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Columns::February 17, 2003
Mid-year external grants and contracts up by 17.2 percent
UGA receives $3.28 million from Nunnally Trust Fund
Ninth international symposium will explore ‘Globalization and Change in Central Asia’
Seeds of undergraduate humor win prizes at flower show
Proposals for engineering degrees, institute sent to Board of Regents
Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters to host Peabody luncheon
Residence hall sign-up now on line
Professor researches true picture of UGA's minority grad students
Kudos
Retirees
Can ethics be taught?
Working on the campus master plan
Campus News
Law and order
Criminal justice studies at UGA marks its 25th anniversary
By Phil Williams
phil@franklin.uga.edu
Next week the UGA campus can help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the criminal justice studies program with a Crime Film
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Susette Talarcio
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Festival. Several free movies will be shown at the Tate Student Center on Feb. 24 and 25, and there will be a lecture by a noted criminologist. Films scheduled include White Heat, Strangers on a Train, Cape Fear and Psycho. On Feb. 26, a fifth film, Silence of the Lambs, will be shown for $3 admission.
Nicole Rafter, author of Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society, will speak about “Badfellas: Movie Psychos, Popular Culture and Law” on Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. Times of film showings will be detailed in the UGA Guide in next week’s Columns.
The Crime Film Festival, and other events scheduled during the year, mark the growth and success of the criminal justice study program at UGA, now providing professional training in criminal justice for 25 years.
“This program was a gateway for me to a career in the study of criminal justice,” says Jennifer Graff, now a senior security specialist contracted to the U.S. Department of State. “With the utilization of the education, tools and encouragement offered to me through the staff of the CJSP, I was able to find my place within my field and was fueled with the motivation to get there. Without the direction of staff and peers within the program, it is possible that my career and my future may have taken a different path.”
John Heinen, now special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and another successful graduate of the program, agrees. He also teaches criminal justice classes for Valdosta State University, and his GBI duties involve supervising the regional office in Douglas that covers 11 counties and two drug task forces.
“The thing that really impressed me from day one about the program is how it makes such a big campus like UGA seem a little smaller and more personal,” he says. “Professionally, the program was an excellent base of knowledge for my chosen career. The requirement of an internship, I think, is one of the program’s greatest assets.”
“We are delighted to be celebrating this anniversary, and the Criminal Justice Studies Program is in sound health, with robust enrollments and excellent student performance,” says Susette Talarico, director of the program and professor of political science. “Our program’s graduates continue to have distinguished careers in criminal justice agencies at all levels of government.”
The criminal justice studies program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate instructional program in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, though it is also affiliated with the newly established School of Public and International Affairs. Courses are drawn from such areas as psychology, sociology and history in the Franklin College and from political science, which is in SPIA.
About 170 students are majoring in criminal justice studies and another 40 are earning a minor. Each year, graduates go on to the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Criminal justice studies also carries on the name of Sherry Lyons-Williams, the first Atlanta woman police officer killed in the line of duty and a graduate of the program, through a scholarship in her name. While such dangers often come with jobs in law enforcement, graduates of the UGA program praise it for preparing them well.
The 25th anniversary year kicked off with an alumni panel in October and a lecture by Allen Ault of the National Institute of Corrections in November. The Crime Film Festival takes place in February. On March 28 a law enforcement seminar will be led by Bill Curley, a retired supervisor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Other events may be scheduled as well.
In addition to Talarico, who has directed the program since 1984, current faculty members include Susan Haire and Jeff Yates from political science; David Shaffer from psychology; David Warner from economics; and Jody Clay-Warner, Mark Cooney, Tom McNulty, Dean Rojek and Martha Myers from sociology. On-site staff members include Talarico, internship coordinator Elaine Weeks, academic adviser Ned Phares and office manager Dori Porter.
Heinen praises the way the program is run.
“It has been my observation, both personally and professionally, that Dr. Talarico has never and will never settle for mediocrity and just staying at the level of simply meeting requirements,” he says. “She constantly pushes herself to give her best, and it shows through her teaching, the curriculum and the criminal justice-related organizations and events. This excellence is also reflected by her staff as well.”
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