Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 I. Introduction to Department/Program A. Department Mission Statement The Department of Law and Justice offers an important social science component of the university's liberal arts and professional preparation curricula. Through its major and minor courses of study the department provides instruction and experiences through which students develop an understanding of the perspectives, content, and methodology in law and justice-related disciplines. We endeavor to ensure that graduates have the analytical ability, theoretical orientation, skill and knowledge to pursue law enforcement, corrections, or paralegal related careers; or to continue their educations in law school or graduate school. In the context of a dynamic society, this mission is achieved by providing students with (a) a broad background in the history, philosophy, and current trends in law and society with a particular emphasis on diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and sexual orientation issues; (b) instruction and opportunities to collaborate with faculty in research and scholarly activities; (c) the ability to think critically and ethically about issues and research in criminal justice, (d) and opportunities to obtain practical experience in public or private sector agencies that address law and justice issues. We consider careers in law and justice primarily as helping professions and our overarching goal is to provide qualified personnel for the betterment of society. Our faculty is always cognizant of the need to instill in our students the utmost respect for the rights of the individual in pursuing the duties entrusted to them in their professional roles. In addition to offering educational opportunities to students at the Ellensburg campus, the department provides courses to place-bound students in the western and central regions of the state at university centers in Yakima, Des Moines, Lynnwood, and Pierce County. The department also serves as a center for scholarly inquiry related to law and justice. Finally, the department is committed to providing services that respond to the needs of law and justice agencies and programs, and to the community and the state. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 1 B. Brief description of department and program contexts including date of last review. The Law and Justice Department grew out of a multidisciplinary program of courses offered by psychology, political science and sociology based in the Political Science Department. In the early 1990’s development of a more traditional criminal justice curriculum was set up as the Department of Law and Justice with specializations in law enforcement and corrections, followed by paralegal/pre-law. The addition of this paralegal/pre-law specialization moved the department away from traditional criminal justice and toward law and social justice issues. The department only offers upper division courses at the 300 and 400 level. In 2000, a comprehensive law and justice curriculum was created with psychology, political science, and sociology supplementing the curriculum as elective courses. In 2002, a M.A. in Law and Justice was approved by the University and the Washington State Higher Education Board. It has yet to be implemented. The paralegal/pre-law specialization was changed to legal studies in 2006. The date of the last program review was 2003-2004. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 2 C. Description of departmental governance system and organizational chart for department. The department is headed by the chair who is provided administrative support from the secretary senior, and seeks guidance in decision making from the faculty During this assessment period, Law and Justice Associate Professor Jim Roberts continued as chair in Fall quarter, 2003, and then beginning winter quarter 2004 through spring 2006, Psychology Professor and Associate Dean of the College of the Sciences, Phil Tolin served as chair until his phased retirement. From academic year 2006-2007 through 2007-2008, Law and Justice Associate Professor Mary Ellen Reimund served as chair, while based at the Des Moines Center, as well as serving as director of that center. She resigned as chair in spring 2008. For academic year 2008-2009, former Department chair, Law and Justice Professor Charles Reasons, has been elected chair. Each center (Des Moines, Lynnwood, Pierce County and Yakima) has a tenured/tenure track faculty member serving as director. In addition to the senior secretary, in 2005, a part-time office assistant was added. In fall of 2006, the senior secretary for the past 6 years left the department to pursue a criminal justice career. The past two years have been one of transition and stabilization. In fall 2007, part of the responsibilities of the part time office assistant became pre-admission advising in order to bridge the gap between admission to the major and assignment to faculty advisor. In spring 2008, the secretary senior transferred to another department, and the person holding pre-admission advising/office assistant was promoted to secretary senior while continuing in the pre-admission advising role. This person also left the department the end of summer, 2008. In fall 2008, CWU alumni Sharon Talley filled the secretary senior position, and Crystal Boothman filled the part time office assistant/preadmission advising position. (See organizational chart) Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 3 Organizational Chart 2008-2009 Department of Law and Justice Chair Charles Reasons (Professor) Staff Faculty Charles Reasons (Professor) Ellensburg Sharon Talley (Secretary Senior) Crystal Boothman (Office Assistant III) Mike Olivero (Professor) Sarah Britto (Assoc Prof) James Roberts (Assoc Prof) Teresa Francis (Assist Prof) Cathy Busha (Full-time Lecturer) (Adjuncts) Des Moines Center Director: Mary Ellen Reimund (Assoc Prof) (Adjuncts) Lynnwood Center Director: Krystal Noga (Assist Prof) Robert Moore (Full-time Lecturer) (Adjuncts) Pierce Center Director: Key Sun (Assoc Prof) (Adjuncts) Yakima Center Director: Rodrigo Murataya (Assoc Prof) (Adjuncts) Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 4 D Department Program 1. Department goals. a. Assure the presentation of high quality programs. b. Build partnerships to support academic program quality and enhance student experiences c. Assure faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites. d. Support the involvement of students in scholarly activities. e. Enhance the climate of productive faculty scholarship. f. Serve as a center for services to the community and the region. g. Promote and enhance an environment of diversity, equity, social justice and cultural responsiveness. 2. Relationship of each department goal to relevant college and university strategic goals. The mission, goals and values of the Law and Justice Department are consistent with both the mission of Central Washington University and the mission of the College of the Sciences. Together, these three mission statements guide the activities and plans of the Law and Justice Department. a. The LAJ goal of assuring the presentation of high quality programs relates to College Goals 1 & 2 – Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience in COTS, college programs and courses at university centers and Goal 7 – Create and sustain productive, civil, and pleasant learning environments and University Goals 1 & 2 – Maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life on Ellensburg and University Center campuses and Goal 6. Build inclusive and diverse campus communities that promote intellectual inquiry and encourage civility, mutual respect, and cooperation. b. The LAJ goal of building partnerships to support academic program quality and enhance student experiences relates to College Goals 1 & 2 – Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience in COTS, college programs and courses at university centers and Goal 5 – Build partnerships that support academic program quality and student experiences in the college of sciences including those with private, professional, academic, government, and community based organizations and University Goals 1 & 2 – Maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life on Ellensburg and University Center campuses and Goal 4 Build mutually beneficial partnerships with the public sector, industry, professional and the communities surrounding our campus communities groups, institutions. c. The LAJ Goal of assuring faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites relates to College Goals 1 & 2 – Provide for an Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 5 outstanding academic and student experience in COTS, college programs and courses at university centers and University Goals 1 & 2 – Maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life on Ellensburg and University Center campuses. d. The LAJ Goal of supporting the involvement of students in scholarly activities relates to College Goals 1 & 2 – Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience in COTS, college programs and courses at university centers and Goal 5 – Build partnerships that support academic program quality and student experiences in the college of sciences, including those with private, professional, academic, government, and community based organizations and University Goals University Goals 1 & 2 – Maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life on Ellensburg and University Center campuses. e. The LAJ Goal of enhancing the climate of productive faculty scholarship relates to College Goals 1 & 2 – Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience in COTS, college programs and courses at university centers and University Goals University Goals 1 & 2 – Maintain and strengthens an outstanding academic and student life on Ellensburg and University Center campuses. f. The LAJ Goal of serving as a center for services to the community and the region relates to College Goal 5 – Build partnerships that support academic program quality and student experiences in the college of sciences, including those with private, professional, academic, government, and community based organizations and University Goal - Build mutually beneficial partnerships with the public sector, industry, professional groups, institutions, and the communities surrounding our campus communities. g. The Law and Justice goal of promoting and enhancing an environment of diversity, equity, sound justice and cultural responsibility reflects University strategic goal 6 of building inclusive and diverse campus communities. 