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The Justice Studies department at NAU-Yuma
Learn about what our department offers to students at Northern Arizona University-Yuma
The Justice Studies department consists of a team of Northern Arizona University full-time and part-time faculty, academic advisors, and Statewide Campus Outreach and Transition Coordinators dedicated to your academic and professional success. Collaborating across various locations in Arizona, our team is focused on providing a rigorous academic program designed to help you gain critical skills necessary to become an effective leader in the criminal justice field.
Our vision, mission, and student learning goals focus on the success of every single student. We offer in-person and online classes to give you flexibility in arranging your work and class schedules, and offer a focused program to help you complete your degree in a timely and cost-effective basis. Our goal is to keep the size of all classes small to help you engage with faculty members and interact with classmates in a productive learning environment.
Mission statement
The mission of NAU-Yuma’s Justice Studies department is to prepare students to become effective and ethical leaders in the criminal justice field through the development of managerial, problem solving, and leadership skills. Our faculty is committed to every student’s success. By promoting rigorous academic standards and high expectations for student achievement, our programs emphasize experiential learning, linking theory to specific problems relevant to law enforcement, the courts, and corrections.
Vision statement
NAU-Yuma’s Justice Studies department represents an innovative statewide model delivering in-person and online courses. Our programs are designed to meet the managerial demands of local, state, and federal government agencies, and aim to develop the core skills criminal justice practitioners need to succeed in the complex and rapidly changing environments of the 21st century.
Values
Our department values active learning and encourages its diverse faculty and students to adopt best practices that create an effective and engaging learning community in the traditional or online classroom.
Learning objectives
Upon completion of a program offered by NAU-Yuma’s Justice Studies department students will be able to:
- Demonstrate their managerial decision-making, leadership, problem solving, skills in various settings in the criminal justice field.
- Contribute to the effective managerial performance of their organization.
- Recognize the value and importance of ethics in the criminal justice field.
- Be familiar with professional development and training needs in the criminal justice field.
- Identify the main issues and conditions affecting the criminal justice field.
- Define the roles and skills necessary to manage change in organizations in the criminal justice field.
- Demonstrate a commitment to excellence in criminal justice.
Expand your opportunities in the Criminal Justice and Intelligence fields Accordion Closed
The bachelor’s degree in Justice Studies, Emphasis in Justice Administration or Intelligence Studies, provides students with the education and skills necessary to enter into, or seek promotion within, the criminal justice system in the areas of justice administration or intelligence studies. As a justice studies program, it assumes a philosophical approach to the ethical application of justice. As such, students are challenged to use ethical principles to address current issues facing the community criminal justice and intelligence fields.
- Complete your degree quickly- courses are offered year-round, in an on-line, accelerated, 8-week format. Some courses are also offered in a blended format at select community college campuses.
- Learn from the experts- all instructors have practitioner experience and advanced degrees
- Instructors also serve as student mentors, assisting with job related questions
- Internship opportunities are available
Bachelor’s in Justice Studies, emphasis in Justice Administration Accordion Closed
NAU’s Justice Studies, Justice Administration emphasis program is designed to prepare current and aspiring criminal justice practitioners to work and promote in the fields of law enforcement, the courts, and corrections. Core courses provide students with a foundational understanding of the criminal justice system, leadership, ethics, and criminal justice theory. In addition, diverse elective courses allow students to tailor their degree plan to their career goals.
Focus throughout the program is placed on the practical application of theory to practice, as we are committed preparing students to successfully work in the “real” criminal justice world.
Bachelor’s in Justice Studies, emphasis in Intelligence Studies Accordion Closed
NAU’s Justice Studies, Intelligence Studies emphasis program is designed to provide students with the most “relevant and responsive” intelligence studies coursework. With almost daily news reports of terrorist activity around the globe, new and emerging cyber security threats, and calls for reform in the U.S. intelligence community at the local, state, and federal level, the need for professionals with a background in Intelligence Studies is more apparent now than ever before. This program is designed to develop intelligence collectors, analysts, operators, and policy informers who are capable of critical thinking and analysis. Throughout the program, students will be exposed to an expansive body of reading material including research papers, legal case studies, commission reports, and position papers in order to develop the skills to discuss complex data and findings in meaningful ways.
In addition to completing core justice system courses, intelligence studies students tailor their degree to career goals and personal interests by selecting elective intelligence studies courses from a variety of interesting topics, such as the promotion of terrorist ideologies through social media, intelligence-led policing, and threats, vulnerabilities, and risks in intelligence.