Henry N. Pontell – UCI School of Social Ecology

Recall-Faculty and Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Law and Society
Ph.D. Stony Brook University
(949) 824-5575
pontell@uci.edu
Social Ecology II

Department:
Criminology, Law and Society

Specializations:
white-collar and corporate crime, criminology, criminal justice, deviance, comparative criminology, and sociology of law

Henry N. Pontell is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Criminology, Law and Society and Sociology at UCI, and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The CUNY Graduate Center of The City University of New York. He’s been Chair of Sociology at John Jay, and of Criminology, Law and Society at UCI, where he’s also served as Director of Graduate Studies in Social Ecology, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Faculty Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Research. He’s held visiting appointments at the Australian National University, the University of Virginia, the University of Melbourne, the University of Macau, Macau University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong, and Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

He conceived and led the development of the Master of Advanced Study (MAS) Program in Criminology, Law and Society, which in 2003 became the first online degree program at the University of California. The MAS was rated #1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its first ranking of online criminal justice graduate programs in January 2015, shortly after he retired as Director, and maintains that ranking today. The MAS was also rated #1 in the Top 50 Best Value Online Graduate Criminal Justice Programs of 2016.

His research and teaching interests include deviance and social control, white-collar and corporate crime, punishment and criminal justice system capacity issues, financial and health care fraud, identity theft, comparative criminology, and cyber crime. He has lectured at universities and government offices throughout the world, testified before the U.S. Senate on financial fraud, given invited presentations to The National Academies and the U.S. Department of Justice, and worked with numerous organizations and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. His research on white-collar crime has been highlighted in the national and international media.

Professor Pontell has helped raise over $1 million for both undergraduate and graduate student scholarships at UCI, and has created fellowships at both UCI and John Jay, including the Roger H. Davis Memorial Scholarship, the first endowed award at John Jay that recognizes significant activism or research around issues of importance to LGBTQ+ social movement organizing. He’s mentored numerous students and junior colleagues who have successfully pursued careers in both the U.S. and internationally, including among others: UC, Irvine, Waseda University, National Taiwan University, City University of Hong Kong, University of Macau, Texas Christian University, University of Alabama, Southern Utah University, Indiana University, University of Houston, Temple University, University of Texas, Pennsylvania State University, UC, Riverside, California State Universities at Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Dominguez Hills, and Sonoma, City University of New York, University of Florida, University of Missouri, University of Minnesota, and University of Nevada.

Among other awards and honors, Dr. Pontell has received the Albert J. Reiss, Jr. Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association, the Donald R. Cressey Award from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Paul Tappan and Joseph T. Lohman Awards from the Western Society of Criminology, the Herbert Bloch Award from the American Society of Criminology, the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Gil Geis Lifetime Achievement, and the President’s Awards from the National White Collar Crime Center, the Cecil and Ida Green Honors Chair at Texas Christian University, and the Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. Distinguished University Service Award at UC, Irvine. He is an Honorary Fellow in the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong.

His books include International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime (Springer), Financial Crime and Crises in the Era of False Profits (Oxford University Press), Social Deviance (McGraw Hill), Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America (Pearson), Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis (University of California Press), A Capacity to Punish: The Ecology of Crime and Punishment (Indiana University Press), Contemporary Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honor of Gilbert Geis (Pearson), Prescription for Profit: How Doctors Defraud Medicaid (University of California Press), and Wayward Dragon: White-Collar and Corporate Crime in China (Springer).

Dr. Pontell is past Vice-President of the American Society of Criminology and President of the Western Society of Criminology, and is a Fellow of both organizations. He is a past President of the White-Collar Crime Research Consortium of the National White-Collar Crime Center, now the Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime of the American Society of Criminology. He is Editor of the Oxford University Press book series, Keynotes in Criminology and Criminal Justice and is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology & Criminal Justice.

Web Links

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-sam-bankman-fried-ran-ftx-but-his-deputies-are-liable-too-11671727917?page=1

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/henry-n-pontell

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/corporate-fraud-demands-crimin…

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/criminal-justice?int=a8…

http://news.uci.edu/briefs/online-masters-degree-program-in-criminology-…

http://communications.uci.edu/magazine/2014/winter/2014winter.pdf

http://youtu.be/rXBTN88ske4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3znE7OeqB4&feature=youtu.be

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/05/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130106

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/01/31/the-10-absolute-cooles…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/jobs-act_b_1366565.html