3. Data used to measure (assess) goal attainment. a. Assure the presentation of high quality programs. Method of Assessment: i. Artifact of Core Courses; LAJ 300 Short Paper, LAJ 302 Legal Brief, LAJ 303 Law Library Assignment, LAJ 400 Research project, LAJ 401 Reaction paper, LAJ 451 Theory paper or PowerPoint Presentation. Students taking LAJ 300, 302, 303, 400, 401, 451 are assessed. ii. Survey of Internship Supervisors iii. Alumni Survey iv. Peer review of tenured/tenure faculty and full time lecturer syllabi at department’s annual assessment day in spring quarter for required content. Chair and personnel committee review of part-time lecturer syllabi for required content as part of annual evaluation. v. SEOI average for department Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 6 b. Build partnerships to support academic program quality and enhance student experiences Method of Assessment: i. Number of student internships using enrollment records for LAJ 490 at time of cyclical program review and employer evaluation ii. Guest speakers in LAJ Classes c. Assure faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites. Method of Assessment: i. Monitor class sizes by evaluating enrollment records ii. Monitor number of advisees per faculty using advisee numbers iii. Monitor ratios of lecturers to tenured/tenure track annually d. Support the involvement of students in scholarly activities. Method of Assessment: i. Professional meeting papers and presentations with students as authors / coauthors. ii. Student presentations and research-via SOURCE and local symposia. iii. Track student enrollment in directed research LAJ 495 and research related LAJ 496 individual study iv. Membership in Alpha Phi Sigma, Criminal Justice Honorary local affiliate, Beta Tau Nu, of the National Criminal Justice Honor Society. v. From 2000 on, we recognize outstanding student scholarship at our annual student awards ceremonies before spring graduation honoring an outstanding Eastside and Westside student and an outstanding student from each center. e. Enhance the climate of productive faculty scholarship. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty publications of all tenured and tenure track faculty ii. Faculty scholarly presentations of all tenured and tenure track faculty iii. Faculty participation in professional conferences/training of all tenured and tenure track faculty iv. Internal grants applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty v. External grant applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty vi. Faculty awards and honors vii. Sabbatical leave Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 7 f. Serve as a center for services to the community and the region. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty involvement in community service activities ii. Faculty membership on local, state, national boards or committees iii. From 2000 on, we recognize alumni service to the community by awarding annually an Eastside and Westside Alumni of the Year Award. g. Promote and enhance an environment of diversity, equity, social justice and cultural responsibility. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty diversity ii. Student diversity iii. Departmental courses iv. Faculty / Student research/publications v. Faculty / Student community involvement 4. Description of the criterion of achievement (standard of mastery) for each goal. a. Assure the presentation of high quality programs. Method of Assessment: i. Artifact of Core Courses; LAJ 300 Short Paper, LAJ 302 Legal Brief, LAJ 303 Law Library Assignment, LAJ 400 Research project, LAJ 401 Reaction paper, LAJ 451 Theory paper or PowerPoint Presentation. Students taking LAJ 300, 302, 303, 400, 401, 451 are assessed. Criterion of achievement: i. Rubrics have been created for LAJ 400, 401 and 451. These were used for the first time spring 2008 when the assessment committee evaluated artifacts collected 2007-2008. The faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement at 60% of students receiving an “adequate” (2) or above (3) ranking on each of the skills measured in the rubrics in the spring of 2008. Once this is achieved the goal should be raised to 75%. Rubrics are being developed for LAJ 300, 302 and 303 for use when the assessment committee evaluates artifacts collected 2008-2009 for the first time spring 2009. Method of Assessment: ii. Survey of Internship Supervisors Criterion of achievement: ii. The faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement of our students average score being 4 or above on a 5 point scale for the employer evaluation of student interns in the spring of 2008. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 8 Method of Assessment: iii. Alumni Survey Criterion of achievement: iii. No criterion of achievement has been set for the Alumni Survey results. Establishing a criterion of achievement for the Alumni Survey is on the agenda for the Assessment Committee at their spring meeting. This criterion will then be brought to the LAJ Department for a vote. Method of Assessment: iv. Peer review of tenured/tenure faculty and full time lecturer syllabi. Criterion of achievement: iv. Checklist of required syllabi content completed with suggestions for improvements provided to faculty for incorporation into future syllabi. At a yearly meeting, the LAJ tenured, tenure track faculty and full time lecturers review one syllabus of their peers to ensure that all required elements are clearly stated and the learning objectives complement the learner outcomes measured in the assessment plan and offer suggestions for faculty implementation. Quarterly, required elements of the syllabus and other departmental policies are sent out to part time lecturers with the chair and personnel committee annually reviewing part-time lecturer syllabi for required content as part of annual performance evaluation. Method of Assessment: v. SEOI average for department Criterion of achievement: v. Our faculty average is above that of the college and university. b. Build partnerships to support academic program quality and enhance student experiences Method of Assessment: i. Number of student internships using enrollment records for LAJ 490 at time of cyclical program review and employer evaluation. Criterion of achievement: i. Faculty supervise internships each year and at least 10% of students are involved and students average 4 on a 5 point evaluation scale by emloyers. Method of Assessment: ii. Guest speakers in LAJ Classes Criterion of achievement: ii. Average number of Guest Speakers average three plus (3+) per faculty per year. c. Assure faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites. Method of Assessment: i. Monitor class sizes by evaluating enrollment records Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 9 Criterion of achievement: i. Reach the College average for 300 and 400 level classes. Method of Assessment: ii. Monitor number of advisees per faculty. Criterion of achievement: ii. Reach the College average. Method of Assessment: iii. Monitor ratios of lecturers to tenured/tenure track annually and at time of cyclical program review. Criterion of achievement: iii. Reach the College average. d. Support the involvement of students in scholarly activities. Method of Assessment: i. Count professional meeting papers and presentations with student authors and co-authors. Criterion of achievement: i. At least one student presentation per year. Method of Assessment: ii. Count student and faculty participation in local symposia, poster sessions, and SOURCE participation. Criterion of achievement: ii. At least one student presentation per year Method of Assessment: iii. Track student enrollment in directed research LAJ 495 and research related LAJ 496 individual study. Criterion of achievement: iii. All faculty are involved with such students during the review period. Method of Assessment: iv. Membership in Alpha Phi Sigma, Criminal Justice Honorary by annually counting student members. Criterion of achievement: iv. At least 15 new members each year. e. Enhance the climate of productive faculty scholarship. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty publications of all tenured and tenure track faculty Criterion of achievement: i. An average of one quarter of faculty are publishing each year Method of Assessment: ii. Faculty scholarly presentations of all tenured and tenure track faculty Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 10 Criterion of achievement: ii. An average of one half of faculty are presenting each year Method of Assessment: iii. Faculty participation in professional conferences of all tenured and tenure track faculty Criterion of achievement: iii. An average of two faculty are participating in professional conferences each year Method of Assessment: iv. Internal grants applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty Criterion of achievement: iv. An average of one application each year Method of Assessment: v. External grant applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty Criterion of achievement: v. An average of one application each year Method of Assessment: vi. Faculty awards and honors Criterion of achievement: vi. An average of one each year f. Serve as a center for services to the community and the region. