #2015-MU-FX-0003 by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs.
  3. Cares, A., Pace, E., Denious, J., & Crane, L. (2015). Substance use and mental illness among nurses: Workplace warning signs and barriers to seeking assistance. Substance Abuse, 36, 59-66.
  4. Denious, J., & Winder, C. (2014, 2015, 2016). Statewide Evaluation of the DCJ Juvenile Diversion Program. Supported by Award #2013-MU-FX-0047 by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs through the Division of Criminal Justice, Colorado Department of Public Safety.
  5. Shepherd, J. L., Fandel, J., Esposito, R., Pace, E., Banks, M., & Denious, J. (2012). Multidimensionality matters: An effective HIV, Hepatitis C, and substance-use prevention program for minority parolees. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 51:4, 199-221.
  6. Denious, J., Leahy, S., & Love, E. (2014). Caring for Colorado Public Lands: A Statewide Assessment to Inform Partnerships between Public Land Management Agencies and Volunteer Stewardship Organizations. Report submitted to the Colorado Outdoor Stewardship Coalition, and based on a study funded by Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources
  7. Ippolito, M., Denious, J., & Visvanathan, P. (2011). Evaluation of Colorado TASC. Paper presented at the 17th National TASC Conference on Drugs and Crime, Denver, CO.
  8. Denious, J., Ring, C., Reese, N., Hooks, J., Stott, C., Kozicki, C., & Reimann, B. (2011). Adapted Team Awareness for Youth and Conservation Corps. In J. W. Bray, D. M. Galvin, & L. A. Cluff (Eds.), Young Adults in the Workplace: A Multisite Initiative of Substance Use Prevention Programs. Research Triangle Park, NC:RTI Press.

+ Selected Presentations

  1. Denious, J., & Williams, M. (2014). “Evaluation in Action: Lessons Learned from Colorado’s Juvenile Diversion Program.” National webinar sponsored by the Justice Research and Statistics Association, and National Training and Technical Assistance Center of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, March 17, 2014.

  2. Ippolito, M., Denious, J., & Visvanathan, P. (2011). Evaluation of Colorado TASC. Paper presented at the 17th National TASC Conference on Drugs and Crime, Denver, CO.

  3. Denious, J. E., & Reese, N. (2007). Adapted drug-free workplace programs for Youth and Conservation Corps. In D. Galvin (Chair), Health Promotion for Young At-Risk Workers: A Cross-Occupational Strategy. Symposium conducted at the Annual Meeting of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, DC.