As professional standards in criminal justice continue to rise, administrators are finding that they need not only professional skills but also advanced proficiency in such areas as analysis, communication, and management. The M.C.J.A. program helps criminal justice professionals develop those skills across a broad array of settings and contexts. Students can select from prescribed concentrations or design their own emphasis in such specialized areas as security, prevention, education, and training.
The program’s flexible approach makes it ideal for those who wish to pursue their degree part time or at a distance. It also allows students who are working in professional settings to tailor their graduate study to specific workplace challenges and goals, and to use the working environment as a setting for action research.
A graduate certificate in criminal justice education, focusing on theory and research, is also available for those who wish to prepare for teaching or for advanced graduate study.
APPLICATION AND ADMISSION
Admission to the graduate program in criminal justice administration, including both the M.C.J.A. program and the graduate certificate in criminal justice education, is open to those with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice or a related field (with a comparable course distribution) from a regionally accredited college or university. There are no standardized test requirements, although upon admission a writing sample may be required for advising and assessment purposes.
To apply, submit a graduate application and arrange for transcripts of all your undergraduate studies, as well as any graduate work you have completed elsewhere, to be sent directly to the School of Graduate Studies. You can apply, enroll, and begin your studies at any time during the academic year.Because of the individualized nature of the program, it is recommended that you discuss your educational goals with the program staff either before you apply or as soon as possible after you are accepted.
THE GRADUATE EXPERIENCE
Your graduate experience can be of immense value to you in the future, not only because it advances specific career or educational goals, but also because it cultivates habits of mind and discipline that will be important throughout your life. It fosters independent critical thinking; the ability to plan and perform; and skills in communication, research, and presentation.
The Nature of Graduate Study
Graduate work makes use of strong academic skills. The program therefore offers a number of courses that reinforce such key competencies in graduate study as research, critical thinking, professional writing, and fluency in communication and evaluation. Taking advantage of these courses will assist you in furthering your abilities.
During graduate study, you should expect to improve and apply learning characteristics from your past undergraduate work. At the same time, your studies will emphasize higher-order attributes common in graduate education. Psychologists of learning often use the framework known as Bloom’s hierarchy to describe the ascending complexity of learning: assimilation, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. One significant difference between undergraduate and graduate work is that graduate education assumes the first three elements as givens in your work and encourages analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, particularly as a result of independent research. Graduate study not only emphasizes independence but also cultivates higher order learning and presentation bolstered by graduate characteristics.
The Nature of Graduate Individualized Work
If a traditional graduate experience normally includes independent work, graduate individualized study depends on it. This work is directed by advisors but is also the product of self-direction and self-discipline, attributes expected in the culture of graduate education. In graduate individualized study you present your degree plan for faculty and program approval; execute the plan, which may include traditional classes, independent learning classes, and directed independent research; and present a culminating project to your committee. You also work independently to form the committee that will guide you and to ask prospective members to serve on your committee.
GRADUATE INDIVIDUALIZED STUDY COURSES
The M.C.J.A. program provides a number of graduate individualized study (GIS) courses in different subject areas. GIS courses are available in an independent learning format through the School of Graduate Studies.
Registering for GIS Courses
Contact the School of Graduate Studies to begin the process of registering for courses and sections of independent work toward your degree in criminal justice administration.
Withdrawing from GIS Courses
There is no drop period (that is, a time in which you can cancel your registration and receive a refund) for GIS classes. You can withdraw from a GIS class at any time through the scheduled class completion date by completing a withdrawal form (available from the School of Graduate Studies or the Registrar’s Office section of the MSU website) or through Cougar Web. The course will remain on your transcript with a grade of W, and you will remain responsible for all tuition and fees associated with the course. Withdrawal from a class may affect your financial aid status; check with a financial aid representative before withdrawing from any class.
GIS Syllabi, Books, and Materials
Shortly after you register for a GIS class, you will receive a syllabus (or the address of a website where the syllabus is located) and contact information for the professor. Syllabi are project-based and cumulative in nature, and generally include a schedule of deadlines for submitting work throughout the semester.
It is your responsibility to acquire any required textbooks and materials at the beginning of each GIS class. Required textbooks and materials are listed on each syllabus and are available through MSU’s online bookstore. Books listed as references may also be available from the online bookstore or the library (either directly or through interlibrary loan).
Contacting Faculty Members
After registering for a graduate individualized study course, you begin coursework by e-mailing the professor. You are responsible for initiating contact with the professor at the beginning of the class; if you do not do so, you will be marked on attendance rosters as not attending and will be subject to administrative withdrawal. You are also responsible for contacting the professor in a timely manner if you have any questions about the syllabus or course material.
Submitting GIS Assignments
Unless instructed otherwise, you must submit all assignments directly to the e-mail address provided for the professor. You should make sure to keep a backup copy; MSU and the School of Graduate Studies will not be responsible for any loss of materials due to transmission. If you have difficulty reaching the professor or problems with interaction, contact the School of Graduate Studies immediately.
GIS Time Limits
The starting date for a GIS course is the date you register for the course as printed on your schedule. You have 20 weeks from the date of registration to complete each GIS course unless a different limit is stated in the course syllabus. The specific completion date for each course is listed on your schedule.
You may request an extension from the class professor. If your request is approved, the professor will notify the School of Graduate Studies, which will post the extension dates and new deadline. This process is the only way of obtaining an official extension.
Approved extensions should state the time frame within which the professor agrees to receive any remaining work. A grade of WIP (Work In Progress) will be assigned until the professor has received and graded the remaining work. If the coursework is not complete by the specified date, the professor will determine a grade for the course based on the work received by the deadline. Students who have exhausted their extensions are not eligible for administrative withdrawal.
