Dr. Tackett-Gibson was appointed Assistant Professor in the College of Criminal Justice fall, 2006. Her specialty areas include Drug Use and Abuse, Organizations and Evaluation, and Qualitative Methodologies. She teaches Criminology and Courts as Organizations.

Tackett-Gibson is currently developing a study of drug use, mental health and high risk behaviors among residents in the most highly populated areas of Texas. This follows a similar study of drug and alcohol use among college students in the state. The later survey was conducted for the Department of State Health Services, Substance Abuse Division and with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M, where she had served as Assistant Research Scientist since 2002.

Tackett-Gibson is preparing an article from that survey contrasting prescription drug abusers from individuals that abuse other types of substances. She is also examining the impact of mixed-mode survey administration on the collection of data on sensitive topics, such as drug use.

Additional work-in-progress includes an examination of role of prescription drugs in drug use initiation; and an ongoing analysis of discourse from an online harm reduction website.