History of the Criminal Justice Program in Fayetteville State University

The Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice, first established at Fayetteville State University in 1985, is currently home to approximately 400 undergraduate majors and is housed in the Department of Criminal Justice within the College of Basic and Applied Sciences. We became our own Department in Spring 2004. Professor David E. Barlow became the first Chair of the newly formulated Criminal Justice Department in Fall 2005. The program has a long history of being very popular with students while producing a substantial number of graduates who have gone on to work in the field of criminal justice in a variety of ways. The Department of Criminal Justice has engaged in a number of cutting-edge initiatives in a effort to maintain a high quality education for our students. For example, in Fall 2005 we will be participating in a criminal/social justice learning community and a service learning course for honor students.

The program has had a very positive relationship with North Carolina Community Colleges which has helped to lead to the development of a number of pilot programs for Fayetteville State University. We have led the way with the development of particularly attractive articulation agreements, as well as the very first dual enrollment program. This dual enrollment program allows students to seamless attend classes at both Fayetteville State University and Fayetteville Technical Community College and earn both an A.A. Degree and B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice within four years. We hope to expand these relationships to community colleges throughout the state, particularly in relation to our new online degree completion program.

One of the important outcomes of our community college relationship is the development of our online degree completion program to be launched in Fall 2005. We offered our first online courses in criminal justice in Fall 2004 and now we will have a complete program available to students in cooperation with the North Carolina Community Colleges who will be offering the first two years of college online from their locations.

The most dramatic development in the criminal justice program since its inception is on the horizon. In Fall 2006 we hope to launch a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice at Fayetteville State University. This degree program will be fully available both in-residence and online.