Department of Criminology

DIVISION OF LIBERAL ARTS

UPPER IOWA UNIVERSITY

The criminology program at Upper Iowa measures its success or failure based on how well our students demonstrate the usefulness of our program through their employment in the justice system or their continued study in graduate / law school.  Students who successfully complete the Criminology major at Upper Iowa University have demonstrated competency in class work, internships, and research required by the program.  To date, students completing our program have been very successful in each of the above areas.  Of particular interest is that most of our graduates are able to rapidly progress through their vocations and earn promotion at a rapid rate.   

Criminology is a field of study focused on understanding the broad relationships we call justice in American Society.  We allow students to concentrate on personal interests in the areas of law, law enforcement, and corrections and at the same time demonstrate understanding of how each element is interconnected to the whole.

Theoretically, students will be guided to an understanding of the motivations, excuses, explanations, reasons, patterns, attributes, and relationships thought to be the causes of crime.  The student will learn the strengths and weaknesses of each of the perspectives on criminal causality and be able to evaluate each in its turn.

The program provides a balance between the practical elements of each functioning component and the role each component plays in the broader justice system.  Course work initially focuses on individual elements and progresses to the more abstract elements of the system.

We use both qualitative and quantitative methodologies with each learner to accomplish these goals.  It is vitally important that the student be able to discriminate between superstition, myth, tradition, folk ways, and reality.  To this end we guide the student through the maze of purported research, in the hope that they will be able to rationally evaluate each.  This requires an understanding of research methodologies, the history, origin, and nature of data in order to convert the raw data into usable information.

The goal of our program is to ensure that students emerge from Upper Iowa with the clear potential to provide added value to what ever field or pursuit they choose to follow.  To date we are very proud of our record in this area and anticipate continuing our tradition of excellence through our students contributions.

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