Mansfield University Home Page > Criminal Justice Administration Home Page > News & Announcements > 2009 - 2010
Zach Perchinski, who graduated on May 8th, took third place in April 2010 at the National Collegiate Boxing Association’s National Championships held at West Point, New York. The West Point boxer who beat Zach went onto eventually win the gold medal and national championship for the heavyweight division.
Zach earned the right to participate at the national championships by winning the National Collegiate Boxing Association’s Eastern Regional Championships at the University of Maryland in March.
Zach is the past president of Lambda Alpha Epsilon The American Criminal Justice Association and a member of Alpha Phi Sigma National Honor Society in Criminal Justice.
Ray Krone, who spent more than ten years in prison, (three of those on death row), before DNA testing cleared him, will be speaking on Monday, April 5th, at 7:00 PM, in Allen Hall Auditorium. Ray Krone is the 100th former death row inmate freed because of innocence since the reinstatement of the death penalty and the 12th death row inmate whose innocence has been proven through post conviction DNA testing. Prior to his arrest, Krone had no criminal record, had been honorably discharged from the military, and had worked for the U.S. Post Office for seven years. The event is free to students and the general public.
Before the presentation, Ray Krone will speak in Dr. Scott Thornsley’s Introduction to Criminal Justice class, held in Room 146 (The Planetarium), from 2:30 – 3:45 PM. Criminal justice majors are welcome to attend this special “Question & Answer” period.
Ray Krone is the subject of the book Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice, (2007) by Bill Kurtis.
Ray Krone is currently the Director of Training and Communication for Witness to Innocence, in York, PA.
The fourth prison tour of the 2009-2010 academic year has been scheduled for Friday, April 30th, 2010, at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, located just 15 minutes west of State College, PA. The tour is set for 12 Noon.
One van has been reserved and can take 14 students. The van will leave at approximately 9:00 AM and return to campus at approximately 6:00 PM. (NOTE: If there is student interest, the van can leave earlier to allow students to have a 90 minute lunch in State College.) Another 6 students can go, but will have to provide their own transportation.
A tour of Rockview has always been sought after by students, especially since after a two hour tour, students will have the opportunity to meet with approximately two dozen life-sentenced inmates, in a very controlled setting.
Students must sign up with Dr. Thornsley personally. A dress code applies. Selection will be by random drawing.
Danielle Kleckner, a senior with a 4.00 GPA, is the Department of Criminal Justice’s nominee for Mansfield’s "Outstanding Senior Award." Danielle was last year’s "Outstanding Junior in Criminal Justice."
Danielle interned with the PA Attorney General’s Office last summer in State College, in their Bureau of Narcotics Investigation. There she assisted in the surveillance of controlled buys of narcotics with confidential informants, prepared for and attended trials and preliminary hearings of defendants, and assisted on scheduled narcotics raids. At Mansfield, Danielle is a member of the Criminal Justice Club and is a founding member of Alpha Phi Sigma National Honor Society in Criminal Justice.
Danielle is graduating this May after just spending three years at Mansfield. After graduation, Danielle will pursue her M.A. in Criminal Justice at Penn State University.
Rachel Boyll is also being nominated as an "At-Large" nominee by Dr. Thornsley. Rachel has spent the last six years at Mansfield and is graduating in May with a duel major in both Forensics and Criminal Justice. She also has been the department’s student worker for six years. Rachel is from San Diego, California, and is awaiting word as to where she will be attending graduate school for forensics – hopefully either at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Penn State, or at the University of California at Davis.
Mansfield’s Department of Criminal Justice 2009-2010 Prison Tour Series has been given permission to tour the U.S. Penitentiary at Allewnood, a high security penitentiary within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The tour is set for Friday, April 16th, starting at 1:00 p.m. Interested students must sign-up for the tour with Dr. Thornsley personally, in his office. He is only able to take 14 students. Selection will be by random drawing. A dress code will be strictly enforced. Students will have to undergo an NCIC security check. Any security application missing information will not be considered. Please see Dr. Thornsley by Monday, February 15th.
Dean Van Bibber, a professor of Criminal Justice and Homeland Security at Piedmont Technical & Community College and Fairmont State College, has been named the Outstanding Mansfield University Criminal Justice Alumni for the Academic Year 2009-2010. Van Bibber received his B.A. in Criminal Justice Administration from Mansfield State College in 1976 and a M.S. in Criminal Justice from Villanova Univeristy.
Van Bibber has been teaching at Piedmont Community & Technical College and Fairmont State College in West Virginia since 1994. Prior to his current teaching position he has been a police officer (1978-1984) and chief of police (1984-1988) at the West Hempfield Police Department (Lancaster County, PA), a private security consultant and university educator. He is also currently a certified police instructor for both West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Van Bibber has been awarded citations from both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania State Senate for "Police Accomplishments" and received a "Silver Star for Bravery" from the Police Hall of Fame, located in Miami, Florida.
However, it is his devotion to Mansfield University's Criminal Justice Department that prompts this award. Van Bibber has been a guest speaker at Mansfield four times since 2000, has been the lead instructor for Mansfield's "Latent Prints to Gifted Children" program in 2003 and MU's "CSI Camp" in November 2004, as well as bringing countless criminal justice students from Fairmont State College to hear Roy Hazelwood while he appeared here in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Dean Van Bibber's career in criminal justice has spanned three decades as both a practitioner and educator, something that few Mansfield University criminal justice alumni can lay claim to.
