February 9, 2015, New York, NY–Noted criminologist Henry N. Pontell has been appointed a Presidential Scholar and Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Prior to his appointment, over a 35 year span, he held several faculty and administrative positions at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

“I’m truly excited about being back in New York where I was born and raised, and working alongside the fine faculty and staff at John Jay College and CUNY,” said Dr. Pontell. He added: “Especially meaningful is the fact that my first scholarly publication which launched my professional career was accomplished with the enthusiastic support of John Jay faculty members. I look forward to helping further build both the department and the institution in the coming years.”

President Travis noted that “we are fortunate to have Dr. Pontell join our faculty as a Presidential Scholar and lead one of the largest academic departments at the College. Our students will benefit greatly from his scholarly expertise and experience in the fields of sociology and criminology.”

In addition to serving as Chair of the Department of Criminology, Law & Society, Director of Graduate Studies in Social Ecology, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at UCI, Pontell also conceived and led the development of the Master of Advanced Study (MAS) Program in Criminology, Law and Society, which in 2003 became the first online degree program at the University of California. The MAS was rated #1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its first ranking of online criminal justice graduate programs in January 2015.

His research and teaching interests include deviance and social control, white-collar and corporate crime, punishment and criminal justice system capacity issues, financial and health care fraud, identity theft, comparative criminology, and cyber crime. His two current primary research projects include a comparative study of white-collar and corporate crime in China, and an examination of the mechanisms by which major financial fraud is related to ever-larger global economic crises.

Pontell’s publications include nine books and over a hundred articles and chapters such as International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime (Springer), Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America (Pearson, Prentice-Hall), Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis (University of California Press), Contemporary Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honor of Gilbert Geis (Pearson , Prentice Hall), and Prescription for Profit: How Doctors Defraud Medicaid (University of California Press).

He has worked with many federal agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and has provided written and verbal testimony on financial institution fraud before the United States Congress and national commissions. He is a past Vice-President of the American Society of Criminology, a past President of the Western Society of Criminology, and is a fellow of both organizations. He currently serves as President of the White Collar Crime Research Consortium of the National White Collar Crime Center.

Among other awards and honors, Pontell has received the Albert J. Reiss, Jr. Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association, the Donald R. Cressey Award from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology, the Herbert Bloch Award from the American Society of Criminology, and the Gil Geis Lifetime Achievement Award from the National White Collar Crime Center.

He has held visiting appointments at the Australian National University, the University of Virginia, the University of Melbourne, the University of Macau, Macau University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong, and Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. He is also a Fellow in the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong.

He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Stony Brook University.

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.