GIS Completion
Unless you have received an official extension, you must complete each graduate individualized study course by the completion date posted on your schedule. If you do not finish the course by the assigned completion date and have not withdrawn or received an extension, you will receive a grade of F that will become part of your official transcript.
Re-enrollment
If you fail a GIS course but are in good standing in the School of Graduate Studies, you can request an opportunity to re-enroll in the course. Such requests must be made in writing to the dean of the School of Graduate Studies, who will consider the request and may or may not grant approval.
GENERAL PROGRAM POLICIES
This section includes M.C.J.A. policies that apply throughout the program. Additional policies that are relevant to a single phase of the program appear with the description of that phase under “Program Structure and Requirements” later in this chapter.
Graduate Advisors and Mentors
Your Methodology proposal must include the membership of a graduate committee that will guide and advise you throughout the program. Committee membership is voluntary, and it is your responsibility to ask advisors to serve on your committee.
Graduate committees typically include faculty members from MSU or other colleges or universities, as well as qualified individuals outside the academic sector. It is important that committee members have a terminal degree or equivalent credentials, although in some fields of study a committee may include a member who lacks a terminal degree but has unique and appropriate professional experience. Register for GCJA 580 Content to complete independent work under the guidance of an advisor.
If your degree plan includes the design of a special topics course (i.e., with regular graded assignments, an instructional syllabus, and continual teaching), the instructor for that course is designated a mentor. Register for GCJA 590 Mentored Content to complete a special topics course with a mentor. In some cases, a mentoring team can take the place of a graduate committee with the approval of the dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
The selection of committee members or mentors is your responsibility and is contingent on graduate program approval. Proposed members who are not MSU faculty members must provide documentation of appropriate credentials, and your student file must include a résumé or CV for each committee member (as submitted with your Methodology proposal).
If an illness or calamity affects one of your mentors or committee members in a way that alters the outcome of any degree work or deadlines, or if you are having difficulties with a mentor or committee member, you should immediately notify the School of Graduate Studies as well as the others involved.
Concurrent Program Enrollment
It is generally preferable for graduate students to pursue a single degree pathway, but there are exceptions. The following processes apply to concurrent enrollment in two individualized graduate programs.
After consulting with the academic officers for both programs, you can register for a second section of Methodology, in which you construct a concurrent enrollment plan for proposal to the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. This proposal should include any concepts of structure and content developed in discussion with the academic officers.
The dean will consider the proposal to ensure that degree requirements are properly fulfilled and that an appropriate amount of content is shared between degree programs. To maintain the integrity of each degree program, the sum of the credits for the two degrees should not diminish by more than 20 percent. Two 36-hour degree programs, for example, could share 14 hours of Content credit. Of course, pursuit of a second graduate individualized degree requires that both a new Methodology and a new Perspective project be submitted.
Copyright
An understanding of copyright regulations and the concept of fair use is critical in considering how to incorporate the citations of others in any graduate work intended for publication, such as a thesis, article, or book. It is recommended that you read Kenneth D. Crews’s booklet Copyright Law and Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights, and Your Dissertation, published by UMI (www.umi.com) or a similar guide to current copyright and permissions issues.
Institutional Review Board
Proposed projects involving human subjects, restricted populations, the necessity for secure storage of possibly identifying data, or similar issues must be approved by MSU’s Institutional Review Board, or IRB. The IRB may require a full review or an expedited review, or may determine that a project is exempt if it does not work with human subjects. The School of Graduate Studies can assist you in obtaining IRB forms.
When planning your Methodology proposal, you should consider the need for such review in constructing timelines for your work. If your project involves working with other sites or agencies that have their own IRB, you must also fulfill their requirements.
Degree Candidacy
You must have a cumulative graduate GPA of at least 3.0 to be granted degree candidacy (usually at the end of Methodology), to maintain degree candidacy, and to progress in the program. See “Qualifying for Degree Candidacy” in the Methodology description later in this chapter for additional information.
Program Standing
While enrolled in Content or Perspective, you must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4-point scale. If you are carrying 12 hours of graduate courses from previous semesters, you will not be permitted to register for new courses until the prior work is completed. This restriction does not apply to GCJA 580 or GCJA 590 projects that are designed to extend through more than one semester as stated in your approved degree plan.
Program Withdrawal and Reinstatement
To withdraw from the program, you must provide written notice to the School of Graduate Studies. Your committee or mentoring team then disbands and you are no longer a degree candidate (if you have reached that point in your studies).
To be reinstated in the degree program, you will be required to retake Methodology, obtain approval of a new proposal, and form a new committee or mentoring team.
Removal from the Program
The following nonexclusive list of events constitutes or causes immediate removal from the program:
Failure to complete the program within five years without an extension granted by an accepted petition to the dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
A cumulative GPA that falls below 3.0 while you are in any aspect of Content or Perspective.
A grade below C on a Methodology proposal.
Failure to register within two regular semesters of degree plan approval (in which case you must retake Methodology).
Failure to register in the approved sequence within two semesters in the absence of correspondence.
A letter or e-mail to the School of Graduate Studies stating that you are no longer in the program.
A change of major form signifying your exit from the program.
Academic or behavioral violations, in accordance with University policy.
See “Student Code of Conduct” and “Academic Appeals” in the Graduate Study at MSU chapter.
Program Time Limit
The time limit for completion of the M.C.J.A. program is five years from the date of your first enrollment. If you transfer credit hours from another program, you have five years from the date of your earliest enrollment in a course that you are transferring. Exceptions to this policy may be granted with the approval of the dean of the School of Graduate Studies.