Jenifer Lee-Gonyea PhD

Dr. Jenifer Lee-Gonyea is currently the Assistant Vice President for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at Mount Saint Mary College. Prior to this position, she was the founding faculty member of the Criminology program. Her research has focused on the teaching and use of restorative justice, and more recent interests have centered on the availability of restorative justice to racial and ethnic minorities and women, the applicability of restorative justice in addressing serious harms, and the connection between DEI and restorative justice. Her research has been published in Deviant Behavior; International Journal of Crime, Criminal Justice, and Law; and the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. She co-authored a chapter on the social and family influences on violent crime in Violent Crime: Clinical and Social Implications (Sage Publications, 2009). She has contributed to an encyclopedia of restorative justice in New York State (expected publication 2023). Beginning in fall of 2022, Dr. Lee-Gonyea will serve as the Vice President for the Justice Studies Association. Dr. Lee-Gonyea earned her doctorate in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania focusing on hate crimes for her dissertation and previously worked for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.