Academic Senate

The Executive Committee

Lori Beth Way
EPPC Chair

Phone: 898-5737
Department: Political Science Department
E-mail: lway@csuchico.edu

Lori Beth Way joined the faculty of California State University, Chico in 1999. She is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program in the Department of Political Science. Dr. Way earned her PhD in Political Science and a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies from Syracuse University. Her research areas are primarily policing, the courts, and how race, class, and gender influence the administration of justice.

Dr. Way has been involved in a variety of grants and contracts. She’s contracted with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She’s also led efforts on campus to apply for a half million dollar grant to support the Collaborative Response to Violence Project (CRVP), which involves both Chico State and Butte College, five area law enforcement agencies, and area non-profits. Dr. Way is also an instructor at Butte College’s police academy and California’s Fish and Game academy.

Dr. Way’s published work includes research she conducted with colleagues on the effectiveness of city and police efforts to curb criminal activity on Halloween in Chico. With colleagues she’s also been working on tracking the historical changes in and significance of Supreme Court concurrences (separate opinions written by justices who are in the majority voting coalition). As a result of invited participation in a conference in Germany, she’s had a piece of her work on police discretion translated into German and recently published in an anthology. Dr. Way and peers at other CSU campuses are also eagerly awaiting the forthcoming publication of their Introduction to Criminal Justice textbook by McGraw-Hill.

Professor Way and colleague Dr. Matthew Thomas were instrumental in creating the new Criminal Justice degree in 2002. Dr. Way serves as the advisor to over 300 Criminal Justice majors. She also coordinates the Criminal Justice program, which includes facilitating cooperation among the many departments that contribute to the major’s curriculum, overseeing transfer agreements with community colleges, leading the program’s assessment and program review efforts, and fostering community and alumni relationships with the program. She has also served on the campus Conversations on Diversity Committee, the Advisory Board for the AS Women’s Center, the Executive Board of the Chico Cat Coalition, as a representative to statewide transfer meetings, and as Treasurer for the CSU, Chico Chapter of the California Faculty Association.