Faculty

     MEET OUR FACULTY:  

Faculty members of the Department of Criminal Justice care deeply about our students, and the awards we have received attest to this caring attitude.

Faculty members have received five of the rare Patricia Christmore and Donald C. Roush Awards for teaching excellence, which are a product of students selecting their best teachers. Dr. Cynthia Bejarano is the Donald C. Roush Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, in 2008 and Stan Fulton Endowed Chair in Arts and Sciences, Summer 2010.

Dr. Carlos Posadas has received the Donald C. Roush Award for teaching excellence in 2011. Dr. Posadas is the Department Head of Criminal Justice Department.

Dr. Peter Gregware has been awarded both the University's Christmore and Roush Awards for outstanding teaching. In 2011 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at Comenius Law School in Slovakia.

Dr. Larry Mays received the university's most prestigious award, the Regents Professorship.

The Department has the highest level of university awards of any department at New Mexico State University .

Faculty members are also actively involved in helping others. One has pioneered a federally funded program for at-risk adolescent youth in the community. Another is director of the federally funded College Assistance Migrant Program for children of migrant workers. Faculty members serve on a number of boards and committees within the community and provide professional service and consulting to a number of criminal justice agencies, including New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police, La Casa Community Board, Visitor Hospitality House, New Mexico Department of Public Safety, and the New Mexico Juvenile Justice Division.

Administrative Assistant:

 Pat Mcconnell

Tenured/Tenure-Track  Faculty

Dr. Francisco Alatorre earned his doctorate in Justice Studies and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University in 2011. Before coming to New Mexico State University, Dr. Alatorre taught as a lecturer in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Arizona State University, Tempe and Downtown Campus. Prior to immigrating to the United States, he practiced law in Mexico. His research focuses mainly on (1) undocumented immigrant women and youth, by studying them in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, and how these factors challenge their identity and create barriers to obtain legal status. Furthermore, he is also researching to understand how these women, who are frequent victims of domestic abuse, current political agendas, and their own low self-esteem, empower themselves by symbolic interaction; (2) The relationship between the homeless and the ways social inequalities are shaped by complex intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality; and (3) borderland concerns. Currently Dr. Alatorre is investigating how homeless people perceive charity services in the Neoliberal Age; and how social service providers perceive and promote undocumented youth resiliency.

Dr. Cynthia Bejarano, a native of Southern New Mexico and the El-Paso/Juárez border, is a professor of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University. Her publications and research interests focus on border violence, immigration issues, and gender violence at the U.S.-Mexico border. She is the author of the book "Qué Onda?" Urban Youth Cultures and Border Identity, published by the University of Arizona Press in 2005 and the co-editor of an interdisciplinary anthology with Rosa-Linda Fregoso entitled "Terrorizing Women: A Cartography of Feminicide in the Américas" (Duke University Press, June 2010). Bejarano is also the principal investigator for a federally and state funded University program which assists farmworkers and the children of farmworkers to attend the University. Dr. Cynthia Bejarano is the Donald C. Roush Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, in 2008 and Stan Fulton Endowed Chair in Arts and Sciences, Summer 2010.

Dr. Joan E. Crowley received her doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1979. Prior to joining the faculty of NMSU in the Fall of 1989, Dr. Crowley held a senior research position with the Center for Human Resource Research at the Ohio State University and with the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Alabama. She taught as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at both the Ohio State University and at the University of Alabama. In 1991, she was elected to the three-year presidential cycle of the Southwest Association of Criminal Justice Educators. Her current interests are in the areas of communities and criminal justice, family violence and child abuse, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, historical criminology, and research methods.

Robert J. Durán earned his doctorate in Sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2006. His research concerns racism in the post-civil rights era and community resistance, from gang evolution and border surveillance to disproportionate minority contact and law enforcement shootings. Dr. Durán's two decades of insight regarding gangs is captured in his 2012 book "Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider's Journey" with Columbia University Press. He is the recipient of the 2010 Hispanic Faculty and Staff Caucus Junior Faculty of the Year Award and the 2011 New Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology Division on People of Color and Crime. As a Chicano Criminologist/Sociologist, Dr. Durán has sought to understand the Latina/o experience in the Southwest.

Dana Greene is an associate professor of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University. She holds a doctorate in criminal justice from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her specialization is the history and philosophy of punishment in the United States. Dana came to the study of punishment from a history of street activism and is deeply committed to applying her work beyond the academy. Recent publications include an article in Social Justice that examines rhetorical tropes common to immigration advocacy and a book chapter on U.S. immigration policy as it relates to national crime policy. Her interests include social change movements, restorative justice, penal history, penal abolition, immigration, and social control.

