Daniel Lee
Daniel Lee, professor in Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has been selected by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for the 2026 Outstanding Mentors Award.
The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences is an international association established in 1963 to foster professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice. Its mission is to promote criminal justice education, research, and policy analysis within the discipline of criminal justice for scholars who are international in scope and multidisciplinary in orientation, professionals from all sectors of the criminal justice system, and students seeking to explore the criminal justice field as future scholars or practitioners.
Lee will receive the award during the organization’s annual conference in March in Philadelphia.
He joins IUP Criminology and Criminal Justice faculty members Bitna Kim, Shannon Phaneuf, Distinguished University Professor Alida Merlo, professor emerita Rosemary Gido, and 1996 criminology doctoral graduate and IUP Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Shaun Gabiddon, as a recipient of the award.
“Faculty at IUP care deeply about student success,” IUP Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs Curt Scheib said. “Not only are our faculty committed teachers and scholars, but they also continue to go the extra mile as mentors. Congratulations to Dr. Lee and to the entire Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. This is a very well-deserved honor and reflects the commitment to student-centeredness at IUP.”
“This award is extremely gratifying, and I am very honored, but this is not just about me as a faculty member,” Lee said. “It reflects a demonstrated university-wide commitment to engaging students and providing them with the opportunities to grow,” he said.
“IUP has a well-deserved reputation for meeting students where they are while helping them to achieve goals that they may never have thought possible,” he said. “I hope to mentor students in ways that I have been mentored, following the lead of my colleagues throughout the university, including the past recipients of this award,” he said.
“For example, Dr. Phaneuf and I are working with three master’s level students on a statutory analysis project related to image-based sexual abuses (distribution or creation of explicit and intimate images without consent). Our hope is to encourage our students to develop their own research agendas and gain experience with disseminating research findings that can inform policy decisions,” he said.
“Our department is also very fortunate to have alumni who actively remain connected to IUP, so that allows us to connect our students with alumni working in the profession to ensure that students have multiple opportunities to develop their own career pathways,” he said.
Lee joined the IUP faculty in 2001. A former chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and coordinator of the master of arts program, he has been a committee member to more than 30 dissertation or thesis research projects, including chairing 17 projects. He currently serves as director of the IUP Center for Research in Criminology.
His research has covered topics related to criminal justice policy, program evaluation, and criminological theory, and these projects frequently include junior faculty members or students as coauthors to publications or copresenters at national conferences. Many of his research partnerships with students have continued for decades after their graduation.
Author or coauthor of many publications and peer-reviewed journal articles, he won the Distinguished Paper Award at the Second Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security in 2007 and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society for Teaching Excellence.
In addition to this recent award, he was selected as the Outstanding Researcher for the IUP College of Health and Human Services and the School of Graduate Studies and Research in 2021 and as Outstanding Researcher for the IUP College of Health and Human Services and the School of Graduate Studies and Research in 2009, as a corecipient with retired criminology faculty member Dennis Giever.
In addition to his service on many university committees and task forces, he is active in service to his profession and in the Indiana community.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking toward a future of innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.