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty involvement in community service activities Criterion of achievement: i. All faculty are involved in community service Method of Assessment: ii. Faculty membership on local, state, national boards or committees Criterion of achievement: ii. At least 20% of faculty are on boards or committees g. Promote and enhance diversity Method of Assessment: i. Faculty diversity Criterion of achievement: i. Faculty reflect diversity of state Method of Assessment: ii. Student diversity Criterion of achievement: ii. Students reflect diversity of state Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 11 Method of Assessment: iii. Departmental courses Criterion of achievement: iii. Most courses have a section on diversity issues, while more courses are offered dealing with diversity issues. Method of Assessment: iv. Faculty research/publication Criterion of achievement: iv. At least one half of faculty are involved in research/publication on diversity. Method of Assessment: v. Faculty community involvement Criterion of achievement: v. At least one third of faculty are involved in related community involvement Method of Assessment: vi. Student research/community involvement Criterion of achievement: vi. No criterion established as of yet. 5. Describe the major activities that enabled goal attainment. The major activities which have enabled us to reach many of our goals are listed on page pps; 51 and 52, VII A. What has gone well in the department and degree programs. Of particular significance is the additional of three tenure track faculty since the last review. E. Results for each department goal 1. Results in specific quantitative or qualitative terms a. Assure the presentation of high quality programs. In March of 2006 the Assessment Plan for the Law and Justice Department was approved by the LAJ faculty (this can be found in Appendix A). This began a one year pilot of the data collection methods. The initial artifacts that were collected during this time period were used to develop rubrics for 3 of the LAJ core courses (LAJ 400, LAJ 401, and LAJ 451). The Assessment Committee also met with Tom Henderson, CWU Director of Testing and Assessment in the summer of 2007 to discuss revisions to the Assessment Plan and to generate new ideas about how to assess the Law and Justice Program. This meeting resulted in a modification of the data collection schedule, where the core courses were placed in a two year rotation, resulting in artifacts from every core course being evaluated during a two year period. The 2007-2008 academic year marked the first year where artifacts were quantitatively evaluated using rubrics. The results of this analysis were shared with the faculty during the spring quarter faculty Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 12 meeting. The full assessment reports for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, along with the rubrics, can be found in Appendix B. Method of Assessment: i. 2007-2008 Artifact of Core Courses; LAJ 400 Research project, LAJ 401 Reaction paper, LAJ 451 Theory paper or PowerPoint Presentation. Some suggestions resulting from this process included making sure the related learning objectives of the department were sufficiently addressed in the core courses, to develop assignments that were more consistent across sections of the same core course, and to continue to approve, develop and utilize rubrics to assess the learning objectives in each of the core courses. The pilot year also demonstrated several weaknesses in the original LAJ assessment plan, which has been revised to improve on the ability of the LAJ department to adequately and consistently measure learner outcomes both on the Ellensburg campus and at the centers. Some improvements to the plan included creating a realistic timeline, which focuses on specific core courses each quarter, for systematically collecting data in Ellensburg and at the centers. Table 1: Rubric Results for Ethics, Conflict and Diversity (LAJ 401)* Total Ellen. Des Mo. Lynn Pierce Communication Skills 57.2% 62.5% 42.9% 87.5% 20.0% Ethical Theories 39.3% 37.5% 42.9% 50.0% 20.0% Ethical Reasoning 42.8% 50.0% 42.9% 62.5% 0.0% Policy and Practical Implications 32.1% 0.0% 0.0% 62.5% 80.0% Historical Context/Diversity 7.1% 0.0% 0.0% 12.5% 20.0% Referencing 25.0% 25.0% 28.6% 25.0% 20.0% * 401 was not taught in Yakima in 2006/2007 Table 2: Rubric Results for Research Methods in Law and Justice (LAJ 400) Total Ellensbg Des Mo. Lynn. Pierce Yakima Communication Skills 74.2% 77% 100% 100% 0% 100% Research Problem and Hypothesis 58.1% 61.6% 25% 83.3% 60% 33.3% Research Methods 61.3% 61.6% 75% 83.3% 60% 0% Literature Review 64.5% 92.3% 0% 83.3% 0% 100% Data Analysis and Display 51.6% 76.9% 50% 66.7% 0% 0% Referencing 48.4% 69.3% 50% 16.7% 0% 100% Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 13 Table 3: Rubric Results for Crime in America (LAJ 451)* Total Communication Skills Ellensbg Des Mo. Lynn. Pierce Yakima 43.3% 60% 50% 22.2% 40% 30% 30% 33.3% 0% 80% 53.3% 50% 66.7% 33.3% Theory/Policy Connection 10% 20% 0% 0% 20% Theory Weakness 10% 0% 0% 0% 60% Referencing 20% 30% 0% 0% 0% Historical Context Theory ** 80% * No papers received a 3 (exceptional) for this assignment * Papers received after committee meeting date Method of Assessment: ii. Survey of Internship Supervisors Table 4 presents the average performance levels of LAJ student interns as assessed by their employment supervisor on a 1 – 5 Likert scale. Unfortunately, there were not enough returned surveys to disaggregate by center. Table 4: Employer Co-op Evaluation of Student Interns for 2007-2008 Skill Avg. Score Productivity 4.27 Attitude 4.47 Preparation 4.23 Dependability 4.40 Quality of Work 4.21 Creativity 4.07 Initiative 4.13 Communication Skills 4.07 Judgment 4.20 Interpersonal Relations 4.20 Total 4.07 Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 14 Method of Assessment: iii. Alumni Survey (for a copy of relevant survey results, as well as a PowerPoint Summary of Results see Appendix C). During the fall quarter of 2008 the Law and Justice Department, with major assistance from Tom Henderson, CWU Director of Testing and Assessment, conducted an alumni survey of 995 CWU LAJ Students who graduated between 2003 and 2007. 589 of these students were contacted by e-mail, of which 153 students replied for a response rate of 26% (these data represent the preliminary data; some surveys are still being collected). Thirty-six percent of the respondents were from the Lynnwood campus, 32% from Ellensburg the campus, 24% from Pierce and 8% from the Des Moines campus. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents came to the LAJ Department with an Associate’s Degree, 29% had a high school degree or GED and the remainder transferred from a community college or a four year institution. The following table shows the results of the average alumni ratings of the importance of several specific competencies (that match the LAJ programs learner outcomes) and the preparation the students feel they received from the LAJ department. The LAJ department’s preparation of students rating exceeds the importance rating on several items, including: Legal Research, Substantive & Procedural Law, Criminological Theory, and Criminal Justice System Knowledge. Alternatively, the perceived importance rating exceeds the LAJ department’s preparation of students rating on the following skills: Critical Thinking, Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, Information Literacy, Ethics, and Conflict Management. Table 5: Alumni Ratings of the Importance of Competencies and Preparation they Received from CWU LAJ 5 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.1 4 3.9 3.8 4.1 3.8 3.7 3.9 3.8 3.5 3.6 3.5 4.1 3.9 3.6 3.5 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 tM an ag em C en J Sy t st em K no w le dg e Et hi cs C on fl i c y rim in ol og y Th eo r al La w C & Pr oc ed ur es ea rc h R Le ga l Li te ra cy ea so ni ng R In fo rm at io n Su bs ta nt iv e Q ua nt it a tiv e om m un ic at io n C rit ic al Th in ki ng 0 C Mean Value 3.1 Com petency Importance Preparation Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 15 In terms of satisfaction with the Law and Justice Program, Useful Perspectives on Critical Issues, Adequate Preparation for Graduate School, adequate Preparation for Profession and Degree Led to Career Advancement LAJ alumni respondents consistently rank the department 4 and above on a 5 point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree). Table 6: LAJ Alumni Agreement with Statements on a 5 point scale ( 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) 5 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.1 4 4 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Very Satisfied w ith LAJ Program Useful Perspectives on Critical Issues Adequate Preparation for Graduate School Adequate Preparation for Profession Degree Led to Career Advancement The following table shows that the majority (59%) of LAJ alumni respondents either had a job before graduation or found employment in less than six months. Fifteen percent of our alumni did not find work for six months to a year following graduation and the remaining twenty-six percent took over a year to gain employment. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 16 Table 7: LAJ Alumni Time to Find Current Job The survey also showed that LAJ Alumni are employed in a variety of different fields, which do not necessarily correlate with the degree tracks that were offered by the department during the evaluation period. These include accounting, real estate, retail, and telecommunications, among others. Finally, open-ended questions revealed several themes. The following table shows themes common among alumni who had trouble with career placement. The most consistent desire of these students was better job preparation and career placement. We have attempted to have more employers visit for career placement, plus close work with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission job fairs. To help with job experience and job preparation we encourage internships and coop placements. