Legal Studies and Pre-Law Faculty
Legal Studies Faculty
John J. LoCurto, J.D.
Director of Legal Studies and Pre-Law Advisor
locurto@etown.edu | 717-361-1139
John J. LoCurto, J.D., practiced law for 20 years, devoting most of his career to public service at the United States Department of Justice. He first served as a Trial Attorney in Washington, D.C., and later as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio, Texas. As an AUSA, John’s practice focused on health care fraud, whistleblower cases and controlled substances investigations. He rose through the ranks at the United States Attorney’s Office to become Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. In this role, he managed the District’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement, Civil Health Care Fraud, Civil Drug Diversion and Parallel Proceedings programs.
John began his career in higher education in 2018. He is an interdisciplinary educator who teaches legal writing as well as public health law, policy and ethics. His scholarship focuses on health care fraud, waste, and abuse; public health policy; and bioethics.
He earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from the College of William & Mary.
Rick Jones, J.D.
Adjunct Professor, Legal Studies
jonesrk@etown.edu | 717-361-6419
- J.D., Dickinson School of Law
- Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, East Stroudsburg University
John Abel, J.D.
Adjunct Professor, Legal Studies and Pre-Law
abelj@etown.edu
John Abel practiced law for nearly 40 years, in both the public and private sectors. Most of his career was spent with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office in the Consumer Protection Section where he served as the Director from 2024 to 2026. He has argued cases in federal court as well as state courts including the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and Supreme Court. John also serves as Adjunct Faculty in the College’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies teaching Business Law and other courses. John is also on the faculty of the National Association of Attorneys General, where he has taught classes on Legal Ethics.
John graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Political Science Magna Cum Laude. He graduated from the Dickinson School of Law with a Jurist Doctorate degree Cum Laude.
Chris Miller
Adjunct Professor, Legal Studies and Pre-Law
millerc@etown.edu
Additional Pre-Law Affiliated Legal Studies Faculty
Kadee L. Crandall, Ph.D.
Director of the Criminal Justice Program
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
crandallk@etown.edu | 717-361-3675 | Nicarry Hall 239
- B.A., Criminal Justice, Penn State Harrisburg
- M.A., Criminal Justice, Penn State Harrisburg
- Ph.D. (2016), Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University
Dr. Kadee L. Crandall joined Elizabethtown College in 2023 with a wealth of experience and expertise in criminal justice and experiential learning. Previously, she held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University from 2016 to 2021, where her research explored various dimensions of law enforcement, including the challenges faced by female police officers and families of officers. Her work also delved into experiential learning opportunities, neighborhood revitalization, and the legal needs of crime victims, resulting in publications in peer-reviewed criminal justice journals.
Dr. Crandall's dynamic approach to cultivating partnerships with community organizations and government agencies has played a pivotal role in crafting invaluable learning experiences for students. Her unwavering commitment to student-centered education and community-oriented instruction significantly enhances the criminal justice program.
As the director of Criminal Justice, Dr. Crandall aims to elevate the program's forward-thinking philosophy. By offering quality courses, hands-on faculty mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities, she aims to prepare students for both their future careers and academic pursuits in the criminal justice field. Dr. Crandall's expertise spans policing, courts, corrections, and victim services, ensuring that students gain a comprehensive understanding of the criminal justice system.
Nathan Gibson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Political Science
gibsonn@etown.edu | 717-361-1252
Dr. Nathan Gibson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. He received a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Vanderbilt University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. His research focuses on how managerial and political factors affect policymaking in the executive and legislative branches. Dr. Gibson teaches courses on American government, the presidency, Congress, public policy, and public administration.
Before to coming to Elizabethtown, Dr. Gibson served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, drafting his book manuscript, The Policies Presidents Make: When and Why Presidents Centralize Executive Branch Policymaking. Prior to this fellowship, Dr. Gibson spent a semester as a Postgraduate Research Associate and Lecturer at Princeton University.
Dr. Gibson’s research has been published in Congress & The Presidency, The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations, and the Social Science Research Council’s volume, Can America Govern Itself? His dissertation, Presidential Use of Centralization and Politicization, won the American Political Science Association’s 2022 George C. Edwards III Dissertation Award in executive politics for its examination of how presidents use White House staff and political appointees to manage policymaking in the executive branch.