Dr. David Keys is an associate professor of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University. He received his AB in History from the University of Missouri-Columbia and MA and Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research interests include capital punishment, narcotics and addiction, research methods, and urban studies. Dr. Keys has consulted with municipal, county, and state governments for 17 years on corrections and sentencing issues. His dissertation was a biographical treatment of the career of drug researcher Alfred Lindesmith, that was subsequently published by SUNY Press as Confronting the Drug Control Establishment (2000) with John Galliher.

Dr. Dulcinea Lara is currently an associate professor in the Criminal Justice department at New Mexico State University. Before that, she was an assistant professor in the university's History department for three years. She earned her doctorate in Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley in 2006. There, she was a Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellowship recipient as well as a Bancroft Fellow.
Her research frames include cultural studies and critical race theory, with an emphasis in Chicano history as well as an interest in topics of identity formation processes and theories, visual cultural markers of identity formation practices, cultural geography and spatial analysis. Currently, her main projects include work on a manuscript titled, "Revisiting the Land of Enchantment: Race and Tourism in New Mexico" and an article titled, "Deciphering Efficacy: Immigrant Advocacy Strategy in a Time of Domestic Despair." She also completed a short documentary titled "This Land" that documents ICE raids and the consequences for families residing in the communities abutting her university. This documentary has been shown in stages at social justice conferences as well as at the Interstate Migrant Education Council's annual meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico in September 2008.
Dr. Lara employs the use of critical historical interpretation to create and apply a contextual scaffolding around contemporary social issues. NMSU's situation in the tri-state community of New Mexico, Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as the bi-national cache that is the U.S.-Mexico border is one that provides a wealth of opportunities for a historical-contemporary inquiry into power imbalances that ensue in abuse, the ongoing criminalization and basic racist, classist, sexist and heterosexist treatment of underrepresented populations.

Dr. R.J. Maratea is an assistant professor of CJ at NMSU. He received his B.A. in political science from Syracuse University, a M.S. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Delaware. His dissertation expands upon social problems theory by examining the ways in which claims-makers use the Internet to distribute problem claims and attract support for their issues. Dr. Maratea's areas of specialization include mass communication, social problems, deviant and criminal subcultures, and criminological theory.

Dr. Carlos Posadas is the Department Head for the Department of Criminal Justice. His research interests include immigration, U.S.-Mexico border issues, race, gender and crime, and research methods. His teaching interests include research methods, statistics, and immigration and justice. He is a native of the area having grown up in El Paso, TX and completing his undergraduate work in criminal justice at New Mexico State University before moving on to the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University to pursue his graduate studies. Dr. Carlos Posadas has received the Donald C. Roush Award for teaching excellence in 2011.

Dr. James Maupin received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Arizona State University in 1990 and his Master of Public Administration from Southwest Missouri State University in 1985. He has taught at New Mexico State University since 1995. Dr. Maupin's area of specialty is policy analysis and program evaluation. He has worked closely with state and local juvenile justice professionals in addressing issues of importance related to preadjudicatory detention and parole decision making. He has also conducted research on the ethical orientation of criminal justice professionals. His primary teaching areas are research methods, statistics, policy analysis and program evaluation.

COLLEGE TRACK FACULTY

Mr. William Corbett received a B.A. in Political Science and a MPA from the Pennsylvania State University. Following graduation he worked as a family law hearing officer for the Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania prior to working as a management consultant in Europe and North America for the Alexander Proudfoot Company. Mr. Corbett then obtained a J.D. degree from the University of Illinois and worked as a civil litigator in California for 13 years. For the past 10 years, he has been a college instructor in the areas of law, criminal justice, and government at NMSU and other institutions, as well as a facilitator/mediator for civil litigants in cases filed with the Third Judicial District of New Mexico.

A strong passion, curiosity and desire have led Ms. Marija Dimitrijevic to the fascinating world of Criminal Justice. She received her BA from the University of Security Studies in Serbia and a Police Academy graduate with international experience in policing and human trafficking from working with victims in Serbia and Eastern Europe. Marija is a College Associate Professor at New Mexico State University where she obtained her MA in Criminal Justice. With her interests in research methods, youth and victims, she envisions bringing a refreshing, challenging, interactive and truly global experience for students. Teaching online classes bring these vital issues to the forefront through reaching a greater awareness, understanding, and development when answering the issues evident in our global society.