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 17 LAJ Alumni Challenges and Difficulties Following Graduation Career Placement Stress related to applying book knowledge to job No experience Job preparation Background barriers to employment in CJ field No paralegal certificate No Masters option Need additional degree Lacked knowledge because the curriculum was not demanding Degree lacks credibility – seen as easy Lack of feedback on papers and assignments Several suggestions to improve the program are listed below. Interestingly, many of the suggestions are already issues that the faculty have addressed with policy changes or have been working on in response to the initial results of our Assessment Plan. These include requiring a theory course, strengthening the writing component of our classes, increasing research opportunities for students, and increasing access to electronic library resources. Suggestions to Improve the Quality of CWU LAJ Program More internship opportunities Higher expectations from profs. Job placement help Fewer multiple choice tests More writing assignments w/ feedback Be very selective about who teaches classes Less apathy More civil classes Sequence courses – less repetition Better attendance from profs. Better knowledge of WA law More guest speakers from field More research Job fair Oral board preparation opportunities More report writing assignments Increase standards for admission and graduation More theory More focus on electronic resources in legal research More conflict management Increase course availability Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 18 Finally, the LAJ Faculty received much positive qualitative feedback about the program and several suggestions on how tweak the program to make it better. In particular, numerous students asked about the possibility of offering a Masters program. Additional LAJ Alumni Comments Especially appreciated profs. who were challenging Appreciated feedback on papers and help preparing for law school Recommend program to family and friends Kudos to many individual professors Very practical program Develop a Masters program Could public safety be included in curriculum? Curriculum should be updated to reflect current reality Flexibility at centers was wonderful iv. Method of Assessment: Peer review of tenured/tenure track faculty and full time lecturer syllabi at department’s annual assessment day in spring quarter for required content. Chair and personnel committee review of part-time lecturer syllabi for required content are part of the annual evaluation. Annually since 2005, we have peer reviewed one syllabus of each tenured/tenure track faculty and full time lecturer using a checklist of required syllabi content with suggestions for improvements provided to faculty for incorporation into future syllabi. v. SEOI average for department Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 19 Table 8: 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Student Evaluations of Courses Fall Winter Spring Summer Department of Law & Justice 4.32 4.27 4.37 4.26 College of the Sciences 4.25 4.21 4.27 4.37 CWU 4.24 4.25 4.29 4.38 Department of Law & Justice 4.35 4.26 4.37 4.65 College of the Sciences 4.19 3.29 4.20 4.38 CWU 4.22 3.97 4.26 4.45 Department of Law & Justice 4.36 4.32 4.43 4.72 College of the Sciences 4.18 4.20 4.24 4.43 CWU 4.20 4.22 4.26 4.40 Department of Law & Justice 4.09 4.26 4.32 4.28 College of the Sciences 4.17 4.19 4.19 4.32 CWU 4.20 4.23 4.24 4.36 Department of Law & Justice 3.72 4.26 4.38 4.23 College of the Sciences 3.72 4.18 4.24 4.27 CWU 4.19 4.23 4.26 4.39 Table 8: Overview Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 20 Table 9: Student Evaluations of Instruction Fall 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Winter Spring Summer Department of Law & Justice 4.40 4.33 4.48 4.37 College of the Sciences 4.34 4.31 4.37 4.45 CWU 4.36 4.33 4.38 4.44 Department of Law & Justice 4.41 4.32 4.41 4.74 College of the Sciences 4.30 3.14 4.28 4.51 CWU 4.31 3.99 4.35 4.50 Department of Law & Justice 4.43 4.39 4.55 4.80 College of the Sciences 4.28 4.29 4.35 4.53 CWU 4.31 4.31 4.35 4.47 Department of Law & Justice 4.18 4.32 4.37 4.41 College of the Sciences 4.27 4.30 4.30 4.45 CWU 4.30 4.32 4.33 4.43 Department of Law & Justice 4.35 4.37 4.45 4.35 College of the Sciences 4.35 4.30 4.34 4.30 CWU 4.30 4.33 4.35 4.42 Table 9: Overview Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 21 b. Build partnerships to support academic program quality and enhance student experiences. Table 10: Faculty / Student community involvement Faculty Mentored Research: SOURCE Student Publications Student paper presentation Student research 20032004 1 2 4 20042005 1 4 20052006 2 20062007 3 2 6 1 20072008 3 1 4 1 TOTAL 9 4 20 2 Method of Assessment: i. Number of student internships using enrollment records for LAJ 490 Cooperative Education, at time of cyclical program review. Table 11: Student Enrollment in LAJ 490 Cooperative Education Annual Average 200304 2004-05 200506 200607 2007-08 Total Ellensburg 63.20 97 76 68 34 41 316 Des Moines 10.20 3 12 16 16 4 51 Lynnwood 8.20 7 12 7 7 8 41 Pierce 4.80 8 5 2 2 7 24 Yakima 11.40 10 5 9 16 17 57 125 110 102 75 77 489 TOTAL Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 22 Table 12: Student Enrollment in LAJ 490 Cooperative Education Annual Average 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total Britto, 7.00 n/a 3 17 7 1 28 Francis 8.50 n/a n/a n/a 13 4 17 Murataya 12.00 11 5 7 16 21 60 Noga 3.00 n/a n/a n/a 4 2 6 Olivero 18.80 24 36 24 3 7 94 Reasons 8.60 10 12 1 8 12 43 Reimund 9.00 2 9 15 16 3 45 Roberts 24.20 62 23 22 2 12 121 Sun 4.20 7 5 2 0 7 21 TOTAL 95.30 116 93 88 69 69 435 ii. Guest speakers in LAJ Classes. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 23 Method of Assessment: i. Count average number of Guest Speakers per year Criterion of Achievement: i. Based upon faculty responses, the number of Guest Speakers average three per faculty per year. c. Assure faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites. Method of Assessment: i. Monitor class sizes by evaluating enrollment records. Table 13: Average Student Enrollment per Class LAJ CENTERS 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 Ellensburg Des Moines Lynnwood Pierce Yakima LAJ Dept Combined Avr College of the Sciences 33 25 27 23 16 25 23 32 22 30 22 13 24 23 31 29 27 19 19 25 24 31 25 28 18 24 25 23 28 25 24 20 18 23 21 ii. Monitor number of advisees per faculty using advisee numbers. With the addition of 2 faculty members in Ellensburg, the number of advisees per faculty member has been reduced since the last program review. An effort is made when assigning majors/minors in Ellensburg to have each faculty member maintain an equal advising load. Since there is only one tenured/tenure track member at the each center, equity is more difficult to achieve since it is dependent on enrollment at the individual center. In Yakima, since advising numbers are lower, Dr. Murataya is assigned advisees from Ellensburg, since he teaches there several quarters, so there is equity in his numbers. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 24 Table 14 : Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Advising Faculty Name Britto, Sarah L. Francis, Teresa I Murataya, Rodrigo Noga, Krystal E Olivero, J Michael Reasons, Charles E Reimund, Mary Ellen Roberts, James B Sun, Key Department Average Av # of Students 56 53 45 59 51 55 75 49 29 52 College Average 15 Annual Advising Load Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty 200405 200506 200607 200708 Department of Law and Justice Other COTS Departments 45.6 11.5 49.2 13.8 51.8 15.1 51.3 15.2 iii. Monitor ratios of lecturers to tenured/tenure track annually. Table 15: Overview: Ratio of Classes Taught: Lecturer to Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 25 Table 16: Ratio of Classes Taught: Lecturer to Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty LAW & JUSTICE Ratio COTS Ratio 2003-04 Tenured/Track 0.49% 0.73% Lecturers 0.51% 0.27% 2004-05 Tenured/Track 0.50% 0.69% Lecturers 0.50% 0.31% Tenured/Track 0.49% 0.65% Lecturers 0.51% 0.35% Tenured/Track 0.60% 0.70% Lecturers 0.40% 0.30% Tenured/Track 0.62% 0.68% Lecturers 0.38% 0.32% 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 d. Support the involvement of students in scholarly activities. Method of Assessment: i. Professional meeting papers and presentations with student authors and coauthors. ii. Count student and faculty participation in local symposia, poster sessions, and SOURCE participation. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 26 Table 17: Number of Faculty Mentored Student Research Projects (See Appendix D) Faculty Mentored Research: 20032004 2004- 2005- 2006- 20072005 2006 2007 2008 TOTAL SOURCE 1 2 Student Publications 2 1 Student paper presentation 4 4 2 Student research 3 3 9 1 4 6 4 20 1 1 2 iii. Track student enrollment in directed research LAJ 495 and research related LAJ 496 individual study. Table 18: Student Enrollment in LAJ 495 / LAJ 496 Year LAJ 495 LAJ 496 Instructor Location LAJ495 2003-04 0 69 Britto, Sarah L. EBURG 2004-05 14 67 Chapman, Yvonne K LYNNW 2005-06 23 39 Francis, Teresa EBURG 6 1 2006-07 19 9 Murataya, Rodrigo YAKIM 8 2 2007-08 22 3 Noga, Krystal EBURG 1 Olivero, J Michael EBURG 11 30 Reasons, Charles EBURG 4 22 Reimund, Mary Ellen DESMO 8 18 Roberts, James EBURG 14 24 Sun, Key PIERC TOTAL 78 188 TOTAL 17 LAJ 496 27 45 8 69 177 Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 27 iv. Membership in Alpha Phi Sigma, Criminal Justice Honor Society by annually counting new student members. The local affiliate, Beta Tau Nu, of the National Criminal Justice Honor Society, Alpha Phi Sigma, began in 1984. It has several hundred members. The following data reflects new members per year over the 5 year period. Table 19: Membership in Alpha Phi Sigma 2003-2004 17 new members 2004-2005 40 new members 2005-2006 18 new members 2006-2007 29 new members 2007-2008 16 new members v. We recognize outstanding student scholarship at our annual student awards ceremonies before spring graduation honoring an outstanding Eastside and Westside student and an outstanding student from each center. