A. Dave Camp reported on the status of the Ph.D. Criminal Justice program being developed at Georgia State University. Following administrative changes at GSU, attention is again on the proposed Ph.D. program, and he asked for this Committee’s support. A pre-proposal for in-house use is being prepared and will probably be ready to be sent to Committee members in January or February. Camp agreed to send it as an attachment to Lee Downing who will forward it to the Committee members for each of us to refer to in writing individual letters of support. The purpose of these letters is to add weight for the acceptance of the proposal by showing the approval and desire for the Ph.D. program that exists in individual CJ programs across the state. These letters would then accompany the formal proposal that would be processed through the administration of GSU and on to the Board of Regents.

The Committee voted to also send a letter of support from the Committee as a whole, to be written by the Chair and modified and approved by the Committee’s executive committee, following its examination and satisfaction with the pre-proposal.

B. Paul Horton was unable to attend this meeting but emailed the information that the CJ Program at Perimeter College has now been established and is in operation. Additional information is available at http://www.gpc.edu/~gpccj

C. The status of Criminal Justice programs in meeting BOR mandated course related requirements for Area F and the discipline’s prefix was revisited. The charges to the Committee have been and continue to be to respond to these matters. Dennis Cook reported that Dalton State College’s introductory Criminal Justice course 2201 has now been changed to CRJU 1100. The other three colleges and universities that had been using the wrong figure had no representative at this meeting. They are East Georgia College (using 2501), Armstrong Atlantic State University (using 1010), and Fort Valley State University (using 2000). Augusta, unrepresented, was using the wrong prefix. As the numbering system is used by USG in determining distribution of funds it is important that all CJ programs be in compliance. University of Georgia has no Introduction to Criminal Justice course and there was no representative at this meeting.

D. Lee Downing, as promised at the last Committee meeting, has added a link to the Comprehensive Program Review done at his school, North Georgia College & State University, to the CJAG web page where it is available to be used as a model by other CJ programs whenever they have to do their reviews. In the unlikely event of a USG request for a review of a particular program, such as a graduate program that is triggered by low enrollments, the Committee’s members are a possible source of assistance in bolstering enrollments or assisting with a justification for the program’s continuation.

E. Dave Camp reported that the GSU elective under Area E of core course requirements (includes social science options or electives), discussed last Committee meeting, has now been approved by the BOR and as of this Fall is being taught. This is the first Criminal Justice course in Georgia to be in Area E. He described the approach that had won approval within GSU, and he reported that the course leans toward sociology, is drawing mostly non-majors, and is being taught differently by the two instructors who are teaching sections of it. He agreed to forward a copy of a syllabus for the course to Lee Downing for distribution to members of the Committee should they want to try to start a course in Area E, something that has been encouraged by the Committee and that Cathy Hudson of USG has said she would support.

3. Report on AAC Executive Committees meeting and the Charges to this Committee.

Hill Harper reported on the issues and the charges covered in the October 2^nd2003 annual meeting or workshop of the Academic Advisory Committees Executive Committees with staff of USG, held at Macon (minutes at http://www.usg.edu/admin/comm/cj/). He distributed a handout on the charges from the USG staff.

The overall thrust of the meeting was that times are getting still harder but demands on us can be expected to increase. A 2.5% reduction of all USG funds in 2004 will be made and there is a proposed 5% reduction on top of that for 2005, while at the same time the system’s schools are sustaining a growth of 50,000 students over a three year period and not receiving the $211 million that would have ordinarily been added to the budget through the Legislature approved formula. The monies lost now are unlikely to be added to the funding base whenever the economy improves. The acceptance of reductions without complaint is a testimony to faculty and administrations’ recognition of economic realities, but it has not served us well in some quarters as some legislators are saying that as we have not complained that means more reductions can be made. We need to complain, just to let the public and our legislators know what they and we are losing. Worse, there are legislators who adamantly maintain that faculty have a lighter work load as a result of the 1996 change over from the quarter system to the semester system (12 courses per year to 10 courses per year). The USG has created a new Committee to establish workload requirements to deal with this problem.

The item that generated the most response from the executive committees members was the USG’s announcement that it is developing a computerized program in which colleges and universities work out what courses they will accept from each other and in what form so that the immense number of transfer students will experience a smooth and automatic transfer of credits for specific courses. This program has just begun to be developed and is being called the Multi-Institutional Functionality Project (MIF). Committee members can expect to hear more about MIF.

An announcement was made of competitive monetary awards to help with units (such as a CJ program) who are eligible to win for their international programs. These awards are supposed to be weighted so that large schools such as UG or large Departments do not garner all of them. Some Committee members showed an interest in these awards and the address where they can find more information was circulated: http://webct.usg.edu/webct/public/home.pl?action-print_home

The same Charges to the AACs as was given last year was given again, and it is the one covered above about the course prefix and numbering under unfinished business.

4. Certificate programs in Criminal Justice

The USG at the meeting above asked for information on certificate programs at the different schools. These take many forms, but if they are over 21 hours they are supposed to be BOR approved, and many may not be. An USG committee headed by Frank Butler has been formed to try to enumerate and categorize certificate programs. He said that “the intent is to be helpful not restrictive.”

Members of this Committee described the certificate programs that are in use at their schools that are for or include CJ majors. Among those reporting certificate programs were Darton, Middle College, Columbus State, and Atlanta Metropolitan.

5. Bachelor of Applied Science Degrees at two-year colleges.

There has been a growth in CJ programs at technical schools and of the BAS degree at two-year colleges. Questions were raised about whether there were BAS degrees in Criminal Justice, how these programs work, and whether the students are informed that credits earned may not be counted toward a four-year degree. A committee composed of Lee Downing, Dorinda Dowis, and Charles Ochie was appointed to gather information, make recommendations, and report to the executive committee.

6. Other business: New Information from CJ Programs

A. New unofficial representatives of two schools were recognized. Rhonda Morgan of Gordon who has taught business law and other courses at that school is now teaching Criminal Justice courses and is hopeful of further development of the program. There is a 2 + 2 program between Gordon and Columbus, and the representative from Columbus met with Morgan following the meeting.

Heather Perfetti described the developments in Criminal Justice at Darton, which appeared to be substantial.

B. Charles Ochie described the success of Albany State’s degree in forensic science, and the development of a full time internship program for which students receive some compensation for their expenses.

C. Lee Downing said that North Georgia College & State University was discontinuing Criminal Justice course offerings at Gainesville College.

D. Ron Hunter announced that he is a Delegate at Large for our region for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) and that he would be happy to help the Committee and its members as a liaison with ACJS in any way he can.

6. Election

As at the last elections in February of this year Hill Harper was elected to serve not only as Chair through the this meeting but through that of November 2004 as well, an election was held to select the Chair Elect who will become Chair following the November 2004 meeting and on through the November 2005 meeting. Lee Downing was elected. Eugene Bouley continues to serve on the executive committee.

7. Criminal Justice Association of Georgia (CJAG)

Application forms, to be held until notification of CJAG as officially a legal entity, were circulated, and on receipt as specified on the form the new member will receive a certificate as a founding member of CJAG. Notice was given that there would be a vote on the association’s incorporation and a constitution at its business meeting on Saturday. Everyone was encouraged to attend. Information on CJAG can be obtained at http://www.ngcsu.edu/CJAG/cjag.

8. Meeting November 2004.

The coming meeting of the Criminal Justice Academic Advisory Committee will be held at the Mulberry Inn, Savannah, Thursday November 11, 2004.

9. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30.