DEPARTMENT CHAIR: William E. Thornton, Ph.D., Office: 559 Monroe Hall
PROFESSORS: Dee W. Harper, William E. Thornton
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR: Wendy L. Hicks
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: Bethany L. Brown, David N. Khey, Patrick D. Walsh, Vincenzo A. Sainato, Rae Taylor, Brenda Vollman
EMERITUS PROFESSOR: Dee Wood Harper
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT: David M. Aplin Office: 122 Stallings Hall
WEB PAGE: www.css.loyno.edu/criminaljustice/
The mission of the criminal justice program at Loyola University New Orleans is to prepare individuals, through a state-of-the-art curriculum, to assume positions in the public or private justice system and/or to pursue advanced educational/professional specialties. In all of its endeavors, the criminal justice program seeks to develop in students the ability to critically analyze complex issues and master bodies of knowledge, yet seek truth, wisdom, and social responsibility in the Ignatian tradition.
Criminal justice and private/corporate security are among the fastest growing fields in the new millennium. An advanced degree is fast becoming a necessity for most careers in criminal justice, both in the public and private sectors. The Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration (MSCJA) and Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) program are offered in response to the growing need for professionally trained public and private criminal justice administrators, planners, and researchers as well as professionals in the field of private/corporate security.
Students will receive theoretical and methodological training in criminal justice and private/corporate security along with applied studies in areas such as organizational management, budgeting and resource allocation, strategic planning, program evaluation, public relations, human resource management, and computer information systems. The graduate curriculum takes the student well beyond the content and instruction of their undergraduate education and fosters independent learning and application of knowledge enabling the individual to contribute to the profession. The emphasis on values and ethics and a solid liberal arts grounding, along with a strong criminal justice curriculum including theoretical as well as applied courses, has distinguished the Loyola program.
The Department of Criminal Justice offers two graduate programs:
Prospective students must submit ALL required documentation before they can be considered for admission into the MCJ program. Students are admitted into the MCJ program based on a thorough review of all materials provided to the Department of Criminal Justice. Admission to the program requires:
In addition to meeting the above requirements, all international applicants:
The Department of Criminal Justice Admission Committee reviews all applications and makes admissions decisions. Applicants are notified of the decision by letter. Two types of admission can be recommended:
Students who have earned graduate academic credit at an accredited university or college may be allowed to transfer a maximum of six credit hours. In all cases, coursework will be evaluated for equivalence to MCJ program requirements; therefore, students must provide course syllabi and other supporting materials to assist faculty in the evaluation process.
For a complete Transfer of Academic Credit policy, please view - http://2011bulletin.loyno.edu/graduate/graduate-academic-regulations#transfer_of_credit
In order to remain in good standing and progress through the MCJ program, a student must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher. A student whose cumulative grade point average falls below 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. A student on academic probation has one semester (fall, spring, or summer semester) to remove the academic deficiency. If the deficiency is not removed in the allotted time, the student may not be eligible to continue in the MCJ program. The final decision to allow a probationary student to remain in the program will be made by the department chairperson.
The MCJ program is a cohort model meaning the student moves through the curriculum taking a prescribed set of courses each semester. If, for some reason, the student cannot adhere to the set schedule, graduation in the 16-month period may not be possible. The department will make every effort to accommodate the student by modifying his/her progression plan.
Students are required to complete the MCJ program within 5 years of enrolling in coursework.
By submitting the application to graduate, students are also declaring their candidacy in the Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) program. As part of the requirements for graduation, they are required to pass the comprehensive examination for the program. Students will not be allowed to sit for or complete the comprehensive exam until they have received satisfactory grades in all of their previous coursework.
MCJ students must apply for candidacy after completion of 18 credit hours with an overall 3.0 average in the program.
Criminal Justice Graduate Courses: The Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) is a 30-credit-hour program. This program is designed to be flexible both with regard to course delivery as well as completion time.