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 28 e. Enhance the climate of productive faculty scholarship (see Appendix E) Method of Assessment: i. Faculty publications of all tenured and tenure track faculty. ii. Faculty scholarly presentations of all tenured and tenure track faculty. iii. Faculty participation in professional conferences of all tenured and tenure track faculty. Table 20: Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty Profile * Scholarship Measures: Publications 20032004 5 20042005 9 20052006 6 20062007 10 20072008 15 5 Year TOTAL Conference presentations 8 10 12 14 10 54 3 6 1 10 1 2 Other conference participation Other 1 45 iv. Internal grant applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty. v. External grant applications of all tenured and tenure track faculty. Table 21: * Grants: External: Funded Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty Grant Profile 20032004 20042005 20052006 3 20062007 2 External: Unfunded 20072008 5 1 Internal: Funded 2 Internal: Unfunded 1 4 1 1 1 7 1 3 vi. Faculty awards and honors Four faculty members have gotten tenure and been promoted to associate professor since the last program review. 2004 Key Sun 2005 Mary Ellen Reimund 2007 Rodrigo Murataya 2008 Sarah Britto Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 29 Three faculty members have been continued after post tenure review. 2006-2007 Charles Reasons 2007-2008 J. Michael Olivero 2007-2008 Key Sun Two tenure track faculty have been reappointed annually for academic years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Teresa Francis and Krystal Noga Two faculty members were awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Sciences (only one award per year in entire college). 2003 Mary Ellen Reimund 2007 Sarah Britto Advisor of the Quarter Summer 2007 Krystal Noga vii. Sabbatical Leave Two faculty members received Sabbatical research awards. 2005-2006 Charles Reasons 2007-2008 Key Sun f. Serve as a center for services to the community and the region. Method of Assessment: i. Faculty involvement in community service activities. ii. Faculty membership on local, state, national boards or committees. Table 22: Tenured and Tenure-track Community Involvement * Service Measures: CWU Committees State Committees Leadership & Service Professional Organizations Community Service Other 20032004 6 1 20042005 4 3 2 10 1 4 10 2 2005- 2006- 20072006 2007 2008 14 15 20 3 2 2 6 13 3 4 24 5 11 13 8 TOTAL 59 11 27 70 19 iii. From 2000 on, we recognize alumni service to the community by awarding annually an Eastside and Westside Alumni of the Year Award. g. Promote and enhance an environment of diversity, equity, social justice and cultural responsiveness. (see Appendix F) i. Faculty diversity. Of our current nine tenured/tenure track positions, we have five men and four women. Of these nine positions, we have three faculty of color, including Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 30 African American, Hispanic and Asian. In 2003, of our six tenured/tenure track positions, we had five men and one woman, including one person of color. This is a dramatic increase in gender/racial/ethnic diversity. ii. Student diversity We have the most diverse racial/ethnic group of Majors in the College of Sciences, with 30% of our Majors being of racial/ethnic minority. In 20072008 student diversity is highest at the centers, enriching the department and university. iii. Diversity classes Cultural diversity in American society influences many sociological and political aspects of the law and justice system. These topics are explicitly explored in LAJ 332 Police Community Relations, LAJ 401 Ethics, Diversity and Conflict in Criminal Justice, and LAJ 451 Crime in America. Such issues are explained in a broad cross section of courses such as LAJ 300 Administration of Justice, LAJ 302 Evidence and Arrest, LAJ 313 Introduction to Criminal Law, LAJ 324 Correctional Law, LAJ 327 Community Corrections, and LAJ 459 Current Issues. iv. Faculty/student research/scholarship in this area. Our faculty and students have been involved in research/scholarship which addresses issues of diversity. Faculty scholarship, professional development, and professional service also focus on issues of diversity and informs the curriculum. Topics include Mexican prisons; Mexican law enforcement; homophobia and law enforcement majors; multi-cultural victim offender mediation; race, class, and multicultural models of psychotherapy; and gender and justice in America. Faculty have participated in conferences such as “Washington State Faculty and Staff of Color in Higher Education,” “Washington Summit on Law Enforcement and Cultural Awareness,” Race, Class and the War on Drugs.” Faculty also participate in university initiatives such as membership on CWU’s Diversity Council, CWU’s DIRECT (Dispute Resolution Consultation and Training) and minority recruiting efforts. v. Faculty/student community involvement in these issues. As is evident in Appendix C, faculty are heavily involved in community service concerning diversity issues. We have yet to establish a methodology to capture student community involvement. vi. Program/courses reflecting this emphasis. Our Department Mission Statement expressly commits the department to providing students with: (a) A broad background in the history, philosophy, and current trends in law and society with a particular emphasis on diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, gender and sexual orientation issues. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 31 While our major requires students to take LAJ 401 Ethics, Diversity and Conflict, as part of this commitment, we have made strides during this review period to broaden our offerings. For example, Crime and the Media, a new course, explores the representations and stereotypes in the media concerning gender, race and ethnicity. Professor Teresa Francis developed a new course, African Americans and the Constitution which she co-teaches with Professor Reasons. This is a required course in the new African and Black Studies minor at Central Washington University. Professor Rodrigo Murataya has developed a new course, Comparative Criminal Justice, which will be taught in 2009, while Professor Michael Olivero, has developed a course on Sexual Minorities the Law, and Justice, to be taught in 2009. All of these program developments reflect our commitment to providing our students with a broad appreciation and understanding of diversity issues. 2. Comparison of results to standards of mastery listed above a. Assure the presentation of high quality program. Concerning the presentation of high quality programs, rubrics were created for LAJ 400, 401, and 451 and artifacts were assessed for 2007-2008. Using the standard of 60% mastery is adequate for each skill in each course, only the research methods (LAJ 400) achieved this in some of its skills. There appears to be problems in the validity of some artifacts to include measured skills. There are also wide variations in attainment levels at the respective centers. Much work needs to be done on refining the measures and improving the scores. While the results were lower than hoped for they do provide a baseline for improvement and suggest there are some problems with assessment that need to be worked out. Some suggestions resulting from this process included making sure the related learning objectives of the department were sufficiently addressed in the core courses, to develop assignments that were more consistent across sections of the same core course, and to continue to approve, develop and utilize rubrics to assess the learning objectives in each of the core courses. The pilot year also demonstrated several weaknesses in the original LAJ assessment plan, which has been revised to improve on the ability of the LAJ department to adequately and consistently measure learner outcomes both on the Ellensburg campus and at the centers. Some initial suggestions include that the faculty should review the rubric results concurrently with a review of assignments in the appropriate courses and make changes to both where necessary. The learning objectives were designed to be quite broad and contain many sub-categories; therefore it may be unrealistic to require so many skills in a particular artifact. Meeting as a group will allow us to focus and refine the rubrics and artifact assignments to better measure the skills demonstrated by students. In addition, the Assessment Committee should continue to work on interater-reliability in the use of rubrics, as there still appears to be variation in the assignment of rubric scores. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 32 In the fall faculty meeting the faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement at 60% of students receiving an “adequate” (2) or above (3) ranking on each of the skills measured in the rubrics. Once this is achieved the goal should be raised to 75%. The faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement of our students average score being 4 or above on a 5 point scale for the employer evaluation of student interns in cooperative placement in the spring of 2008. Applying this criterion retroactively our student interns averaged above a 4 on all measured skills, thus meeting the criterion of success. These results indicate that our students are doing very well in cooperative internship placements further reflecting a high quality program. Law and Justice Students are displaying high levels of professionalism, responsibility, and knowledge of the field. One area that needs improvement is the response rate to our employer surveys, so that we can better assess how our students are performing in their field work. Although no criterion of achievement has been established for the Alumni Survey, the results were encouraging. Overall, LAJ Alumni respondents were quite satisfied with the CWU Law and Justice Program. The specific results indicate that while the LAJ department is exceeding expectations in some learning outcome areas, there are other areas that still need work. The peer review of syllabus based on a checklist of required content has been established providing faculty with timely feedback. Also, part-time lecturers are provided quarterly guides for syllabus and an annual evaluation. The above meets the criterion of success. Concerning student evaluation of LAJ professors, the SEOI average over the five years is above 4.4 on a five point scale. Law and Justice student evaluations of faculty average above that of the College of Sciences and the University as a whole. This meets the criterion of success. When evaluating the course, the LAJ courses averaged just over 4.3 during the five year period. Again, this exceeds the College and University averages, meeting the success criterion. b. Build partnerships to support academic quality and enhance student experiences. Student enrollment in our cooperative education course (LAJ 490) enhances our student experiences and our program quality. As noted above, employers rate students well in their cooperative experience. All faculty, except one, had at least one student cooperative education student to supervise each year. Since that faculty member was on sabbatical that year, the criterion of success of at least one per year was met. Also, at least 10% of majors were enrolled in LAJ 490 for each of the five years, thus the success criterion was met. Regarding guest speakers, the criterion of at least three per year average per faculty was met. