The Department is home to two undergraduate academic programs: Criminal Justice and Legal Assistant Studies. It also houses a graduate degree in Criminal Justice.
The Department is committed to excellence in teaching, research, and service. The programs promote an understanding of the legal and justice systems for both majors and nonmajors. Emphasis is placed on intellectual, experiential, and problem solving activities. Students acquire conceptual knowledge, critical thinking skills, and master basic skills to prepare them for entry level employment in criminal justice and legal systems, and related fields. Students also are prepared to pursue additional educational work at the graduate level.
We have a diverse faculty with a wide variety of interests and areas of expertise. Faculty have published in top journals in the field and have active, on-going research agendas. They also have active service roles at the local, regional, and national level.
The Department also is actively engaged in many partnerships both internal and external to the University. For example, the Department has partnered with the Law Enforcement Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to conduct specialized, education for law enforcement officers and delivers the Southeastern Command and Leadership Academy (SECLA). We also have partnered with the Tennessee State Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to offer The Senator Tommy Burks Victim Assistance Academy which provides basic level training to victim advocates statewide. Dr. Vic Bumphus is the Coordinator for the university's Africana minor and several of our courses are cross listed with the Women's Studies major/minor. Please visit our various program pages to gather more information about our faculty, degree programs, scholarships, advisement, and career information.