E. Fletcher McClellan, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science Emeritus
mcclelef@etown.edu | 717-361-1304 | Faculty Website
Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan is Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Elizabethtown College. A member of the Elizabethtown faculty for over 40 years, he served in many leadership roles at the College, including Dean of Faculty, Interim Provost, and department chair. He was a lecturer in political studies at the Queens University Bader College in East Sussex, England, and an American studies lecturer at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Liaoning Province, China. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Dr. McClellan teaches the senior capstone in political science and legal studies, as well as previously teaching courses in American government, the presidency and presidential elections, public policy, and public administration. He has presented dozens of papers at professional conferences in such areas as the American presidency, politics and popular culture, and teaching and learning in political science. His research has been published in such sites as the Journal of Political Science Education and PS: Political Science and Politics, and featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Conversation. Undergraduate students and alumni co-author some of his articles and columns, and many students he has mentored have presented their research at professional conferences. He is the recipient of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2018 Craig L. Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Mentorship, presented by the Political Science Education Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). In 2020, Elizabethtown College awarded him the Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence.
In addition, Dr. McClellan is actively involved with the Political Science Education section of APSA. He was a member of the APSA Presidential Task Force on Rethinking Political Science Education, co-chairing efforts to reform the undergraduate political science major. The final report of the Task Force, released March 2024, is found here: APSA Presidential Task Force on Rethinking Political Science Education – APSA (apsanet.org). A regular contributor to LNP/LancasterOnline, he offers commentary on current politics for area media outlets, including WITF-FM and the Pennsylvania Cable Network. In 2022, City & State Pennsylvania named him one of the “50 Over 50” most influential difference-makers in the state.
Sean Melvin, J.D.
Associate Professor of Business Law
Pre-Law Advising Committee
melvins@etown.edu | 717-361-1280
- B.A., American Literature, St. Thomas University, 1987
- MBA, Pennsylvania State University, 2000
- J.D., Honors, Rutgers Law School, 1993
Sean P. Melvin is an Associate Professor of Business Law and has taught at Etown since 2000. Dr. Melvin is the author of five books (including two textbooks), has contributed over two dozen scholarly and professional articles and case studies to various publications, and is a member of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. His most recent textbook, The Legal Environment of Business: A Managerial Approach as published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin in October 2010 and is in use at over one hundred colleges and universities. His recent article Case Study of a Coffee War: Starbuck v. Charbucks won “Best Case Study” and “Distinguished Proceedings” at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and was published in the Spring 2012 volume of Journal of Legal Studies Education. Before his academic career, Professor Melvin was a corporate lawyer in a large Philadelphia-based law firm and went on to become vice-president and general counsel at a publicly-traded technology company in King of Prussia, PA. Melvin earned his Juris Doctorate from Rutgers Law School where he was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award in Business Organizations.
Michael David Silberstein, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Science, Society, and Technology in the School of Engineering and Computer Science
Director and Advisor of the Cognitive Science Minor
Core Faculty Member in the Neuroscience Program
silbermd@etown.edu | 717-361-1253 | View CV | Website
Professor Michael Silberstein is Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Science, Society, and Technology in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, Director of the Cognitive Science Program, and Core Faculty Member in the Neuroscience Program at Elizabethtown College. His primary research interests are foundations of physics, foundations of cognitive science, consciousness studies, and in how these branches of philosophy and science bear on more general questions of reduction, emergence, and explanation. He has published numerous articles in philosophical and scientific journals and books on all these subjects. His most recent books are Beyond the Dynamical Universe: Unifying Block Universe Physics and Time as Experienced (OUP, 2018), Emergence in Context: A treatise in 21st Century Natural Philosophy (OUP, 2022), and Einstein’s Entanglement Bell Inequalities, Relativity, and the Qubit (OUP, 2024).
Ashley D. Yinger, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Criminal Justice
yinger@etown.edu | 717-361-1312 | Nicarry Hall 245
- B.S., Criminal Justice, Shippensburg University
- M.S., Criminal Justice, Kaplan University
- Ph.D. (2020), Criminal Justice, Walden University
Dr. Ashley D. Yinger joined Elizabethtown College in 2025, bringing extensive expertise in criminal justice and interdisciplinary collaboration. She previously served as an Assistant Teaching Professor of Criminology at Pennsylvania State University from 2018 to 2025 and concurrently worked as a consultant with the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.
Dr. Yinger has a strong background in behavioral health, reentry programming, and crisis intervention. She teaches a wide range of undergraduate courses in criminal justice and criminology, and has professional experience in program development, grant management, and fostering partnerships between mental health and justice systems.
Her research focuses on crisis intervention, co-responder models, human trafficking, and recidivism. She is also an active community board member dedicated to advancing justice reform and behavioral health initiatives.