The MSCJA degree, outlined below, is a creative and thoughtful program that builds-on the best that Loyola University New Orleans can offer to the professional practitioner community. Our program is guided by several goals:
The MSCJA curriculum is broadly divided into two distinct areas, “Core” courses and “Specialization” courses. The core courses are designed to provide solid empirical, theoretical, conceptual, and practical foundations relevant to MSCJA students. Critical aspects of the courses are consistent with “standard” curriculum offerings at the master’s level in the social sciences; moreover, we have ‘shaped’ and chosen the courses to also appeal and be relevant for our students who are practitioners. Our core courses are chosen in light of all of these considerations in addition to key characteristics of the Jesuit tradition, which have been noted above. Each student must successfully complete the “core” courses in order to move-on to the specialization part of the curriculum.
The Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration (MSCJA) offers two specializations: Justice Administration and Forensic Administration.
Each student will complete the core curriculum in a pre-specified order, listed below. This order has been purposely chosen to balance the more complex and technically challenging classes with those that provide comprehensive coverage and foundational content material of the fields of public and private justice administration. The MSCJA builds both breadth of knowledge and technical sophistication that prepares students for leadership positions in planning and administration.
Degree Requirements |
|
| Semester 1 • MSCJ 702 Media Relations • MSCJ 701 Crime and Organizational Theory into Practice |
6 hrs. |
|
Semester 2 • MSCJ 704 Assessing Organizational Performance |
6 hrs. |
| Semester 3 • MSCJ 705 Applied Data Analysis and Decision Making • MSCJ 706 Ethics |
6 hrs. |
| Semester 4 • Specialization Anchor • Advanced Analytics Course |
6 hrs. |
| Semester 5 • Specialization Course/Elective • Specialization Course/Elective |
6 hrs. |
| Semester 6 • Specialization Course/Elective • Specialization Course/Elective |
6 hrs. |
| Post-Semester 6 MCJSA Exam |
|
| TOTAL | 36 hrs. |
Admission into the MSCJA program is competitive. Students are admitted into the MSCJA program based on a review of all materials provided to the MSCJA faculty during the application process. Students may be admitted unconditionally or provisionally.
As a condition of the application process, all applicants must provide the following:
Faculty of the MSCJA review all applications and makes admission decisions. Applicants are notified of the faculty’s decision by letter. The faculty can recommend two types of admission:
Unconditional Admission: Applicants are admitted unconditionally when they have submitted all required materials and met admission standards. Since admission into the MSCJA program is competitive, the faculty reserves the right to determine which applicants are the best matches for Loyola’s MSCJA program.
Provisional Admission: If an applicant appears to meet admission standards but is unable to provide one or more documents required for admission by the time admission decisions are made, provisional admission may be granted. A provisionally admitted student has until the beginning of the first academic term to provide the required materials to the MSCJA program. The MSCJA program reserves the right to deny any provisionally admitted student the right to enroll in courses if needed documentation has not been provided by the beginning of the first academic term.
Students who have earned academic credit at another accredited college or university (including Loyola University New Orleans) may be allowed to transfer a maximum of six credit hours with a minimum grade of “B” and with the approval of the departmental chair and/or the dean of the college. Each degree program has certain restrictions concerning acceptance of courses completed at other institutions. Transfer of credits earned more than five years prior to enrollment will not ordinarily be considered.
Transfer students will be informed of the amount of credit which will transfer prior to their enrollment, if possible, but at the latest prior to the end of their first academic term in which they are enrolled.
Students who transfer from a Loyola University New Orleans master’s degree into a different Loyola degree may be allowed to transfer a maximum of nine credit hours with a minimum grade of “B” and with the approval of the departmental chair and/or the dean of the college. Each degree program has certain restrictions concerning acceptance of courses completed at other institutions. Transfer of credits earned more than five years prior to enrollment will not ordinarily be considered.
Transfer students will be informed of the amount of credit which will transfer prior to their enrollment, if possible, but at the latest prior to the end of their first academic term in which they are enrolled.
In additional to conventional course-based assessment and grading, student learning is assessed though a qualifying examination. The qualifying examination is independently graded through a blind assessment process. The MSCJA Qualifying Examination is expected to be taken at the conclusion of the final quarter of course work. The material tested on the Qualifying Examination is taken from the Core and the Specialization Anchor courses. All students will simultaneously be provided access to the questions for the exam and will then be given 10 days to upload the responses to the Examination questions.