John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

   

January 5, 2011, New York, NY – Leonid Lantsman, a third-year student in the John Jay College/CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral Program in Criminal Justice, has been awarded a prestigious Franklin Fellowship from the U.S. State Department. His research will focus on a comparative study of how criminal networks utilize seaports for their own illicit purposes.

“The fellowship is an extraordinary opportunity and will enable me to make a greater contribution to the wider criminological and public policy fields by widening my research to international seaports outside of the U.S.,” said Lantsman. “Without the efforts of my colleagues and professors at John Jay I wouldn't have had the opportunity to vie for the Franklin Fellowship, so I'm pleased to have chosen this program and to be working with so many accomplished colleagues.”

“This is a tremendous accomplishment that reflects the unique research project that Lenny has conceptualized. As the State Department recognized, it has important real world policy implications. These attributes reflect what our PhD Program strives for: To train our students to conduct the most rigorous scientific research studies that benefit scholars, policy makers and practitioners,” said Professor Joshua Freilich, Executive Officer of Doctoral Studies in Criminal Justice at John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Before studying at John Jay, Lantsman earned a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and studied at the School for Oriental and African Studies in London. After completing his undergraduate work, he worked as a journalist in Nigeria and also moonlighted as an antiques dealer and social science researcher.

The Franklin Fellows Program is a unique and innovative executive development vehicle via which the government taps citizens’ knowledge and which enables approved organizations to promote public service by their professionals. Mid-career and more senior Franklin Fellows, both sponsored and self-nominated, work on global issues of vital importance to the United States, such as the environment; counterterrorism; human rights; consular matters; international development assistance; HIV/AIDS and other trans-national diseases; trade, energy and financial policy; and many others. For more  information, visit http://careers.state.gov/ff

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice:  An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.