Department of Criminology
M.S. in Criminology
Dr. Ruth E. Masters, Department Chair
Dr. Barbara Owen, Graduate Program Coordinator
A Premier Interactive Program
Since offering our first graduate criminology course in 1957, the Department of Criminology has become the most comprehensive master's degree program in criminology between Sacramento and Los Angeles, drawing students from all over the United States. Both graduate and undergraduate students contribute over 40,000 hours annually of free community service, primarily to regional criminal justice agencies, while the department's Justice Center continues to provide services to regional, state, and national criminal justice organizations. The recently organized Criminology Alumni Chapter now boasts a membership of over 100 men and women who provide opportunities for graduate students through internship and outreach programs. The Department of Criminology Advisory Board, comprised of high-ranking officials within the regional criminal justice system, local and regional politicians and policy makers, and influential members of the greater Fresno community, also provide our graduate students with many internship and research opportunities within their agencies and organizations. They also provide an invaluable opportunity for our students to network with local leaders. Indeed, many of the members of the Criminology Advisory Board are themselves graduates of our program. In 2007, CSU Fresno and the Department of Criminology received a Scientific Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The award allows us to support student scholarship and research fellowships and to offer a new and innovative graduate certificate program in Homeland Security. In 2008, we awarded 12 $4000 Scientific Leadership Award Scholarships and 4 $3000 Scientific Leadership Research Fellowships to graduate students. These students also travelled to Washington, D.C. for the DHS Scholars and Fellows Orientation at the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. Dr. Keith Clement is the director of this program and was instrumental in obtaining the grant from DHS. The department also offers a number of paid graduate student teaching and research assistantships. Additionally, foreign criminal justice travel programs are offered to graduate students for study of other criminal justice systems in short, intensive time periods. Recent trips have seen faculty and students travel to China, Scotland, Chile and in 2009, Thailand. These activities and opportunities are just some of what places the Department of Criminology at CSU Fresno among the premier criminology graduate programs in the nation.
Student Involvement
For the graduate student in Criminology, interacting with other graduates and professionals is critical to job placement upon graduation. To address these needs, our students founded, in 1990, the CSU Fresno chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the American Criminal Justice Association. This local chapter, Phi Omega Alpha, is extremely active on the local and national levels. Criminology students participate in regional conferences every fall and national conferences in the spring. For example, CSU Fresno students have presented papers and posters at the annual conferences of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and the American Society of Criminology.
CSU Fresno students take an active role in hosting conferences as well, such as the Forensics Conference, held during the fall semester of 1994. Criminology students have also established an excellent program for bringing knowledgeable speakers to conferences held both on and off campus. Special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, and the Department of Justice, have shared insight on the real world of corrections, law enforcement, investigation, and career advising.
On campus, Phi Omega Alpha provides students with all of the benefits of a fraternal organization: peer study groups, social events, and student interaction with local professionals and recent graduates. The chapter is also active in career seminars and the on-campus recruitment of those interested in the arena of criminal justice. In most instances, recently employed graduates with the M.S. degree in Criminology cite involvement with the professional fraternity as the launching pad into successful criminal justice careers.
Career Options
Upon completion of the advanced degree, a variety of opportunities await our graduates. Most enter directly into their chosen fields. Our graduates are employed in an impressive variety of local, state and national criminal justice agencies, and private industry. Some have gone on to teach at the community college level.
About one-quarter of our graduates decide to continue their education by entering Ph.D. programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Psychology, and Sociology. Most recently, for example, three of our recent graduates were accepted into one of the premier Criminal Justice Ph.D. programs in the United States, the State University of New York (SUNY), Albany. Other recent graduates have been accepted into prestigious Ph.D. programs at the University of California, Irvine and Arizona State University. The M.S. degree in Criminology is also an excellent preparatory program for students wishing to enter law school. Our students engage in master's theses and projects that are of great consequence to both California and the nation. Students have conducted research on such disparate areas as HIV infection among prison populations to women's vocational programs in prisons. Not coincidently, students who worked on these projects went on to careers with the Division of HIV Prevention with the New York State Department of Health and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, respectively. A recent graduate who examined the Serious Habitual Offender Program currently holds the position of Probation Services Manager for Fresno County. She directs several critical community programs and, through her leadership, has brought about many positive changes in program effectiveness.
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