Teaching Junior College: History

Hello all,

my wife and I were discussing selling our house over dinner, when the topic of our conversation turned to her favorite subject....my changing careers. Currently I work as a leo, love it, can't imagine doing anything else except maybe teaching. So I look into teaching criminal justice, which though I love it vocationally, is not super thrilling academically (in my humble opinion) but I do like it. If I had to teach I'd like to teach history, so were I to do this do you guys have any Masters Degree recommendation? Thus far the only one I know of is the Masters of Liberal Studies with an emphasis in History at Ft. Hayes State U. http://www.fhsu.edu/mls/conc/history.shtml

Would this qualify me? I certainly do not really plan on getting a PhD. in the future, being a Instructor is fine with me, but should I change my mind, there's always NCU.

Any suggestions? I know the field is competitive, but then so is law enforcement, so that really doesn't faze me, much and with so many colleges here in North Texas, I always see at least one of them hiring.

 

As a cop, the nice thing about teaching CJ is having experience that can be brought into a classroom setting. It is nice to be able to integrate experience into the academic lesson plan, so the students get a greater insight into what it's like in law enforcement. A CJ instructor who has never been a cop simply cannot provide that kind of insight to his students.

 

meagain....that's kind of what I thought. What really got my fire stoked was teaching Criminal Procedure to our Cadets....I loved it. Unfortunantly a rookie Sergeant got the spot by appointment......the um....ahem....ONLY....appointment in the history of our department. And that's with no degree and only 2 1/2 years of street under his Sam Browne. Must be that warm nose and those soft lips.

Anyhow....the fact is, I love teaching and could seriously see myself doing so. Thus far I've been set on getting an MSCJ from Troy... www.troy.edu which seems like a pretty good program, but I thought I'd check the history angle too, since I am a huge history buff. I read history for fun.

 

Yes, the MLS in History at Fort Hays State University meets the requirements. In addition to the general liberal studies core, you also take 18 hours in your concentration (in this case, history), which meets the requirements of the accreditors. If you're looking for a master's in criminal justice, back out of this page to the list of thread titles and click on where it says "moderated by Bruce," then on Bruce's profile, hit "see all posts by this user" in the top right hand corner, then click on any of Bruce's post titles, and once you've got a Bruce post showing, you'll notice that on his signature line, there are two clickable weblinks to dl cop degrees ... one for regionally accredited and one for nationally accredited. As to the PhD someday, should you change your mind, there is an old thread called "History or Criminal Justice PhD?" or maybe it was "Criminal Justice or History PhD?" to be found here: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20499 . As to the master's degrees in history:

American Military University www.apus.edu (BG15, 97) MA Air Warfare; MA Civil Ware Studies; MA Land Warfare; MA Naval Warfare; others
California State University Dominguez Hills www.csudh.edu (BG15, 101) MA Humanities/History
Central Queensland University www.dtls.cqu.edu.au (BG15, 103)
University of Florida www.fcd.ufl.edu MA Classical Civilization
Fort Hays State University www.fhsu.edu (BG15, 112) MLS History
Goddard College www.goddard.edu (BG15, 160) MA Humanities and Social Sciences
Goucher College www.goucher.edu (BG15, 160) MA in Historic Preservation
Harvard University http://extension.harvard.edu ALM History
Macquarie University www.coe.mq.edu.au (BG15, 120) MA Ancient History (Egyptology, Church History)
Madurai Kamaraj University www.mkuniversity.org (BG15, 120) MA History; MPhil History
University of Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au (BG15, 140)
University of New England www.une.edu.au (BG15, 141)
Norwich University www.norwich.edu MMH Military History
Sam Houston State University www.shsu.edu MA Military History
Savannah College of Art and Design www.scad.edu MA Historic Preservation
Sheffield Hallam University www.shu.ac.uk (BG15, 171) MA Imperialism & Culture
University of South Africa www.unisa.ac.za (BG15, 144)
Syracuse University www.yesu.syr.edu (BG15, 174) MSSc History
Vermont College www.tui.edu (BG15, 183) MA Individualized Studies
University of West Alabama www.uwa.edu MAT History Education

 

Get your Master's, become an Adjunct in a CJ (or homeland security) program and work your way over to the History dept. (which means get that Masters too) from the inside.

Competition for History slots is not simply competitive - it's brutal.

 

I'm currently in the MLS program at Fort Hays State (English), and I'm enjoying it so far. I also plan to teach upon graduating. Let me know if you have any questions about the program.

 

I am currently getting my MAT in History at the University of West Alabama completely thourgh DL. The program runs through Columbia Southern but UWA is the degree granting institution and all the instructors are current UWA profs.

I have enjoyed it so far, about 12 hours worth of classes. No campus requirements, but since I live about an hour away, I have had lunch with the profs on occasion.

My second choice was Sam Houston. Given these two choices, i.e. brick & mortar schools with long histories, I didn't bother looking too far for any others.

 

archaeo729

Could you expand on your experience at UWA? What type of assignments do you have? Quizzes, research papers, book review? How many books do you need to read for each class? How much time do you spend each week on studies, assignments, tests? How are tests handled?

I think there are others on this board interested in this program. I think I remember that Ted was looking into this as well. I'm pretty interested in the MAT myself.

Thanks.

