Dear members of the Academic Policies & Procedures Committee I am contacting you related to the program prioritization process on campus and specifically with regard to the recommendation that our master’s program (the Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Criminology [MSCJC]) be eliminated. This decision is a mistake. It is a mistake because: 1) The program is very healthy. Specifically, the program is only six years old and has graduated an average of ten students each year since its inception (59 graduates over six years or 9.8 graduates per year). The program also currently enrolls 23 students, and an additional two students will be starting the program in the spring semester. Further, we already have completed applicants from a dozen students for next year and this number will surely grow higher. And we continue to successfully achieve each of the three stated objectives of the program: a. Provide broad-based education for individuals preparing for employment in the field of criminal justice at the managerial level, and enhance the capabilities and performance of those individuals currently employed in the criminal justice field, whether already in management, or seeking promotion (our graduates are employed with Catawba County Sheriffs Office, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Hickory Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Greensboro Police Department, Institutional Research at North Georgia State University, Morganton Public Safety, Navy Criminal Investigative Service, North Carolina Department of Corrections, Statesville Police Department, US Army, US Navy, and US Secret Service). b. Foster pertinent research within the academic disciplines of Criminal Justice and Criminology (our faculty, working together with graduate students, have presented conference papers to the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association, Southern Criminal Justice Association, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, American Society of Criminology, Justice Studies Association, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and published essays, chapters, and articles in academic journals). c. Provide a graduate-level foundation for individuals wishing to pursue a terminal degree (Ph.D.) in Criminal Justice or Criminology (our graduates have gone on to PhD and JD programs at the Florida State University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Old Dominion University, University of Missouri St. Louis, and Campbell University Law School). 2) Our program is unique among all master’s degree programs in the state. For example, it is the only master’s program that serves students in the western part of the state. And it is the only master’s program in the state that is served by faculty members who have served as presidents of major criminological organizations including the North Carolina Criminal Justice Association and the Southern Criminal Justice Association. 3) The program is vital to the university and department missions and the states expectations for educational programs. Our program has already demonstrated its ability to place graduates in high-level employment opportunities with criminal justice agencies across the state and doctoral and law school programs. There will never be a shortage of these opportunities in the future for our highly educated graduates. 4) The program is vital to our grant writing and new faculty hiring efforts. Stated simply, it will be much harder to seek grants and hire the best faculty without this program. Last year students were involved in numerous research projects with faculty including a grant we submitted that totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars. 5) The size and success of the undergraduate program in criminal justice means that any subsidies going to the graduate program are generated by faculty working in the undergraduate program, not through administrative investment (our undergraduate program is the largest within the College of Arts & Sciences). 6) The program has only had one director for the duration of its existence and a new director was to be appointed by our department chairperson to help lead us in new directions. The new director would have the opportunity, with the help of graduate faculty in the program, to grow the program and assure it survives and thrives. 7) Our faculty members have already created an action plan to recruit new and better students and many parts of this plan have already been implemented. We are reaching out to and meeting with our best undergraduate students. We are having information sessions for students in other departments to let them know about the MSCJC program. We are recruiting from other schools. We are creating new fliers and brochures to advertise the program. And we are in the process of creating a new, vibrant, interactive website to help attract students. 8) Other programs with low enrollments have featured low enrollments as many as ten years, and they are not being eliminated but instead are being monitored for future performance; our new program deserves this same chance to grow and succeed. For these reasons, eliminating our program is a mistake. It is fair to say that our program faculty members are actually mystified as to why this decision was made and are frankly very upset about it. The final point I want to make about this relates to the process of how this decision was made. Please consider the following: 1) Programs were ranked across campus by people who have literally no knowledge of or experience with our program, its faculty, courses, and students. 2) We engaged in several program reviews to satisfy university requirements and never were we told our program was at risk of being eliminated. In fact, at no point during the prioritization process (or before) were we ever told that the MSCJC program was in jeopardy; in fact, we were told that we had nothing to worry about. 3) Never during the prioritization process (or before) were members of our faculty consulted about why our program should be continued or terminated (additionally, I explicitly requested that the Chancellor “consult with the program faculty before a final decision is made” and this did not occur). Further, the Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution that states that any changes in a departments curriculum or programs must be done in consultation with that department, and that any changes must be approved by AP&P. Our faculty are literally the only ones who can explain why our program is important to the university and never were we consulted during this process. This is troubling because it has resulted in uninformed and untrue statements about the viability of our program in the prioritization report. 4) We found out about the decision at the same time as the press, when the report was released to the public. Given that our undergraduate program is among the strongest programs on campus and that we are award-winning professors who have been celebrated for excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service, we feel we deserve more than this decision. The MSCJC program should not have been recommended for elimination. And we should have been consulted before any decision was made. We recognize that five years of significant budget cuts has not been easy for anyone, but if there is a need to cut programs, our MSCJC program should not be one of the programs to be cut. It is too new and too strong to be on the chopping block. Thank you for your attention to this matter and we hope you will give us time to grow this program for the benefit of all in here at Appalachian State University and the people of the state. Sincerely, Dr. Matthew Robinson Professor Department of Government and Justice Studies
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:18:42 +0000
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