Beth O'Toole

Professor O'Toole started teaching at USF in 1998. She earned her Bachelors Degree (English, Theater), Masters Degree (Education Administration), and Juris Doctorate at the University of South Dakota. Prior to her arrival at USF, she worked for the SD Supreme Court (Law Clerk to Justice Robert Amundson), the SD Department of Corrections (Juvenile Justice Specialist), and the SD Department of Commerce and Regulation (Division of Insurance) as Division Counsel & Assistant Attorney General. 

Professor O'Toole teaches Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Sociology courses to undergraduate students as a tenured faculty member at the University of Sioux Falls.  She was promoted to Full Professor in 2012. She researched and developed the curriculum for the Criminal Justice major in 2000-2001, and she has worked extensively to recruit and retain many of the approximately 100 students each year who enroll as criminal justice majors.  She serves as an Academic Advisor in a variety of Social Science disciplines, and she serves as the Pre-Law advisor to numerous students throughout the university community.  Professor O'Toole received the Excellence in Teaching Award from USF National Society of Leadership and Success in 2014. She was named one of two Outstanding Faculty members for the 2006-2007 academic year and the 2000-2001 academic year, and she was also named the Outstanding Part-time Faculty member for the 1998-1999 academic year. She received the student-nominated award for Outstanding Academic Advising and Mentoring in December, 2006.

Professor O'Toole works extensively with service learning and community partnerships in public/private K-12 schools and various criminal justice agencies in Sioux Falls and throughout South Dakota. Her teaching and research interests involve working with system-involved youth and adults and serving social agencies which provide support to the South Dakota criminal justice system.