STEVE NELSON

I taught my first class in the Political Science Department in Fall Semester 2004 and have since taught over 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the Univesity of Utah. While I have taught a number of different courses over the years, I most frequently teach classes related to law and public policy, like POLS 3220 (Introduction to Criminal Jurisprudence), POLS 5120 (Judicial Process), and POLS 3390 (Introduction to Environmental Policy and Sustainability). I also regularly teach sections of POLS 1100 (Introduction to American Government) and PADMN 6300 (Administrative Theory). In addition to teaching, I currently serve as a District Judge on Utah's Third Judicial District Court where I am a trial court judge of general jurisdiction and preside over a calendar consisting of both criminal and civil matters.  Prior to my judicial service, I was a career (in other words, not a political appointee) prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice. I served as an Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the Violent Crime Section of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah. In this capacity, I served as the Anti-Gang Coordinator for the District of Utah and prosecuted narcotics conspiracy cases, firearms violations, and other violent federal crime committed by gang members. In my career, I have chaired (as an attorney) over 80 felony jury trials (and have presided over many more as a judge), including murders, attempted murders, aggravated sexual offenses, RICO, narcotics conspiracies, robberies, and many other violent crimes. I was fortunate to have received a number of national and local awards during my time as a prosecutor, including but not limited to the following:- Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Administrator's Award (2020)- Frederic Milton Thrasher Award from the National Gang Crime Researrch Center for "Superior Accompolishments in Gang Prosecution" (2020)- United States Attorney's Award for Exeptional Performance (Criminal Division - District of Utah) (2020)- United States Attorney's Award for Exceptional Performance (Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force "OCDETF" Section) (2020)- Exexutive Office of the United States Attorney (EOUSA) Director's Award for Superior Performance by a Criminal Asisstant United States Attorney (2019)- Salt Lake County Sherifif's Star (2018, 2019, 2020)- Salt Lake Area Metro Gang Unit Project Director's Award (2017, 2019, 2020)- OCDETF West Central Region District Award (2018)- Special Recognition for Demonstrated Excellence, United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (2014)- United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah Award for Superior Litigative Performance as a Team (2013)