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 33 c. Assure faculty staffing adequate to support timely delivery of all courses and programs at all sites. An indication of adequate staffing is the average enrollment per class. Over the five year period it ranged from 25 in 2003-2004 to 23 in 2007-2008. This compared to the COTS average of 21. Adequate faculty to provide advisement is another piece of evidence of staffing needs. The average number of student advisees per tenured/tenure track LAJ faculty is 52, while the COTS average is 15. The proportion of classes taught by lecturers to tenured/tenure track faculty is another indicee of adequate deliver of program and quality of programs. This proportion has been reduced over the five year period from 51% in 2003-2004 to 38% in 2007-2008. However, this still exceeds the COTS proportion of 27% in 2003-2004 and 32% in 2007-2008, which does not reach the criterion of achievement. d. Support the involvement of students in scholarly activities. The support of student involvement in scholarly activities was measured by professional paper presentation, participation in SOURCE, enrollment research related LAJ 495 and 496, and membership in the National Criminal Justice Honor Society – Alpha Phi Sigma. In terms of student participation in SOURCE, there was student participation in four of the five years, missing the criterion of at least one per year. However, there were student paper presentations in other venues every year, totaling 20 for the five year period, exceeding the criterion of achievement. All faculty were involved with supervising student research in LAJ 495 and/or LAJ 496 during this period, meeting the criterion of achievement. Four students published professional articles with professors during this period. Beta Tau Nu, the local chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, added at least 15 new members per year, meeting the criterion of achievement. Finally, during this five year period annual student awards were given for outstanding students at each center, and for the overall Westside and Eastside. e. Enhance the climate of productive faculty scholarship. The enhancement of productive faculty scholarship was measured by publications, presentations and participation at professional conferences, grants, and faculty awards/recognition. During the five year period there were 45 publications by faculty, exceeding criterion of achievement. A total of 54 conference presentations occurred during this period, exceeding the criterion of achievement of an average of one half of faculty participating over the five years. The faculty made other contributions to professional conferences during this five year period. The criterion of achievement for both internal and external grants is an average of one application per year over the five year period. This goal was Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 34 met for both internal and external grants, with 6 external and 10 internal applications. There were numerous faculty awards and honors during the five year period, exceeding the average of one per year criterion of achievement. Four faculty members received tenure and promotion to associate professor, while three members successfully completed post tenure review, two tenure track faculty were successfully reappointed annually while another two received sabbatical research awards. Finally, one faculty member, Sarah Britto, received the College of the Science’s Excellence In Teaching Award in 2007. f. Serve as a center for services to the community and the region. Service to the community has been a cornerstone of the LAJ department. All faculty have been involved in service for the CWU community and the larger community, meeting the criterion of success. In terms of membership on local, state, and national boards and committees, more than 20% of faculty served over the five year period, exceeding the success criterion. g. Promote and enhance environment of diversity, equity, social justice and cultural responsibility. In terms of diversity, our faculty has greatly diversified during the five year period. By 2007-2008, one third are faculty of color and 4 are women. Since the state of Washington is 22% people of color, the criterion of success has been met. LAJ has the most diverse student racial/ethnic makeup (30%) in the College of Sciences, and has met the criterion of reflecting the state (22%). The university had 19% of students of racial/ethnic minorities in 2007-2008 The majority of LAJ courses have a section devoted to diversity issues, with several specifically aimed at this topic. Over the five year period this focus has increased with addition of new courses to address this issue. The criterion of success has been met. There has been a great deal of faculty / student research / scholarship concerning diversity. As noted in Appendix C, nearly all faculty have published, presented papers and/or conducted research in this area over the five year review period. Several faculty have done this with students. This greatly exceeds the criterion of success of the third of the faculty. Besides scholarship, over one half of the faculty have been involved in community service diversity issues as found in Appendix C. This far exceeds the success criterion of one half. We have yet to develop a methodology for gauging student community involvement. 3. Concise interpretation of results: In assuring the presentation of a high quality program, three core courses were evaluated using rubrics and artifacts. While only one course met the 60% standard of mastery, this established a methodology for assessing progress in Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 35 the future. Our students are averaging above 4.0 on a 5.0 scale in employer evaluation of their co-operative education internships, while the alumni survey results showed they were quite satisfied overall with the Law and Justice Program. A methodology has been developed and applied for peer review of faculty syllabi, including full time and part-time faculty. Law and Justice course and instructor SEOI evaluations from students exceed College and University averages for the five year period. Thus, the only area concerning quality of program where the established criteria of achievement were not met was regarding student mastery of skills in two of the three core courses evaluated. All faculty supervised at least one cooperative education intern per year, while all faculty averaged at least three guest speakers per year, enhancing our student experience. The goal of adequate staffing is not met due to the fact that LAJ average class size, advisees per faculty, and part-time lectures to tenured/tenure track faculty all exceed the College average. The goal of involving students in scholarly activities was met based on professional paper presentation, SOURCE participation, enrollment in independent study and directed research, and involvement with the National Criminal Justice Honor Society. The enhancement of productive faculty scholarship is evident as the criterion of achievement was met in terms of publications, conference presentations / participations, grants, and faculty awards / recognition. The goal of community service was met in terms of university committee work, local, state and national service. In terms of promoting and enhancing diversity, the faculty exceeds the diversity of the state, while the LAJ student body does not, although it is the most diverse “major” in the College. Faculty exceed mastery level in publishing, community service, and faculty / student research in the area of diversity. Most courses have diversity content, and several new courses are devoted to diversity issues, meeting achievement levels. F. Description of the results listed above: 1. Specific changes for the department as they affect programs a. Addition of Faculty: Since the last program review, three new tenure track faculty have been hired to meet the needs of our program. In 2003, Dr. Sarah Britto based in Ellensburg joined the faculty and has successfully gone through probation and will be tenured in fall 2008. In Fall 2006, Professors Teresa Francis was hired for Ellensburg and Krystal Noga for the Lynnwood Center and as Program Director at that location. These hires help to stabilize the department and lower the student/advisor numbers for the department. The new faculty compliment and expand the department’s mission with their professional experiences and scholarship emphasis in racial, ethnic, cultural and gender studies, restorative justice and criminal justice and media. A full time lecturer was added in 2004 on the Westside for the Des Moines and Lynnwood campuses with a corrections emphasis experienced in online Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 36 course delivery who assists with