Professor Ruth Masters has been teaching criminal justice counseling courses at California State University, Fresno since 1970. In addition, she has had hands-on, practical counseling experience in both adult and juvenile criminal justice systems. She has worked as a parole agent for the California Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority. Her research can be described as a unique blending of theoretical and practical, which includes work in both corrections and law enforcement. Her textbook, Counseling Criminal Justice Offenders (1994), is published by Sage Publications.

Dr. Masters is a member of American Society of Criminology; Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences; Western Society of Criminology; Women′s Criminal Justice Association; California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association; and California State Juvenile Officers′ Association. She received her master′s degree in criminology from California State University, Fresno; and her bachelor′s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.