On December 3rd, Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Honor Society for Criminal Justice, recognized Mansfield University as their newest undergraduate chapter. Seventeen new members were initiated into Alpha Phi Sigma, witnessed by Mansfield President Maravene Loeschke and Dr. J.P. Burke, dean of Mansfield’s Education, Professional & Graduate Studies Programs. Alpha Phi Sigma is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and the only national honor society for criminal justice majors recognized by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
Students initiated into Mansfield’s Lambda Zeta Chapter include: James Barrett, Daniel Bencsics, Ryan Calkins, Alyssa Ferguson, Russell hack, Suzanna Jaworowsky, Danielle Kleckner, Monica Kneller, Terrell Lehman, Danny Moss, Kyle Rayburn, Zachary Perchinski, Jacob Sander, Amanda Sloat, Timothy VanDyke, Derek Warke and Christopher Zelko.
Members of Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE), the American Criminal Justice Association for criminal justice students, initiated 13 new members into its professional fraternity in October 2009. With its new members, it becomes one of the largest organizations on campus. It is the largest criminal justice organization on campus, and its focus is to promote off-campus activities which would be of interest to criminal justice majors.
LAE members regularly go on trips, and during the past several years this national professional fraternity has visited Niagara Falls, Washington, D.C., the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, among other places. In April 2010 LAE will co-sponsor one of the nation’s most recognizable wrongfully convicted individuals – Ray Krone, now living in York, PA., to speak at Mansfield on Monday, April 5th. Krone spent 10 years in the Arizona state prison system (including 3 years on death row) before being exonerated. Krone is the subject of Bill Moyer’s 2004 book The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice.
Mansfield University’s Department of Criminal Justice is orchestrating a used book drive this fall to benefit the Tioga County Prison, located in Wellsboro, just 15 minutes west of Mansfield. During a prior tour of the Tioga County Prison on Wednesday, October 14th, it was learned that the prison was "in desperate need" of gently used book and recent magazines.
Please drop off any used books at the Criminal Justice Seminar Room, 210 Pinecrest Manor, between 8:00 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., or call Dr. Scott Thornsley, department chair, at 570-662-4485 for further information.
All students are welcome to attend the Tuesday, November 3rd overview of the PA Municipal Police Training Program (i.e. Act 120) discussed by Ms. Barbara Butcher, Director of the Law Enforcement & Certification Program at Mansfield University.
The overview will be held:
For further information on Mansfield University’s Act 120 program, please click on
http://cll.mansfield.edu/law-enforcement-programs/municipal-police-training-act-120/
Twenty-two criminal justice majors toured the Tioga County Prison, located in Wellsboro, PA, on Wednesday, October 15th as the guest of Deputy Warden Terry C. Browning, whose daughter is herself a criminal justice major at Mansfield university.
The students received almost a three hour tour, visiting almost every corner of the county prison. Students saw the Reception Area, Gym, Library, Visiting Area, and Work-Study Area, to name just a few.
This is the second correctional facility criminal justice students have toured this Fall. In September students toured the medium security prison at the Federal Correctional Complex at Allenwood, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, whose warden is himself a Mansfield University graduate.
The 2009-2010 Prison Tour Series will conclude with an April 2010 tour of the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, located just minutes outside of State College. There, criminal justice majors will have an opportunity to visit with, and talk to, approximately 20 life-sentenced inmates incarcerated for either first or second degree murder.
Dr. Herb MacDonnell, long considered The Father of Modern Blood Stain Interpretation, was honored with the designation of a 2009 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Criminal Justice as he delivered two lectures to two packed classrooms filled with forensic and criminal justice students on Tuesday, September 29th.
Dr. MacDonnell spoke about his 60 years of investigating cases, and of a recent case involving U. S. Army Lt. Michael Behenna who was convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi. There, Dr. MacDonnell was supposed to be a witness for the prosecution, and instead, discovered evidence that showed Lt. Behenna acted in self-defense. Rather than share the newly found evidence with the defense, the Army sent MacDonnell home.
Now, Lt. Behenna’s lawyers are currently appealing the verdict based on Dr. MacDonnell’s evidence. Just four days after Dr. MacDonnell spoke at Mansfield, Dr. MacDonnell was the headline story on the Saturday, October 3, 2009 issue of the Corning Star-Gazette in an article entitled Long Before CSI was fashionable, Herb MacDonnell was on the case. Just another example of Mansfield’s Criminal Justice Department taking advantage of world class speakers.
Mansfield University criminal justice majors received a rare glimpse of the Federal Correctional Institution at Allenwood (Medium Security) on Friday, Sept. 18th. The tour alone lasted over three hours, and students were able to tour the following areas:
The tour concluded with a 30 minute overview of the Federal Correctional Complex at Allenwood, which was given by Mr. Scott Holtzapple, the Employee Services Manager (personnel director) for the entire federal Correctional Complex at Allenwood, (encompassing three federal prisons with approximately 1,000 employees), and a 1987 Mansfield criminal justice graduate. The tour culminated with a discussion in the Warden’s office with Warden David J. Ebbert, a 1982 Mansfield University criminal justice graduate.
According to Dr. Scott Thornsley, the department chair of criminal justice at Mansfield, “The Allenwood tour was the best tour he has ever received in the 15 years he has been arranging tours for university students, and even surpassed tours he received and gave while employed by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.”
Touring students noted that every employee who spoke to the tour group enjoyed working at Allenwood, and loved the work they were doing. Warden Ebbert even remembered that Mansfield criminal justice major Terrell Lehman interned at the Federal Correctional Complex at Allenwood during the 2009 summer, and enjoyed the experience. (See Terrill Lehman’s internship spotlighted under the 2009 Internship area.)
Mr. Joshua Battin, Program Director
212 Pinecrest Manor
(570) 662-4493
Dr. John Mansfield, Department Chair
209 Pinecrest Manor
(570) 662-4483
Gayle M. Thompson, Secretary
213 Pinecrest Manor
(570) 662 - 4661
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