Andrea F. Joseph graduated with her Juris Doctorate degree, Magna Cum Laude, from Whittier College School of Law in Los Angeles and practiced law for 15 years. Her legal career began as a prosecutor in Los Angeles. After moving to New Mexico she worked in various capacities in public and private practice including working at the New Mexico Attorney General's Office in their litigation division focusing on suits filed against various state agencies including the department of corrections; as an administrative prosecutor; and as a ‘writ' attorney before the New Mexico Supreme Court. She also worked as Guardian ad Litem and Respondent's counsel in child abuse and neglect cases; represented victims of domestic violence through a contract with La Casa in Las Cruces; worked with the elderly through Adult Protective Services and opened a private practice focusing on issues of family law. Ms. Joseph joined the faculty at NMSU in 2000 and her teaching responsibilities focus primarily on law related courses.

PROFESSORS EMERITUS 

Dr. Gregware earned an undergraduate degree in Economics, a MA in Psychology, a J.D. focused on public law, and a Ph.D. in Justice Studies. He has worked as a therapist in a mental health treatment center, was the Director of a federally-funded drug and alcohol treatment facility and a state funded alternative to corrections facility for women, and served as Warden of a pre-release center for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. As a lawyer, he worked as a Law Clerk in the criminal courts of New York City and the Virgin Islands. He also worked as a Legal Services lawyer in a Boston ghetto, and as an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee, focusing on violent and sexual crimes against children. He has taught at Penn State University, the University of Wisconsin, and NMSU.
At NMSU, he has been awarded both the University's Christmore and Roush Awards for outstanding teaching. He has also served as Head of the C.J. Department and as Associate Dean for Academics in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2011 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at Comenius Law School in Slovakia. His current research interests focus on the foundations of unbiased and ethical decision making by CJ professionals.

Dr. Larry Mays was a Knoxville, Tennessee police officer for five years prior to completing his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Tennessee in 1979. He has previously taught at Appalachian State and East Tennessee State Universities. Dr. Mays has served as a consultant to the Department of Corrections, State Police, Youth Authority, and Association of Counties in New Mexico and to the El Paso, Texas Police Department. From 1981 to 1990, Dr. Mays was head of the New Mexico State University Department of Criminal Justice. His primary areas of research interest are jails, court organization and administration, and juvenile justice.

ADJUNCT FACULTY

Dr. EunJung Choi has taught in the Department of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University since 2011. Dr. Choi received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Arizona with Psychology as a minor. Her teaching interests include Research Methods, Nature of Crime, Criminology, Crime and Gender, and Juvenile Delinquency. Her research/writing interests include transnationalism, and immigration with a global implication, the intersection of race, class and gender, self and identity. Dr. Choi is currently working on "transnationalism, negotiated identity, and Asian immigrant women workers in the U.S."

Mr. Rory L Rank has worked for the New Mexico Public Defender Dept since 1992. He is currently the supervisor of the Juvenile Division in the Las Cruces NM office. He has been very proactive in designing and implementing diversion programs for juveniles the 3 rd Judicial District. As a practicing attorney for over 30 years, he ensures excellence in juvenile defense and promotes justice for all children.

Born in Washington, D.C. during Harry Truman's first Presidential Term, Judge Ryan graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio with a degree in Medieval History in 1969, then enrolled in Georgetown Law School's night program while working as a law clerk for the legendary criminal defense lawyer, Edward Bennett Williams. During his four years at Georgetown, Judge Ryan was an Editor of the Georgetown Law Review, writing a Note for the yearly criminal law issue on the defense of Entrapment, and upon graduation with his J.D. in 1974, served a year as Court Law Clerk to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. After years of private practice of law in D.C., Beverly Hills, London, Saudi Arabia and Madison, WI, Judge Ryan moved to New Mexico to work for the Navajo Nation. During three years as a legal aid lawyer in the Farmington office of DNA Peoples' Legal Services, Judge Ryan became a New Mexican. In 1988, he became Deputy City Attorney in Las Cruces and in 1991 was appointed the first full-time Municipal Judge for the city. During his time as Presiding Las Cruces Municipal Judge, Ryan began his teaching career at NMSU in Spring Semester, 1993. After leaving the bench in 1997, Judge Ryan opened his own law firm practicing criminal law and when the last of his kids were out of the house he became a State Public Defender, a position he holds to this day. Judge Ryan is parent or step parent to seven children and enjoys traveling with his wife Maggie. His "retirement home" in Juarez awaits when he finally calls it a career and the murders subside. 

Dr. Vaughan is an Associate Professor in distance education at NMSU. She came to New Mexico from Arkansas Tech University where she served as an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and coordinated the criminal justice program. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she was a graduate assistant teaching in her specialty areas of social psychology and criminology. Prior to joining the faculty at NMSU in January of 2003, she had taught in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Here at NMSU, Dr. Vaughan teaches classes on-line for the MCJ program. Her major area is ethics with a focus on how criminal justice practitioners can carry out their duties in an ethical manner. Other areas of interest include white collar crime and criminal justice policy.