Dr. Tony Gaskew

Degrees and Credentials

Ph.D. Conflict Analysis, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nova Southeastern University
M.S. Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Institute, Nova Southeastern University
B.L.S. Behavioral Science, Barry University

Short Bio

Dr. Gaskew has an extensive professional and academic career in the field of criminal justice. He has over twenty years of policing experience, including as a member of the United States Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) within the Southern and Middle District of Florida. Dr. Gaskew is also a military combat veteran, having served in the USAF as a Military Working Dog Handler, part of the historic “Operation Commando Plug” in the Republic of the Philippines and across Southeast Asia. He joined the faculty at UPB in 2006, was promoted to associate professor, and was awarded tenure in 2011. In 2018, he was promoted to full professor. He previously served as the director of the criminal justice program and the criminal forensic studies program. 

Academic Focus

Dr. Gaskew is a faculty affiliate at the Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) in the School of Social Work, with a research specialty in counterinsurgency (COIN) and Black Male Studies (BMS). He is a Fulbright Hays Scholar who has conducted ethnographic research on insurgent and counterinsurgent activities across Africa, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. He is the creator of the FBI-COINTELPRO-Pittsburgh Collection, a special digital archive of the FBI Counterintelligence operations targeting the 1960s Black Power Movement in Pittsburgh. Dr. Gaskew continues to teach several courses, including Killology, which examines the psychological, physiological, and metaphysical effects of killing a human being (police use of deadly force, military combat, etc.) on the lived experience.  

Research, Accomplishments, and Publications

Dr. Gaskew has authored over 50 publications, including his latest book, Stop Trying to Fix Policing: Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Black Liberation (Rowman & Littlefield), which examines the phenomena of police abolition from the perspective of armed Black resistance. He is the founding director of the nationally recognized UPB Prison Education Program, creating ground-breaking post-secondary initiatives at BOP FCI McKean and PDOC SCI Forest. His research has appeared in numerous media platforms across the globe, and most recently in the 2025 short film documentary The Price of Resistance: Sala Udin, An American Agitator. In 2025, Dr. Gaskew was the recipient of both The Chancellor’s Distinguished Public Service Award, and The Dr. Larry E. Davis Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship Award.