Dr. Richard Wentling
Assistant Professor and Campus Program Coordinator
Penn State New Kensington
Phone: 724-334-6761
E-mail: [email protected]
Richard Wentling is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Penn State New Kensington. He received his M.A. in Criminology and Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in Criminology from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a minor in Psychology. Richard has presented at regional and national conferences with research interests including corrections and victimization, public policy, and research methods.
He has worked as a Booking/Processing Officer in county-level probation and as a Corrections Officer with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections working primarily with juvenile offenders in a therapeutic community setting. Richard is a military veteran and continues serving as a member of the National Guard.
Dr. Wentling is the campus program coordinator and offers a range of courses from introductory level (CrimJ 100), Field Research (CrimJ 250W), to 400-level electives including Alternatives to Incarceration (CrimJ 430), and Comparative Criminal Justice Systems (CrimJ 462) to name a few. Dr. Wentling also offers web-based 400-level elective courses to students at the New Kensington, Beaver, and Shenango campuses.
Ronald J. Seyko
Assistant Instructor, Criminal Justice
Penn State New Kensington
E-mail: [email protected]
Ronald J. Seyko is an adjunct instructor in the Criminal Justice Program at Penn State New Kensington. Ron received his Master of Science Degree in Administration of Justice from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Individual and Family Studies from Penn State University.
Ron started teaching criminal justice courses at Penn State New Kensington not long after retiring as the chief probation officer for Allegheny County Adult Probation and Parole. For 35½ years, Ron worked in both the juvenile and criminal court systems of the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania as a probation officer, supervisor, manager, deputy director, and chief probation officer.
Ron teaches CrimJ 220 Courts and the Prosecution Process and Crimj 210 Policing in America at the Penn State New Kensington campus. In addition, he offers the Policing in America course via distance video learning to students at the Penn State Shenango campus.
Lecturer, Criminal Justice
Penn State New Kensington
E-mail: [email protected]
Jodi Gill, lecturer in Criminal Justice at Penn State New Kensington, is also a practicing attorney in Western Pennsylvania. In addition to her Juris Doctorate, Jodi holds a Masters in Criminal Justice allowing her to blend current legal topics and practices with criminal justice theory in the classroom.
Jodi sits on the board of directors of two significant criminal justice organizations in the region - Renewal, Inc. which is the largest community corrections provider in Western Pennsylvania, and Foundation of Hope, Inc. which is a faith based nonprofit organization focusing on successful reentry, diversion programs, and decreasing recidivism. Presently, she is researching comparative correctional systems with an emphasis on race, culture, and restorative justice.
Dr. Mari B. Pierce
Associate Professor and Consortium Coordinator
Penn State Beaver
Phone: 724-773-3549
E-mail: [email protected]
Mari Pierce is an Associate Professor in the Criminal Justice department at Penn State Beaver. She joined the Department in 2010. Dr. Pierce received her Ph.D. in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, her Master of Criminal Justice from New Mexico State University and her B.A. in Sociology from Whitman College.
Her primary research areas are: disparities in punishment decisions, criminological theory, sex offender registration policies and judicial responses to crimes against children.
Dr. Pierce currently teaches CrimJ220 Courts and the Prosecution Process; CrimJ221 Issues in the American Criminal Justice System; CrimJ230 Corrections in America and CrimJ451 Race, Crime and Justice at the Beaver campus. In addition, Dr. Pierce offers distance video learning, 400-level courses, to students at the Penn State University Shenango and New Kensington campuses.