Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has appointed LiYing Li, chair and professor of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State College, to serve on the Denver Community Corrections Board.

Her appointment came on the recommendation of Thomas O. Moore, director of the city's Division of Community Corrections.

Li earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Utah in 1994 and her master's degree in demography from the University of California-Berkeley in 1986.

The 21-member Community Corrections Board meets monthly to decide whether prisoners will be allowed to enter any of the city's community corrections programs, such as halfway houses. The board reviews 70 cases a month.