mentoring and advising students. A second full time lecturer in Ellensburg was hired for fall 2008 with Legal Studies emphasis experienced in online course delivery who assists with mentoring and advising. Both full time lecturers help provide stabilization and consistency in instruction while reducing the number of quarterly lecturers. The full time lecturers also provide important contributions to the department through their participation in departmental meetings. b. Curriculum changes: Crime in America (our theory course) was moved to the core as a program requirement in 2006 and the Current Issues course converted to an LAJ Approved elective. We felt it was important to have a theory course as part of our required courses in the major. In place of Crime in American in the Corrections and Law Enforcement Specializations was Juvenile Justice. It was thought that students seeking careers in law enforcement and corrections would benefit from having an understanding about young people in the criminal justice system. Beginning in fall 2008, all 400 level LAJ Courses will require that students have completed their basic 100 level skills courses which include English, math, writing and logic. We did this because many students including transfer students (all center students are transfer students completing their junior/senior years at CWU) were coming in without these basic courses. Thus we made the change in order to have students complete their basic skill courses before taking 400 level courses. c. Legal Studies Specialization: In 2006, the Pre-law/Paralegal Specialization was changed to Legal Studies to be more reflective of what the course of study was. Since we do not offer an ABA approved paralegal program this caused confusion for students and we felt the curriculum better reflected legal studies. d. Updating and standardizing department practice on Internships, Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants and Independent Studies, and course substitutions. e. Pre-Admission Advisor: The part time office position was modified to include pre-admission advising responsibilities. Having a person in the office who can handle student inquires about the major, give new majors a standard packet of information and orientation as well as provide support to faculty advisors by having major specific expertise has helped to provide better transition into the major. f. Online Delivery of Courses: The LAJ department has been among a handful of departments leading the university in the development of online delivery of courses since 2002. Offering quality online delivery has expanded the accessibility of courses to students especially those at the university centers who face travel and time challenges. For the past two summers, an almost total online schedule has enhanced access of courses to students and been profitable to the department which has resulted in more money for faculty development and other departmental activities Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 37 g. Since the university started in fall 2007, putting quarterly holds on students who had completed 75 credits of academic work without completion of basic skills courses, this also helps to encourage students to complete their basic skills timely, which then reduces significant workload this new requirement has put on our department. There is also a hold put on at 120 credits, which requires the student to contact their advisor. This also helps our advising. 2. Specific changes related to the assessment process The LAJ department has made huge strides in the development and implementation of an evaluation process in the past five years. As recommended in the last LAJ program review (2003-2004) the LAJ department has devised and implemented an assessment plan. The pilot of this plan was implemented in 2006/2007 and the department is now working on improvements suggested by this process. Some suggestions resulting from this process included making sure the related learning objectives of the department were sufficiently addressed in the core courses, to develop assignments that were more consistent across sections of the same core course, and to continue to approve, develop and utilize rubrics to assess the learning objectives in each of the core courses. The pilot year also demonstrated several weaknesses in the original LAJ assessment plan, which has been revised to improve on the ability of the LAJ department to adequately and consistently measure learner outcomes both on the Ellensburg campus and at the centers. Some improvements to the plan included creating a realistic timeline, which focuses on specific core courses each quarter, for systematically collecting data in Ellensburg and at the centers, working closely with the Career Service office to collect Employer Evaluation of Cooperative Field Experience so that we can evaluate our students’ performances at internship and gage additional programmatic needs related to Alumni employment not currently being met by the LAJ department. On a yearly basis the Assessment Committee reports to the faculty the results of the previous year’s assessment and at a dedicated faculty meeting these results are discussed and plans are made for both individual and programmatic improvement. At a yearly meeting, the LAJ tenured, tenure track faculty and full time lecturers review syllabi to ensure that all required elements are clearly stated and the learning objectives complement the learner outcomes measured in the assessment plan and offer suggestions for faculty implementation. Quarterly, required elements of the syllabus and other departmental policies are sent out to part time lecturers. Beginning in academic year 2007-2008, as part of their annual review, the syllabi of part time lecturers are evaluated by the chair and personnel committee with the same objectives as for the other faculty members. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 38 Additionally, time is regularly allocated at LAJ faculty meetings for discussions of planned change that incorporate suggestions made during our last program review, suggestions from the dean, as well as a continued focus on the mission and goals of the LAJ department. 3. Documentation of continuing program needs including reference to statewide and regional needs assessment. Law and Justice remains one of the largest majors in the University, graduates more students each year than most other majors, and job availability remains high. Increasing retirement of baby boomer employees in the law and justice field, accompanied by a basic need which is largely recession proof, indicates future demand for our students. A department/program assessment plan for the future is located in appendix B. II Degree programs and curricula A. Description of degree programs and curricula Table 23: Programs Offered in LAJ Department Degree Program Location(s) Faculty # Students in Major B.A. Law & Justice FTE Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Ellensburg 6 526 534 505 480 376 128 139 134 110 123 Yakima 1 24 29 28 35 28 6 8 5 8 16 Pierce 1 97 87 63 50 47 33 36 17 26 14 Des Moines 1 40 76 101 105 83 31 14 26 42 28 Lynnwood 2 118 118 108 103 91 29 29 31 35 27 11 805 844 805 625 227 226 213 221 208 TOTALS Minor Programs Corrections, Law Enforcement, Legal Studies, Prelaw/Paralegal Combined # Degrees Awarded Location(s) Faculty FTE 773 # Students in Minor # Minors Completed Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Ellensburg 6 47 47 45 47 44 10 15 7 15 10 Yakima 1 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 Pierce 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Des Moines 1 4 5 7 5 8 2 1 4 1 2 Lynnwood 2 1 2 1 5 3 0 1 0 2 1 TOTALS 11 53 55 53 58 65 12 18 11 18 13 Totals 11 858 899 858 831 690 Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 39 b. General education courses. We have no general education courses, professional educator’s courses or service courses. c. Required measures of efficiency for each department over the last five years 1. SFR (FTES/FTEF) disaggregate data Table 24: State-Funded Course FTE Law and Upper Division Justice Graduate Total Academic Years 2003-2008 2003-04 2004-05 318.0 333.5 318.1 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 324.3 302.5 269.4 333.5 324.3 302.5 269.4 0.2 College of Lower Division 1,584.6 1,624.6 1,689.1 1,780.0 1,731.2 the Sciences Upper Division 1,218.6 1,286.3 1,300.2 1,333.8 1,271.8 142.9 155.6 150.4 138.6 131.7 Total 2,946.2 3,066.5 3,139.7 3,252.3 3,134.7 University Lower Division 4,021.7 4,138.8 4,211.9 4,269.0 4,214.1 Total Upper Division 4,254.9 4,386.3 4,481.5 4,595.3 4,456.9 372.8 358.9 363.6 363.1 324.3 8,649.4 8,884.0 9,057.0 9,227.5 8,995.3 Graduate Graduate Total Table 25: State-Funded Course FTE by Center Academic Years 2003-08 Ellensburg Upper Division Graduate Total 2003-04 2004-05 2006-07 2007-08 172.2 177.8 2005-06 176.1 160.2 150.4 172.4 177.8 176.1 160.2 150.4 0.2 Des Moines Upper Division 42.9 46.2 50.8 48.5 38.2 Lynnwood Upper Division 50.2 56.9 50.5 48.4 36.6 Pierce Upper Division 35.6 34.4 26.5 24.9 23.5 Yakima Upper Division 17.0 18.2 20.4 20.5 20.8 Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 40 2. Average class size; disaggregate data upper and lower divisions and graduate courses. Table 26: Average Class size by location Table 27: Average Student Enrollment per Class LAJ CENTERS 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Ellensburg 33 32 31 31 28 Des Moines 25 22 29 25 25 Lynnwood 27 30 27 28 24 Pierce 23 22 19 18 20 Yakima 16 13 19 24 18 LAJ Department TOTAL 24.8 23.8 25 25.2 23 College of the Sciences 23.3 23.2 24.2 22.9 21.2 Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 41 Table 28: Student Enrollment by Location 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Yakima 228 240 244 268 245 Pierce 533 482 366 318 301 Des Moines 544 630 751 631 538 Lynnwood 638 759 794 632 475 Ellensburg 2078 2204 2159 2029 1872 1943 2111 2155 1849 1559 LAJ Department TOTAL 3. Assessment of Student Learning Starting in 2006-2007 the Law and Justice Department produces a yearly report on the Assessment of Student Learning (see Appendix G) for the reports of the past two years. This report includes artifact assessment, based on standardized rubrics, for the LAJ core classes, an evaluation of employer co-op evaluation of student interns, and a review of the data gathered during Alumni Surveys (these are currently only collected every 5 years). Additionally, the faculty meets to conduct peer-reviews of syllabi on a yearly basis. