UALR Gets Nod for New Ph.D. in Criminal Justice
UALR has won approval for a Ph.D. program in criminal justice, the only doctoral program of its kind in the state, joining strong undergraduate and master’s degree programs. Dr. Jeff Walker will coordinate the program.
The Ph.D program will require 57 hours of coursework, including core courses in advanced topics in criminal justice, research methods and statistics, and teaching practicum. Students will also take 12 hours of research practicum that includes both writing proposals under the guidance of faculty and seminars in grant acquisition. Elective areas include neighborhoods and crime, criminal justice specific areas, and an opportunity to obtain a graduate certificate in statistics.
The program will begin accepting applications in January 2010 for a Fall 2010 start. Applicants will be required to have taken three research and statistics courses at the graduate level and to score 1000 on the GRE and a 4 on the written portion of the GRE.
The program will offer competitive graduate assistantships of up to $19,000 plus tuition waiver. First year students will work in one of the department’s three centers or directly with faculty members. Second year students may teach courses within the department or continue research work.
The Department of Criminal Justice houses three strong centers that facilitate research on a state and national level. The Center for the Study of Environmental Criminology is an affiliate of Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis and conducts research in neighborhoods in crime, computational criminology, and the study of complex systems science in crime. The Senior Justice Center conducts research and provides assistance on elder crime and abuse and other issues related to the elderly. The Juvenile Justice Center conducts research and provides training and assistance related to juvenile justice.
Faculty within the department are active in the discipline, serving as officers and presidents of regional academic organizations and on the executive board of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
Criminal justice faculty serve as editors of journals and books and have published articles in the leading journals in the field, including Justice Quarterly, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Crime and Delinquency.