Criminal Justice Studies - Program Theme
The research and core of the curriculum are required; students can choose to complete their fifteen specialization credits independently, or in the traditional classroom environment; students must complete either a thesis or a practicum. Some students prefer to learn in a teacher-centered program; others prefer to learn in a subject-centered program. Our goal is to develop students to want self-directed, life-long learning. For students to be professionally successful, it is critical that they be self-motivated, that they be self-directed, and that they be focused. We believed in self-directed learning in 1985 when we developed the graduate program; we believe today that to promote individual responsibility, students must develop a sense of independence; they must become self confident in talking control of their intellectual development. To do otherwise is enabling our students to be followers. We develop leaders.
Beginning in 1978, the St. Cloud State University’s Graduate Council, Faculty Senate, and administration recognized the value to produce graduate students who are self-reliant, life-long learners. The university community expressed their commitment to developing self-reliant graduates by providing a released-time arrangement as payment to support faculty who individually mentored graduate students in six-hundred-level independent study courses.
Because our commitment is to self-directed, life-long learning for our students, our department faculty members aspire to provide our students with:
- An exposure to the varied academic fields of study that support criminal justice;
- A course of study within the criminal-justice discipline that is based upon a broad scientific and social context;
- A program built upon a foundation of providing our students with the value of life-long learning;
- An exposure to a teaching methodology that focuses upon active participation of the student;
- An exposure of a wide range of skills in communication, data retrieval and analysis; and
- An exposure to the academic and personal skills that may lead to career enhancement.
We provide varied learning experiences to our students with the mission to produce graduates who will love learning, and who will continue to live an intellectual life within the context of both their personal and their professional endeavors. Attributes that we strive to produce in our students are:
- Making effective verbal and written presentations;
- Making use of appropriate information gathering and presentation methodologies including the World Wide Web, electronic information retrieval systems, word-processing, spreadsheet and traditional methods of accessing research;
- Analyzing individual learning needs and developing appropriate methodologies to meet those needs;
- Applying information to varied criminal-justice practical issues;
- Understanding how to balance varied viewpoints, and how to reach reasonable decisions;
- Developing the ability to work with, and to relate to, the various human personalities;
- Applying appropriate methodologies to a series of projects utilizing both primary and secondary sources;
- Developing self confidence, self criticism, and self reliance;
- Understanding how to study an issue, and how to determine the appropriate research approach;
- Accessing and evaluating statistical data; and
- Expressing the written and spoken word through a review of English grammar, mechanics, and presentation.
Various pedagogical practices are used to develop the independent, life-long learning philosophy that we want our students to cherish. This student-centered, life-long learning commitment is implanted in CJS 689, Advanced Graduate Seminar; is nurtured in CJS 660, Theories of Criminal Behavior and Justice, CJS 677 Framing and Analyzing Research Problems, and CJS 679, Research in Criminal Justice; is fully expressed in CJS 650 Readings, and CJS 681 Special Problems. The acquisition of research skills is a critical component of the Master Degree program. We want our students to be self-reliant independent researchers; we want our students, in an incremental fashion, to demonstrate this research independence. Twelve credits of CJS 650 Readings and CJS 681 Special Problems were added for students who were progressing well toward their goal of becoming self-reliant, life-long learners. Our criminal justice graduates average six credits of CSJ 650 and 681.
Transferable learning is emphasized; it is incorporated in faculty led seminars, lectures, student presentations, reading and research assignments, student-led seminars, and independent study. Transferable learning is assessed through student-directed and faculty–assigned research papers, study groups, oral presentations, examinations, proposals, thesis and portfolios.
Contact Us
Criminal Justice Studies Graduate Program
Department of Criminal Justice Studies
257 Stewart Hall
Phone: (320)308-4101
Fax: (320)308-2993
