Faculty
The concepts of "social justice" and "criminal justice" are not confined to one specific academic discipline. As such, social and criminal justice at Coe College was designed as an interdisciplinary program spanning numerous departments and taught by faculty from sociology, philosophy and business administration. Students who choose this major will learn from professors who have studied the social and psychological sources of criminal behavior, as well as trained lawyers and ethicists.
Neal McNabb
Assistant Professor of
Social & Criminal Justice, Chair
B.A., 2001; M.A., 2002, University of Central Oklahoma
Ph.D., 2009, University of Oklahoma
Dr. McNabb's research interests include various issues related to law enforcement/policing and the phenomenon of wrongful convictions. He regularly teaches Introduction to Social & Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement & Corrections, Human Rights & Comparative Justice and Juvenile Delinquency and the Justice System. Dr. McNabb also teaches a course called Crime in Literature that explores how crime and the criminal justice system have been portrayed in popular literature and other media.
Lisa A. Barnett
Associate Professor of Sociology
B.S.J., Northwestern University
M.A., Ph.D., Washington State University
Dr. Barnett's primary interest is in the role that culture plays in establishing and perpetuating social inequality, and she has published work in this area. Her other areas of interest include deviance/social control, popular culture, stratification, social psychology, and the functions of education in society. In addition to various introductory level classes, she teaches the department's courses in research methods, deviant behavior, and small groups, as well as a variety of special “topics” courses such as medical sociology.
Joshua Christensen
Assistant Professor of Stead Department of Business Administration and Economics
B.A., Wartburg College
J.D., University of Iowa College of Law
Professor Christensen teaches Business Law I, Business Law II, Principles of Insurance, and other courses related to law and business. He is also a Pre-Law Advisor for students looking to attend law school after their time at Coe. Professor Christensen remains a practicing attorney in the state of Iowa with a primary practice area in insurance defense.
John Lemos
McCabe Professor of Philosophy
B.A., University of the South
Ph.D., Duke University
John Lemos teaches courses in logic, moral philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, early modern philosophy (Descartes to Kant), and contemporary analytic philosophy. His research interests lie in three main fields of inquiry: philosophy of biology, especially the philosophical implications of evolution; neo-Aristotelian ethics; and the metaphysics of freedom and responsibility. He has published articles in a variety of journals, such as Philosophy of the Social Sciences, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, and Philosophia. His book Commonsense Darwinism was published in 2008 by the Open Court Press. His second book, Freedom, Responsibility, and Determinism: A Philosophical Dialogue, was published by Hackett in 2013. His most recent book, A Pragmatic Approach to Libertarian Free Will, was published by Routledge Press in 2018.