For immediate release: September 27, 2002.
For more information, contact Jeff Bendix at 216-368-6070 or jxb34@po.cwru.edu.

CLEVELAND—Mark Fleisher has been appointed the first director of the Begun Center on Violence Prevention, Research and Education at CWRU's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

In addition, Fleisher has been appointed the Dr. Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor at the Mandel School.

"We are extremely pleased to have someone of Mark's stature in the field of violence research and prevention to direct the Begun Center and hold the Begun chair," said Grover C. Gilmore, Mandel School dean. "Under his leadership, and in partnership with local and national leaders in the study of violence prevention, we are committed to making the Begun Center the leader in research and education on violence prevention."

Fleisher had been a professor of criminal justice sciences at Illinois State University since 1999. He joined the Illinois State faculty in 1993 as an associate professor. Prior to that he had been an associate professor of anthropology at Washington State University. From 1977-78 he was an assistant professor of anthropology at Columbia University. He recently completed a major field research project on women and gangs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the U.S. Department of Justice.

In addition to his academic experience, Fleisher has held positions in several correctional facilities. From 1992-93 he was a correctional programs specialist in the North Central Regional office of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Earlier he had been a special assistant to the regional directors in the Western and North Central regional offices.

Fleisher is the author of four books dealing with the impacts of crime and violence, including Beggars and Thieves and Dead End Kids, which Choice magazine named, respectively, as its 1995 and 1999 Outstanding Academic Book. He also has authored or edited numerous professional journal articles and book chapters.

Fleisher holds a bachelor's degree from Harpur College, State University of New York at Binghamton, and a doctorate in anthropology from Washington State. He is a member of the American Society of Criminology and the International Sunbelt Social Network Association.

The Begun Center was founded with a gift from Dr. Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun, scientists who emigrated to the United States from Germany in the early 1930s. Its goals are to form interdisciplinary academic partnerships to research and analyze the causes and effects of violent behavior, create a system for identifying populations at risk for violent behavior, creating networks among parents, educators and community groups to intervene in the cycle of violence and build on existing interventions and curricula that address social problems associated with youth violence.

–CWRU–

 

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