Undergraduate

Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice program introduces students to the theory and practice of the United States criminal justice system. The goals of the program include:

• Providing a professional education combined with an integrated liberal arts curriculum that teaches critical thought, analytical reasoning and scholarly writing
• Preparing students who wish to pursue careers which include federal, state and municipal law enforcement, professional human services, including counseling, probation and parole, corrections and the legal profession
• Providing students the opportunity to develop intellectual skills that will enable them to pursue lifelong learning

Students pursuing the Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice must satisfy the University's general education requirement, 14 criminal justice courses (11 required, 3 electives), 8 required courses from other departments and a sufficient number of electives to total at least 120 credit hours. Students are encouraged to apply electives toward a minor or second major.

Degree Requirements

Elective Requirements

Two of the following:

Two courses from one of the following areas:
Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology

Two additional courses from the College of Arts and Sciences (Required skills courses, or their prerequisites, and other required support courses for the major, cannot be used to satisfy this requirement).

Criminal Justice 4 + 1 Program

This program allows exceptional undergraduate, Criminal Justice majors the opportunity to earn six graduate credits during their senior year and the remainder of the requirements for the Master of Science in Criminal Justice in a single, post-graduate year. This is an accelerated program for students who intend to study Criminal Justice full-time at the graduate level. Application to the program takes place in the student’s junior year. It is strongly recommended that students who are interested in this program speak with the graduate director of the master's program in their freshman or sophomore year to discuss admission requirements.

The Continuing Studies Program in Criminal Justice

Degree Requirements

Social Science Requirements
Two of the following:

Two courses from one of the following areas:
Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology

Three (3) additional courses from the College of Arts & Sciences

Core Curriculum
Expository Writing
Critical Writing for the Professions
Basic Statistics
Introduction to Speech Communications
Natural Science
Humanities
Fine Arts