Georgia State Receives Board of Regents Approval for Criminal Justice Doctor of Philosophy Degree

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia granted approval to the Georgia State University Department of Criminal Justice to offer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. No other Ph.D. program focusing on criminal justice is offered in the state of Georgia at any public or private university.

“We are excited to be the first university in Georgia to offer a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice and Criminology and we look forward to graduating the state’s future scholars and educators in this field,” says Susan Kelley, Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, which houses the Department of Criminal Justice.

The department will begin accepting applications in the fall of 2009 for the first class of students who enroll in 2010. The Department of Criminal Justice, which has a long history of high-quality teaching and cutting-edge scholarship, was established in 1967 and has produced more than 3,600 criminal justice professionals. In 2006 the department was ranked 8th nationally for scholarly productivity in a study published in the Journal of Criminal Justice and received the second highest ranking of any non-Ph.D. granting criminal justice program in the country.

“The field has grown to such a degree that the demand for scholars has outpaced availability of criminologists and criminal justice professionals who hold a Ph.D,” said Brian Payne, department chair. “The need is particularly evident among faculty at criminal justice programs in other colleges and universities in Georgia. In our program, we focus on the ties between crime and the community. Advancing awareness about crime from this perspective will ultimately help communities, criminal justice officials, and policy makers to better address the problem.”

For more information on the Ph.D. program, contact the Department of Criminal Justice at (404) 413-1020.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page