“Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Their careers vary from police or probation officer to business analyst to fraud investigator,” says Will Pizio, Charles A. Dana Professor of Criminal Justice, Chair of the Justice and Policy Studies Department, and Director of Guilford's Master of Criminal Justice program.

The program attracts both criminal justice professionals seeking career advancement, as well as undergraduate students who want to further their education. A tuition discount is offered to all criminal justice professionals, including but not limited to uniformed officers, parole officers, probation officers, those working in the court system, and corrections officers. The program also seeks to attract undergraduate students who can gain valuable skills and credentials, helping them start off their professions on a stronger note and leading to higher salaries and increased opportunities for advancement. 

This is the only criminal justice graduate program in the Triad, and it offers a curriculum that’s theoretically grounded, empirically rigorous, policy oriented, and based on Guilford’s seven Core Values, especially justice and integrity. As an example, students learn about the importance of the relationship between communities and their systems of criminal justice. 

One of the unique advantages of this program is it’s only three semesters and one summer class when taken full time. The program is flexible; it can fit around the schedule of a student as well as accommodate those with full-time jobs by offering evening classes.

The program also offers an accelerated B.S. to M.S. for current undergraduate students enrolled at Guilford College. If accepted, they can take one graduate class in the fall and two graduate classes in the spring of their senior year, saving $7,200 and allowing them to finish their master’s degree only one year after receiving their bachelor’s degree. 

There are two options a student can take in regards to their thesis. The first would be identifying a problem in the criminal justice system in which students learn to identify complex problems within organizations and develop solutions that benefit both the organization and the citizens it serves. For those students looking to receive their Ph.D. in the future, the second option is to conduct an empirical study on their topic of interest. 

Guilford graduates enter the workforce with real applicable knowledge of what they can do to help the organization they’re interested in. This crucial expertise, as well as a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice, puts Guilford graduates above any other applicant in the hiring process. 

“For example, one student wrote a policy for a police department that focused on changing the leadership philosophy from a more traditional paramilitary focus to one that is based in transformative leadership philosophies. Another student wrote their thesis focusing on collaborations among criminal justice and banking organizations to identify human traffickers and reduce their ability to operate,” Will says. 

Additionally, students have written theses on reducing wrongful convictions, improving encounters between mentally ill citizens and police officers, and improving recruitment and retention among Native American policing organizations. 

Graduates are proving to be criminal justice leaders who embody Guilford’s Core Values. Many have used their master’s degree to enhance their professional opportunities and to contribute to improving the criminal justice system. Guilford also works to hire their master’s alumni as part-time faculty members.

“The program offers a unique opportunity to infuse Guilford’s values, principles, and traditions into a curriculum that prepares graduates to be leaders in the field,” Will says. “Program graduates will bring justice and integrity, among other values, to the criminal justice practice at a time when a higher level of professional service is desperately needed.”

Like all of Guilford’s programs, the Master’s in Criminal Justice offers a low faculty-to-student ratio, as well as faculty with diverse backgrounds and perspectives as scholars and practitioners in law enforcement, law, and corrections. It also emphasizes the important, transferable skills afforded by the liberal arts tradition, including advanced critical thinking, written and verbal communication, research skills, and solving ongoing problems and contemporary issues in criminal justice.

Are you interested in committing your career to solving real-world problems in the criminal justice profession? Learn more about the Master’s in Criminal Justice or apply now for the next cohort. For more information, contact mmcj@guilford.edu.