I am looking for input on the validity of the Ed.D. in criminal justice departments. After a thorough search and hours on this site, I am relegated to the fact there are no DL programs specifically for those of us in the CJ world (Capella, Walden, and NCU's specializations are the closest). Many of the Ph.D. specializations focus on organizational development or leadership, which are not primary interests. With that being said, I have been researching the Ed.D. I found a great program at Fielding Graduate University. It has several courses that I could direct towards CJ (media studies, adult learning concepts, and human motivation). I am wondering about the practicality of the Ed.D. for this purpose. I scoured the web and found numerous Ed.D. holders teaching in CJ programs at institutions across the U.S. However, most if not all the current jobs listed on the Chronicle for Higher Ed specifically state "Ph.D.". There are a few which require " a doctorate degree" for which the Ed.D. would suffice. I am looking to teach at a CC or small university (teaching oriented). I have no illusions about working at a research university and my interests are not in that area. What do you all think about the Ed.D. route? What is the reality of using the Ed.D. to also teach on the education side of the house, without practical experience in K-12/school admin? On a side note, I have a master's degree in criminal justice and over a decade in law enforcement at both line and supervisory ranks. TL ------------------------------ BA Management, St. Mary's College of California MA Criminal Justice, Boston University
Charles Sturt University has a footprint in the US market. It has brought a couple of Doctorates online specifically for police and security. It has a Doctorate in Policing, but has rank pre-requisites. The Doctorate of Policing & Security has no rank pre-requisites, just the usual academic requirements. Charles Sturt undertakes the training for the New South Wales Police Department. This department has about 20,000 officers. The good news for the US students is that the Australian dollar is about 65 cents US. A cheap deal for US students. I don't know if this of any use for you.
FWIW...one of my professors at UMass-Lowell has his Ed.D. in Human Development from UMass-Amherst, along with a Master's in CJ from Northeastern University. Nova Southeastern University has been planning a limited-residency Ph.D. in Criminal Justice for quite awhile; the last I heard they were shooting for a 2009 debut, but that was over a year ago. On a side note, is the CJ degree from Boston University a M.A. or a M.C.J.?
I know a number of holders of J.D., Ed.D. and (of course) Ph.D. holders among my colleagues in criminal justice. Quite a few of them have degrees in areas such as leadership studies, public administration or law. If you are looking to teach at a community college and already have a masters degree in CJ, a doctorate in education (or the other fields above) should not hurt you at all. An Ed.D. or Ph.D. in education could open doors to teaching in the education department of a college if you have relevant experience in the area to be taught. Not all Ed.D.s are in K-12/school admin (mine was not). If your Ed.D. is in instructional technology, educational psychology, counseling & guidance, curriculum & instruction, special education, etc. you could possibly teach in those fields. Of course, in these areas, there tends to be no real difference between the Ph.D. and the Ed.D.
Saybrook Graduate School used to offer a PhD in Psychology that was known as a "CopDoc"... A quick review of their website <http://www.saybrook.edu> did not reveal information on this program indicating that this program appears to have died. Too bad. Information from the 2001-3 Catalog reveals a very interesting program... I'm kind of surprised that it didn't make it... "Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center created a unique program to join the professional knowledge and expertise of public safety personnel with advanced research and practice in psychology. The first-of-its-kind program, designed in collaboration with, and for sworn officers, leads to the Ph.D. in psychology. As courses are taken, class assignments, case studies, and projects are regularly and continuously connected with current workplace issues, projects and tasks. This direct connection between the classroom and the workplace give officers both a theoretical and pragmatic framework for: • Developing the knowledge and skills for intervening in critical law enforcement situations that have a psychological component • Gaining knowledge about performance enhancement and selection activities to maintain officer and departmental effectiveness • Gaining skills and knowledge to design, manage, and evaluate programs that enhance officer training in community mental health, community problem solving and multi–agency problem solving."
It was a great program, at least on paper, but it doesn't surprise me that it died from neglect. Getting any information about the program was like pulling teeth; I spent almost 30 minutes on hold or being transferred around and around when I looked into it several years ago. I finally gave up, figuring that actually trying to enroll would be even more frustrating.
Gotta love it when someone dreams up a great program and it's killed by the school's own ineptitude! What a waste!
Bruce, my degree is the M.C.J. I am in a habit of stating M.A. because those outside academia do not immediately recognize the terminology.
No problem; I've seen it referred to both ways on BU's website and program literature, was always curious, and you're the first graduate I've "met" to ask. How did you like the program?
What's the difference between: - MA Criminal Justice (MA CJ) - MS Criminal Justice (MS CJ) - Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) I was looking at St. Leo University and their in-resident CJ program is a MS CJ, but their online program is a MBA with a concentration in CJ. It is all becoming so convoluted.
I have done a lot work in this area. It would have been great to have done a course in this area instead of letting hard experience be the teacher. I might have received less bruising when trying to develop a mulitagency approach to the topic. A defensible decisionmaking model for policing issues requires a multiagency problem solving mechanism, particularly for mental health issues. Keeping the Peace in a globalised community where "communities of interest" are linked by optic fiber, but are domicile within a multicultural locations, will depend more and more on this approach. Maybe another university will take up the challenge? I suspect that a pyschologically slanted Masters for Policing would be a big seller.
Mostly, the difference is semantics. Some programs like Indiana State offer both the M.A. and M.S., with the M.A. being 33 credits with a required thesis, and the M.S. being 36 credits with no thesis; http://www1.indstate.edu/distance/crim-masters.html
Each school decides what to call their degree... one rationale for one school to call it an M.A. may make it an M.C.J. at another school. There is no set standard.
A professor told us that in the old days, a MA was a preparatory degree for a PhD, while a MS was a terminal degree (for those who didn't want to get a PhD). Thus, the MA required a thesis while the MS didn't. However, the same university now offers a MA without a thesis and an MA with a thesis: - MA criminology: requires thesis - MA criminal justice administration: no thesis It's all becoming so convoluted. I speculate that a MCJ is no thesis.
Some years ago, I did a study of the nearly 200 programs in my field (instructional technology) to determine the differences between the three most popular masters degrees offered (M.A., M.S. and M.Ed.). In particular, I was looking for coursework, exam, project and/or thesis requirements. I found that the name of the degree was not a good predictor of the requirements (e.g. there were plenty of M.Ed. degrees with thesis requirements and M.A. and M.S. degrees without them).
