Patricia Erickson, J.D. Ph.D., Director
H. James Birx, PhD is an anthropologist who has written several books and published many articles in the area of human evolution, including Human Evolution, Interpreting Evolution, and Craniometry of the Orchid Site Ostuary. He teaches physical anthropology and cultural anthropology. He also teaches CRJ 333 Anthropology and Crime Science. He brings to this course his knowledge of biology, anthropology, and philosophy in order to understand and appreciate the value of forensic investigation. His interest in crime science spans the history of human culture. Dr. Birx was an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Geneseo and did his graduate work at the State University of New York at Buffalo. You may go to his homepage by clicking here. 
Patricia Christian, PhD is a sociologist whose teaching and research interests center around families, child care, and gender issues. She teaches two required courses for the sociology major, SOC111, Contemporary Social Problems, and SOC342, Research Methods. She also teaches various electives for the major, including SOC291, Gender and Society, SOC340, The City, and SOC390, Marriage and Family. She was an undergraduate major in anthropology at Wellesley College and did her graduate work in sociology at Brown University. As a Member of the Board of the Child Care Resource Network she helps in the operation of the local child care resource and referral agency. Her latest research project involves participant-observation at day care centers and interviews with parents of children in day care centers. 
Patricia E. Erickson, PhD is the chair of the Department of Sociololgy, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, and director of the Criminal Justice Program. She is a sociologist and an attorney. Dr. Erickson is especially interested in the areas of domestic violence and child abuse and neglect. She has practiced in Erie County Family Court representing parents as well as children. Dr. Erickson teaches several of the required courses for criminal justice majors including CRJ 337 Violence and the Family, CRJ 449 Criminal Law, CRJ 450 Criminal Procedure, CRJ 482 Criminal Justice Ethics, CRJ 227 Criminal Justice I, CRJ 228 Criminal Justice II, CRJ 254 Crime and Society, CRJ 343 Law and Society, and, as director of the Criminal Justice Program, oversees CRJ 498 and CRJ 499. Dr. Erickson taught inmates at the Attica Correctional Facility through the Consortium of the Niagara Frontier, a program partially sponsored by Canisius College. Dr. Erickson was an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Buffalo, did her graduate work in sociology at the University of Denver and received her law degree, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. To read more about her work, click here (Adobe Acrobat PDF). 
Peter Galie, PhD is a chair of the political science department and Director of the Raichle Pre-Law Center. He is the author of two monographs on the New York State Constitution and numerous articles on various aspects of state constitutional law. He is a recipient of the Canisius College Oishei Teaching Professorship and the Koessler Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Galie teaches two of the required courses for the criminal justice major: CRJ 227 Criminal Justice I and CRJ 228 Criminal Justice II. He was an undergraduate at Villanova University and did his graduate work at the University of Pittsburg. Dr. Galie is also the director of the Raichle Pre-Law Center at Canisius. His expertise is in the area of state constitutional law and New York constitutional law and history. He has published numerous articles and two books in these areas. The books are The New York State Constitution: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Press, 1991) and Ordered Liberty: A Constitutional History of New York (Fordham University Press, 1996). His homepage is located here.
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David Koteras recently completed a thirty-five career in law enforcement. He served as the Director of Training for the Erie County Sheriff’s Department in his final assignment. Other experiences in his career involved corrections, traffic enforcement, investigations, writing policy and procedure, and assisting in the creation and administration of law enforcement accreditation. He also is the past president of the Law Enforcement Training Directors Association of New York State. As an adjunct faculty member, Professor Koteras teaches several criminal justice courses including CRJ 351 Police and the Community, CRJ 354 Juvenile Delinquency, CRJ 356 Treatment of Offenders I, CRJ 357 Treatment of Offenders II, CRJ 357 Treatment of Offenders II, CRJ 344 Violent Crime in American Society, and CRJ 359 Women and Crime. In the future he will be teaching a course on Gangs in 
John Occhipinti, PhD is a political scientist who specializes in comparative and international criminal justice institutions. His dissertation's field research was conducted in Berlin in 1994-1995 on the institutional takeover of the East German "People's Police" (Volkspolizei) by West Germany in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg after German Unity in 1990. He is presently working on a book on the newly established European Police Office (Europol) of the European Union. Dr. Occhipinti teaches CRJ 352 Comparative Criminal Justice Institutions. Dr. Occhipinti was an undergraduate at Colgate University and did his graduate work at the University of Maryland, College Park. 
Harvey Pines, PhD is a social psychologist and chair of the Psychology Department. He is especially interested in the field of social cognition; i.e. how we think and how we make decisions about other people. He teaches several psychology courses including Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and CRJ 369 Forensic Psychology. In Forensic Psychology, his expertise is especially relevant to issues of eyewitness identification, memory for forensic-related events, predictions of agressiveness, and behavioral profiling. Dr. Pines also advises those students who are interested in a dual nijor in criminal justice and psychology with a minor in forensic psychology. Dr. Pines was an undergraduate at City College, City University of New York and did his graduate work at the City University of New York and the State University at New York at Buffalo. 
Neva Sanders, PhD, associate professor of psychology, is a clinical psychologist, specializing in child/adolescent treatment and adult behavioral medecine. For the Criminal Justice Program, she teaches CRJ 303 Abnormal Psychology and a number of courses for the Psychology Department. Dr. Sanders received her undergraduate studies and obtained her Ph.D in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University and worked as a post-doctoral child psychology fellow at the University of California, San Diego's inpatient psychiatric hospital for children.