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Program Change:
P00640
Program Title: Master of Arts in Criminal Justice
Graduate
Describe the proposed degree program change(s) in terms of how the changes differ from the program as currently approved and published in the latest WOU catalog (specify the latest catalog date).
1. Under ¿Professional Core,¿ change the electives to read: ¿Select five electives from the listed courses and/or a combination of 500/600 level CJ courses (20 credits).¿ Currently, the catalog reads: ¿Electives, select five (20 credits).¿
2. Under ¿Course of Study¿, change to read:
¿All students will complete four courses in the Professional Core (16 credits), select five elective courses (20 credits) and either write a thesis/professional project (9 credits) or participate in a special individual study (9 credits). Those students selecting a special individual study will, in consultation with a faculty advisor, select a significant topic in the field of criminal justice and complete comprehensive written exams. For students selecting the thesis/professional project, no comprehensive exams are required. The total course of study requires a minimum of 45 graduate credits, at least 23 of which must be at the 600 level.¿
The 2010/11 catalog reads:
¿All students will complete four courses in the professional core (16 credits), select five elective courses from the list below (20 credits), and participate in a thesis,field study or professional project (9 credits). The total course of study requires a minimum of 45 graduate credits.¿
3. Change ¿Thesis, Field Study, or Professional Project (9 credits)¿, to read: ¿Thesis, Professional Project, or Special Individual Study.¿ Under this heading, change the text to read:
¿CJ 603 Thesis/Professional Project (1-9) (offered each term, no comprehensive final required)
CJ 606 Special Individual Study (1-15) (offered each term, comprehensive final required)¿
The current catalog reads:
¿CJ 603 Thesis/Field Study (1-9) (offered each term¿
CJ 606 Special Individual Study (1-15) (offered each term)¿
Describe the reasons for making this change:
1. The reason for this change is to give students more options for their elective coursework.
2. This change more accurately reflects the options the faculty of the Criminal Justice Department believes should be available to our graduate students. Many of our graduate students are working professionals and see the Master of Arts degree as a means to enhance their professional careers. For this group, the special individual studies option is appropriate, where they select a specific academic topic to focus on throughout their graduate studies and take comprehensive exams as an exit requirement. Other graduate students in our program wish to continue their education at the doctoral level; these students are advised to select the thesis or professional project option, the defense of which serves as their exit requirement.
3. This change is designed to reflect the changes discussed in 2 above. Also, a course change proposal was submitted, changing CJ 603 from Thesis/Field Study to Thesis/Professional Project.
For Dean Review only:
How and when will the effectiveness of these changes be determined?
Change number 1 is really for efficiency reasons because students are currently including other courses in their graduate degree program (That is, this change is already in effect). By implementing this change, CJ faculty and the Graduate Office will no longer have to process change of program forms for any students who take electives other than those listed in the catalog. The effectiveness of this change will be determined as soon as it is approved if less paperwork is the result.
Change number 2 will be determined over a longer period of time by tracking the effectiveness of graduates who choose one option or the other. For those who select the thesis/professional project option, we can track how many move on to doctoral programs and how successful they are in those programs. Some of these students will not move on to doctoral programs, however, and the effectiveness of these changes for these students may be measured by how well they do in their professional careers. For those students who select the special individual studies option, we can track the effectiveness of this option by determining how well they do in their professional careers. Also, some of these students may move on to doctoral programs and we can then determine how successful they are at that academic level.
Change number 3 is designed to reiterate for the students the options available to them and what course numbers are associated with each option. The effectiveness of this change will be determined over time during advising sessions with the students. That is, if students have a lot of questions about the options and if they register for the wrong classes, then the changes have not worked. However, if the students understand the options and register for the correct classes, the change will be deemed a success.
Approval Queue
| Step |
Approver |
Decision |
Timestamp |
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1 - Department |
Stephen Gibbons |
Approved | November 11 2010 |
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2 - Division |
John Rector |
Approved | November 12 2010 |
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3 - Division Curriculum |
Shaun Huston |
Approved | November 16 2010 |
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4 - Library Dean |
Shaun Huston |
Approved | November 16 2010 |
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5 - Graduate Committee |
Mary Bucy |
Approved | February 15 2011 |
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6 - Faculty Senate |
Gavin Keulks |
Approved | March 08 2011 |
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7 - Dean |
Stephen Scheck |
Approved | March 15 2011 |
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8 - Provost |
Kent Neely |
Approved | March 16 2011 |
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9 - President |
Dianna Nickelson |
Approved | March 17 2011 |
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Attached Files:
| Addendum to grad program change.docx |
|
Download |
