Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice major or minor is for students who are interested in pursuing careers in law enforcement, corrections, probation and parole, courts, law, private security, corporate security, criminal forensics, crime scene processing, or crime and criminological research.

students interacting with a laptop computer in the quad

The Criminal Justice Program at Colorado Mesa University is undergoing some exciting changes in terms of newly acquired academic professors, expansion of available academic directions, student growth in both the criminal justice major degree distinctions, and in expanded course offerings. These changes are not only intended to meet the rapidly growing demand for academic programs in the various criminal justice disciplines, but also make Colorado Mesa University competitive with other criminal justice programs in the state of Colorado and surrounding areas.

Colorado Mesa University has made a deliberate and determined decision to recruit and acquire new Criminal Justice professors who bring to the classroom a balanced blend of the terminal degree of Ph.D., and a strong background of practical field experience in the criminal justice disciplines. This combination of academic rigor, along with field application of criminal justice principles and practices, is intended to provide students in the criminal justice program with strong academic degrees, as well as to make them highly marketable in the various criminal justice career fields in Colorado and across the U.S. Opportunities abound for research in the discipline and internships with local criminal justice agencies are also available.

students studying with one another

The academic directions available to students in the Criminal Justice Program at Colorado Mesa University are also expanding. The Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy (POST) now offers a new Criminal Justice - POST degree distinction. This program affords an opportunity for those students who wish to obtain both the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice degree and the POST certification simultaneously. Students completing this degree distinction will be immediately able to seek employment in law enforcement careers in Colorado.

Criminal Justice at Colorado Mesa University is growing and the changes are exciting. With growth and change also come the responsibility and the duty to provide the very best education possible for our students. The Criminal Justice Program at Colorado Mesa University is dedicated to ensuring that students achieve an interesting, and academically rigorous education. Our goal is to work as collaborative partners with our students to ensure that they are ultimately marketable and successful in their chosen criminal justice careers at either the local, state, or federal level.

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