 

First, the MAT is a MA in Teaching (History) that has a non-certification (comm. college type teaching) and a certification path if you are already a secondary school teacher (ups your teacher certificate from B to A I think). I am not interested in the sec. school teaching so I do not know as much about that option. The Dean of the Grad School is also a history professor and in charge of the online degree. So he is really good to work with. For example, rather than taking two "education" classes and no thesis, I am opting for all history with a thesis because a Phd is a goal.

The classes go in 10-week sessions: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. The most books I have had to read so far are 7 and they vary in length and complexity. I have also had to do film reviews and participate on Blackboard discussions. Depending on the class, the books require a critical analysis not just a book report. I found using some outside resources on the topics helps. My current class (Modern Warfare) has six books on specific military events (i.e. Korean War) and we have to write a max of 7 pages report discussing strategy, operations, tactics, and our analysis of the event.

The program is not a gimme, the online classes usually have a campus class running at the same time. These are real profs and require real work to be completed. That's actually the part I am impressed with.

Basically I read and write on a book per week. My papers have ranged from the required 7 page for the above class to 25 pages for previous classes. There are no "tests," as least not so far. I do have to take comprehensive exams near the end and these are proctored. Costs are $840 per 3hr class. Due to my workload I have only taken 1 class per session but hope to increase that soon. The reading does take a bit of time.

I guess that's the gist of it. Please ask more questions if I left something out.

 

Very cool program, it's great that they'd let you swap out the education courses.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

I'll ditto the post that said competition for history spots is brutal. I teach at a community college with 23 full time instructors and about 100 adjuncts like me.

Our newest academic hire was for the history instructor position last year. The guy they hired has two Masters (one of them in history, one in philosophy). In addition to that, he also has a PhD from an accredited seminary. He is also working on a second PhD from the University of Kansas as I write this.

So he'll soon, if all goes well, hold two Masters and two PhDs, one from a well-known national university. That for a community college position that pays perhaps $40K/yr. That's the kind of guy that people seeking history positions are up against these days. He also looks just great in the longish hair, closely-cropped beard, and tweed jacket with the natty leather elbow patches. Central casting's idea of a professor.

Good luck, history prof applicants.

 

Well, I guess I'll forget the History thing...perhaps it'll stay a hobby. As for Criminal Justice, I am really enjoying it, it's just not as cool as history, but then there IS the History of Criminal Justice

I've looked for Homeland Security degrees and have found no RA Online HS degrees other than an MBA/Homeland Security from NCU (Northcentral University). Additionally I have not seen any schools looking for Homeland Security instructors, but then I've only been half-heartedly searching.

Anyone know of an HS online degree?

 

Well my school, Salve Regina has one:

http://www.salve.edu/graduatestudies/programs/adj/justice.html

I think many of the classes can be taken on a self paced basis.

 

We must work for the same department!

 

Salve has an MA in International Relations and one in Management, both with a "concentration" in Homeland Security. I appreciate the heads up. I will look into it.

meagain....I think they teach that in police chief school.

 

Drop Fort Hays and back away slowly....The MAT program at the University of West Alabama is the way to go. The difference is night and day, in regards to giving a crap about you! Dont believe me? Check out some of my earlier posts about FHSU.
Gavin

 

Thanks Gavin. I was surprised at your story....I appreciate the input.

 

California University of Pennsylvania

I am finishing my Master's of Science in Legal Studies Specializing in Homeland Security with California University of Pennsylvania. They also have a Master's of Science in Legal Studies Specializing in Law and Public Policy (mostly criminal justice courses). This program is regionally accredited.

Here's the deal. Get your public policy degree and then earn the homeland security portion too. It is only four additional courses and you will have the best of both worlds.

I definitely work my tail off going to CUP; however, it is so worth it. I have learned so much and the price is definitely right. The website is www.cup.edu and click Global Online. Click graduate programs and scroll to the bottom. You will see it!

Best of luck.

Christie

 

friend or foe:

Not trying to shoot you out of the saddle, but just trying to put a realistic face on it. There are surely history positions out there for those who have but a Masters or two, but you better be clever about it if you want to land such a position w/o a PhD. The best course of action, if this is really your dream, is to go the adjunct or crim justice route to start out, then make the lateral move from the inside. This was mentioned by another poster.

Just don't expect to be that competitive as an outsider scattershotting applications, because almost certainly there will be a big pile of applicants and some will hold a PhD. The Masters-only will often find the circular file (unless, of course, you already have an in, which is the way we're suggesting you do it).

You know, there are a few programs that you could pursue online that are fully accredited, that are not "for-profits", and look as impressive as can be. One example would be the University of Florida PhD in Classical Civilizations (essentially ancient history) available at a distance. Why not look into that? There are also some good overseas programs, such as UNISA or U of Pretoria, I think. Why not take a look there? Real cheap, solid schools. Might raise a few eyebrows since they're overseas, but would likely be better than plunking down big bucks for U.S. for-profit IMHO.

If you really want to do this, just bite the bullet and check into a DL PhD program (but please, make it a real good program like Florida).

 

You know, after giving it some thought, I love history, but I don't see teaching it in the cards for me. I'll stick with CJ, which is my second and most faithful love. History is a hobby for me, which probably should stay a hobby. Once it becomes a career, it might start to feel like work....yuck.