Tara Kane

Ms. Tara Kane is an Associate Dean in the School of Business at Madonna University and serves as the Program Director of the Masters in Criminal Justice Leadership and Intelligence.  Prior to this appointment, she served as the Interim Dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences after chairing the Criminal Justice Program from 2013-2019.  She joined the full-time faculty at Madonna University in 2013 coming from the West Bloomfield Police Department where she retired as a Detective/Sergeant of Investigations.  She completed her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Administration from Eastern Michigan University in February 2020 and is an alumnus of Madonna University, earning her M.S.B.A  in 2008 and her B.S. in 2002.

She teaches in the area of organizational leadership, criminology and special topics, with subject matter concentration on vulnerable populations and sexual assault. Her scholarship interests include the suspected abuse and neglect of children, domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.  She is a trainer for the State of Michigan and is actively involved in providing professional development for law enforcement professionals on the signs of interpersonal violence and best practices for victim-centered investigations.  She is engaged in Title IX initiatives related to sexual assault on college campuses and serves as a faculty leader for Madonna's chapter of Pi Gamma Mu-an international honor society for the Social Sciences.  

Victor Lauria

Victor Lauria is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department. He joined the full time faculty of Madonna University in 2015. Prior to joining Madonna, he served as an Assistant Chief of Police with the City of Novi. During his 28-year law enforcement career, Victor served in a wide variety of positions. He worked as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, a K-9 handler, and detective, as well as numerous supervisory positions. His work has been recognized by the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association, National Retail Federation and the Michigan Association of Private Investigators. The National Geographic Channel profiled one of Victor's cases in the documentary film "The Science of Interrogation."

 His favorite subjects to teach are interview and interrogation, and ethics.

 In his free time, Victor enjoys spending time with his wife, Sherie, and their three children as well as hunting and fishing.

Jessica Zarate

Ms. Jessica Zarate, MS is currently an assistant professor in the FEPAC accredited undergraduate Forensic Science Program at Madonna University teaching forensic science coursework including impression and pattern evidence. She was a Michigan certified police officer for eight years and is the inventor of the Zar-Pro™ Fluorescent Blood Lifters (US Patent 8,025,852 B2).

She has worked in impression analysis, for over 9 years, including during her time as a Police Officer with the Northville City Police Department when she collaborated with Michigan State Police Northville Forensic Science Laboratory, Latent Print Unit with research and development in the area of impression enhancement.

Her research work is focused within the impression evidence discipline, publishing on a fluorogenic method for lifting, enhancing, and preserving bloody impression evidence, recovering bloody impressions from difficult substrates, including from human skin, and defining methods to create consistent and reproducible fingerprint impressions deposited in biological fluids on a variety of substrates.