Dean Lawrence Johnson appoints J.C. Barnes as director of School of Criminal Justice

University of Cincinnati’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) is proud to announce the appointment of J.C. Barnes as the director of the School of Criminal Justice.

Dr. Barnes is a renowned criminologist and authority on criminal justice who has published widely in a variety of criminological and criminal justice-related fields. Barnes, who has been serving as the interim director, recently signed a contract for a five-year term as director. His colleagues have grown to admire his honesty and dedication toward serving the UC student body. CECH is confident that Barnes will continue to provide outstanding leadership. 

I have grown to admire his integrity, commitment to others, and drive to do the right thing. I look forward to working with him in his role as school director.

Lawrence Johnson Dean of the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services

With a doctoral degree from Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Barnes has published 4 books and over 170 chapters and referred articles—with a focus on offender decision-making and the interaction of offending behaviors. Due to his work receiving extensive recognition from his peers, Barnes was recently awarded the Outstanding Educator award from the Southern Criminal Justice Association in 2021. In 2017, he was listed among the top 5 most productive and most cited criminologists in an article in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

I am proud to lead this amazing school. Our tradition is one of excellence in the field. We will keep that tradition alive, and we’re going to have fun. This next phase of the school’s development will be exciting.

J.C. Barnes

About CECH’s School of Criminal Justice: The School of Criminal Justice offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and is a premier urban research school located in the heart of UC’s Uptown Campus. It serves more than 800 undergraduate students, making it one of the most popular majors at University of Cincinnati. For more information about this appointment, please email The School of Criminal Justice.  

Featured image designed by Greg Humbert.

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