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Student Opportunities and Departmental Resources

Internships:  The Department participates in internships for students to explore the field of criminal justice. The internship allows students to gain "real-work" experiences which can help them secure jobs in the field following graduation. Many students are offered jobs by their placement agencies during or immediately following the completion of their internship. Notable internships have included placements with the Organization of American States, the U.S.Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the federal Department of State, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Law EnforcementTraining Center, and the Indiana State Police.                                                                                               

Crime Lab:  The crime lab provides opportunities for students to see how evidence obtained in the field is identified and/or analyzed. The crime lab allows "hands on" experience with forensic laboratory techniques at 24 work stations.

Students Attend Professional Conferences:  Students routinely accompany faculty members to professional conferences where the students have an opportunity to visit and tour local criminal justice agencies, to meet students from other criminology and criminal justice departments, and to hear criminology and criminal justice faculty members from Indiana State University and other universities present papers. Our graduate students themselves routinely present scholarly papers at national conferences.

Specialized Courses:  In addition to its regular curriculum, the department offers a variety of symposia to address special needs and interests in the field. Such courses have included "Satanic Cults and Hate Groups," "Serial and Mass Murderers," "Law of the Family: Husbands, Wives, Parents and Children," "Women in the Criminal Justice System," "Minorities in the Criminal Justice System," "Enforcing Environmental Laws," "Comparative Criminal Law," "Legal Aspects of Private Security," "Drug and Alcohol Use and Crime," "Advanced Criminalistics" and  "Terrorism."

Journals: The Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice is proud to host or support three prestigious journals. Dr. Mark Hamm serves as associate editor for Crime Media Culture: An International Journal (http://cmc.sagepub.com) which focuses on crime, media, and culture. Dr. David Polizzi is the editor of The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology (www.jtpcrim.org) which focuses on connecting theory to practice.

Conferences: The Department hosts periodic seminars and conferences on a variety of topical issues. We are also pleased to host the annual International Crime, Media & Popular Culture Studies Conference: A Cross Disciplinary Exploration each year. Authors, researchers, and students from around the world meet to discuss the effect of media and culture on crime and society.

Faculty:  Many of our faculty members have worked in the criminal justice field and are able to weave both theory and practice into their classroom presentations. Several of our faculty members have been elected to offices in state, regional, and national professional associations. Some faculty have research grants which allow students to work on field research projects. One of our faculty members has gained a national reputation as a writer and has won a number of awards for his publications. Our faculty have served as consultants to the National Institute of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Navy, Army, and Air Force, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Private Detectives' Association ofSpain, the Indiana State Police, the Alabama Highway Patrol, the Indiana Department of Correction, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Indiana Sheriffs' Association, the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, the Indiana State Coroners Training Board, the IndianaCampus Law Enforcement Administrators Association, the Indiana Association of Community Corrections Act Counties, the Hudson Institute, and numerous criminal justice agencies of local government.

International Studies and Students:  The Department participates with the University of Zagreb in a joint study program. American students have opportunities to study in Croatia, and Croatian students study on the campus of ISU. The faculty of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice has opportunities to teach in the criminology program at the University of Zagreb. The Department has always had a significant enrollment of international students from countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, China, Japan, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Mexico,Venezuela, France, Italy, Germany and Canada. These international students are often practitioners who have taken professional leaves of absence to pursue degrees in the United States. Their presence in the classroom enriches the experience of American students by exposing them to other cultures, other criminal justice systems, and other ideas about law and justice. Our international alumni include an assistant superintendent of police in Sabah Province, Malaysia; the assistant to the governor of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the associate warden of a major prison in Lagos, Nigeria; a professor at the Venezuelan national military academy; and many senior police officers in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Malaysia.

School of Criminology and Security Studies

Contact

School of Criminology and Security Studies
Holmstedt Hall 210
620 Chestnut St
Terre Haute, IN 47809
Phone: 812.237.2192
Fax: 812-237-2407
ISU-Criminology@indstate.edu
Google Map: Holmstedt Hall (HH)