Faculty and alumni say that, through real-life opportunities and experiential learning, the Baldwin Wallace University criminal justice program provides students with a beneficial education that prepares them for their future careers.
Criminal justice is one of the most consistently studied majors at Baldwin Wallace University. The major aims to help students explore the psychological, sociological and political factors that contribute to criminal behavior and other important issues within the justice system.
“If you have an interest in criminal justice, every day is just delicious here,” Carol Gregory, director of criminal justice at the university, said.
Gregory said she credits the persistent interest in the major to the many opportunities BW provides for students, as the major focuses not only on instructional learning, but also emphasizes learning through experience.
“We really understand that the criminal justice major is an applied major,” Gregory said. “People are going to learn criminal justice, and then they’re going to go out and [practice] criminal justice.”
Gregory said that the criminal justice department offers a wide range of real-life, experiential learning opportunities for its students.
“We work really hard to make sure that we’re connecting them with hands-on criminal justice opportunities,” Gregory said. “Internships, ride-alongs, observation days, bringing people into the classrooms.”
Some of the opportunities criminal justice students have access to include partnering with police agencies, surveillance work and working with the Secret Service.
“The Secret Service has consistently worked with us. We have had five students get jobs as federal agents in three years,” Gregory said.
Gehrig Stanley, a BW alumnus who majored in criminal justice and was president of the Crime Society, said his interest in the field began with a guest speaker in his first-year sociology class who was a police officer working on human trafficking cases.
“She was really inspirational,” Stanley said. “She shined a light onto the tougher aspects of [criminal justice].”
Stanley said that the experiential learning provided by the program greatly aided him after college, and that his experience at BW was beneficial.
“The coursework is mainly research based, and if it isn’t, then subject matter experts will come in and talk about their field. That really helped,” Stanley said. “The criminal justice major really does provide you with a lot of valuable experience. You’ll always be able to get a job out of college, or at least an internship.”
