Department of Criminal Justice

A Message from the Department Chair

Welcome to the Department of Criminal Justice at Fayetteville State University. FSU has a long history of empowering people through education and the Department of Criminal Justice continues that tradition. We offer a high quality program in an inclusive and nurturing environment. The dedication of our faculty and staff is second to none. We all embrace the concept that the university was built for the purpose of providing an education for students.   Each of our faculty has a strong commitment to student learning. We believe strongly in providing our students with the highest quality education possible, and helping each student to achieve her or his highest potential. Each member of our faculty is a dedicated scholar of criminal justice and an active researcher in the field. Faculty members are continuously engaged in research projects, seeking to advance the body of knowledge in the field.    They also are actively involved in the community, serving on a variety of local, state, national, and international boards and organizations. Our experience, education, and scholarship represent excellence in the field of criminal justice and make it possible for us to offer a B.S. degree that is rich in theory and practice. Graduates from our program are well-equipped to enter the field of criminal justice in a wide variety of areas or to pursue graduate studies at the best colleges and universities in the country.

It is a very exciting time to be a part of our learning community. As you peruse our website, you’ll see that we are a vibrant and expanding program, on the cutting edge of technology and teaching strategies. We are piloting a number of programs including the development of a criminal/social justice learning community and a service learning component in the classroom. We offer an online degree completion program in cooperation with the North Carolina Community Colleges. All of our courses follow a similar format and are offered on a consistent rotation to best serve the needs of our students. We require the same degree of academic rigor and provide the same level of knowledge in our online program as we do with our in-residence courses. We also have a highly cooperative articulation agreement with a number of community colleges, which makes transferring to Fayetteville State University a very attractive opportunity. In fact, we have a dual enrollment program with Fayetteville Technical Community College, Bladen Community College, and Pitt Community College.  The Dual Enrollment program allows for the complete integration of our two programs and the ability to seamlessly receive an AA degree from the community college and a B.S. degree from FSU in Criminal Justice in four years, both online and in-residence. Our plan is to continue to expand these programs to other community colleges and enhance the accessibility of a high-quality criminal justice education to the people of North Carolina and beyond.

We are continuously reviewing our curriculum and courses and exploring innovative education delivery systems to stay ahead of the curve.  We are in the second year of offering a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice, both in-residence and online. I invite you to continue your review of our Department’s website and to come join us in our quest for excellence.

Lori Guevara, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Immediate Past Chair
Department of Criminal Justice