Dear NJCU Community,
I am happy to announce that Dr. Esther Nir, Professor of Criminal Justice, has been appointed as our new Interim Dean of the College of Professional Studies.
We are thrilled that Dr. Nir has agreed to serve in this vital role. Our College of Professional Studies provides many opportunities for our students to prepare for careers in the service sectors, including in nursing, criminal justice, professional security studies, fire science, health and exercise science.
As such, the College has long exemplified our institutional motto, ‘Enter to learn. Exit to serve.’ Dr. Nir leads by example with her outstanding service to this institution and this community.
Since joining the NJCU community in 2016, Dr. Nir has served the university in various roles. While working as a faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice, she founded the NJCU Mock Trial Team and has guided the team as its coach since 2017.
Dr. Nir is actively involved in Community Engaged Learning (CEL) initiatives on campus and partners with members of the Hudson County judiciary to run an interactive CEL Court Program for Honors Program and Criminal Justice students.
Esther has served on various committees on campus, including the Community Engaged Learning Committee, the CPS Curriculum Committee, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and the Honors Program Committee, among others. In 2022, she was appointed to the position of Director of the NJCU Honors Program.
Esther received her Juris Doctor from Fordham Law School and her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. She served as a prosecutor in Queens County, New York for 13 years, where she prosecuted felony cases from inception to disposition and litigated on the trial and appellate levels.
Dr. Nir’s research interests include sentencing disparities, police misconduct, and community engaged learning initiatives. She specializes in qualitative research methods and interviews judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys in connection to her research efforts. Her research can be found in numerous criminal justice, research methodology, and teaching journals.