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 42 D. Currency of curricula in discipline. The Law and Justice Department has made several minor revisions to its curriculum during this period and is in the middle of a major revision to reflect student needs, the social justice focus of the faculty and emerging trends (as evidenced by leading criminology and criminal justice programs, pre-law programs, publications in the field, presentations at the ACJS and ASC conferences, as well as several regional conferences). The Law and Justice program is unique because it combines elements of criminal justice, criminology and legal studies, and our faculty pedigrees and interests, as well as the curriculum, reflects this interdisciplinary focus. We have many of the standard courses offered in criminal justice and criminology programs such as Introduction to the Administration of Justice, Research Methods, Crime In America (criminological theory), Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and courses in policing and corrections. Also, we have more law oriented courses typically found in pre-law programs such as Legal Research, Civil Procedure, and Family Law. Our program is also unique in providing courses such as Mediation and Correctional Counseling. Since the time of our last review we have made Crime in America (criminological theory) a requirement for all of our majors. A version of this course is almost universal in criminology and criminal justice departments across the country. We have also added Terrorism and Crime and the Media to our list of electives because they both represent areas where our students may want to develop expertise, whether for the workforce or to aid in their pursuit of a graduate education. Our commitment to diversity is evident in our required core courses Ethics, Diversity and Conflict and Community and Social Justice and recent new courses concerning African Americans and the Constitution, Sexual Minorities and Law and Justice, and Comparative Criminal Justice. We are in the midst of submitting a major curriculum change that would remove the tracts (law enforcement, corrections and legal studies) from our program, and focus on a general liberal arts/social science Law and Justice degree. The faculty did not make this change lightly and the reasons for the change include: 1) a desire to continue to move away from the perception that our focus is on content similar to that found in training academies, and to represent the reality that we offer a broad liberal arts degree with a focus on criminological and legal theory, critical analysis, social justice, ethics and diversity; 2) pragmatic concerns about offering a law and justice program that is consistent across all of our locations, and 3) the belief that the curriculum revisions better reflect the faculties focus on social justice. After our last program review we carefully examined suggestions made by members of the review team and the administration at Central Washington University that included the need to explore offering an ABA paralegal certification and to make sure our program is consistent with ACJS standards. As we explored these two suggestions we discovered that they were incompatible Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 43 because the ABA certification requires that the majority of classes are taught by individuals with a JD and who have current standing with the ABA and the ACJS standards, which are technically only for traditional Criminal Justice programs, require that only a limited number of faculty members have a JD without a PhD. Armed with this knowledge we voted to remove the goal of offering an ABA paralegal certification program from our agenda. We also felt it important to keep the ACJS standards on our radar screen, especially because a new set of standards and certification process for universities was approved in 2005. However, we did not want to be bound to all of their requirements because we are not a traditional Criminal Justice program. That being said, we are certainly not alone in this decision. Since the new standards were introduced and the certification process began only one master’s program has been certified and no bachelors programs have been certified by the national body. In reviewing the just more than 50 standards required in an ACJS certification process it appears that our program meets approximately 90% of the standards. The areas where we do not meet ACJS standards include: 1) We are not a Criminal Justice program and therefore the content of many of our courses fall outside their review process and our current program would not be considered for certification. 2) ACJS requires that “two-thirds of all full-time faculty in baccalaureate degree programs must hold an earned doctorate in criminal justice or a closely related discipline.” Because of the hybrid nature of our program, specifically our focus on the law, the Law and Justice Department actively seeks to balance (with the approval of the CWU administration) our faculty with PhD’s with faculty with a JD and a master’s degree (this combination is considered a terminal degree in our program) in a related field. 3) ACJS requires that “the institution awards degrees only to those students who have earned at least 50 percent of the credit hours in the program through instruction offered by that institution.” Up until recently, it was possible for students to receive our degree with slightly less than 50 percent of our credit hours – this has now been modified and will be in effect shortly. 4) ACJS requires that “programs rely on full-time faculty to teach corecourses and to deliver at least two-thirds of the teaching in the undergraduate program.” Although the LAJ Department has improved in this area since the last program review there is still work to be done as evident in this Program Review. E. Effectiveness of Instruction 1. Departmental teaching effectiveness via SEOI’s. See Tables 8 and 9 on pp. 20 and 21. 2. Besides SEOI’s, the syllabi of all instructors is analyzed yearly based upon specific criteria. This provides further evidence of the effectiveness of instruction. Also, all instructors, full-time and part-time, undergo periodic assessment of their teaching via Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 44 reappointment, tenure, promotion and post-tenure review. At these stages there is a systematic evaluation of their teaching, including, but not limited to, the SEOI scores. 3. Traditional and Innovative instructional methods are evident in Tables 16 and 17 on p. 27. There is much collaborative research between faculty and students. Students are very involved in service learning, as evidenced by student enrollment in cooperative education (Tables 11 and 12 on pp. 22 and 23.) Field experiences such as court room visits, visits to correctional institutions, among others are conducted in many of our classes. Many classes involve group projects/learning while others are more based on classic lectures, plus guided discussion. The teaching methodology to produce student learning may vary quite dramatically from Correctional Counseling and Mediation to Legal Writing and Legal Research, to Crime in America. The case method approach is used in all of the law related classes. Nearly all courses now incorporate a Blackboard component, while the use of distance education technology is quite prevalent as will be noted in the next section. F. Degree to which distance education technology is used for instruction. 1. I T V Courses Data breakdown by class description per quarter can be found in Appendix H. Table 29: ITV The department offers a few courses through ITV. Three ITV courses have been offered over the past 4 academic years. We have found that students prefer online delivery to ITV. ITV offers no benefit for students in scheduling or commuting. Also, we have found that the level of student dissatisfaction with this delivery method to the remote location is high with the faculty SEOI score as much as one full point lower in some cases. 2. Online Courses The Law and Justice Department has increased the delivery of classes online from 9 in the 2003-2004 academic year to 43 in the 2007-2008 academic year. (See Table 29 on following page showing the number of totally delivered online courses through Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 45 Blackboard over the past 5 academic years). (See Appendix I for complete list of courses). The courses offered online are: LAJ 300 Administration of Criminal Justice LAJ 303 Legal Research LAJ 313 Introduction to Criminal Law LAJ 316 Introduction to Paralegal Studies LAJ 324 Correctional Law LAJ 342 Juvenile Justice Process LAJ 350 Criminal Justice and Media LAJ 451 Crime in America LAJ 453 Domestic Violence Issues LAJ 459 Current Issues Table 30: Number of Online Classes by Academic Year As the Table shows, more online delivery has been offered over the review period. These are primarily directed to our centers since for the non-traditional student, online courses offer more scheduling flexibility and alleviate the commuting issues of traffic congestion which are a concern for Westside students. At some of the centers with lower enrollment, online delivery allows students to have more course selection. The number of faculty members teaching total online courses has more than doubled in the last five years ago going from only two to five tenured/tenure track faculty and two full time lecturers in 2007-2008, (64% of the faculty). Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 46 The majority of summer courses are offered online because of their popularity, which makes them more efficient for the department and also convenient for students regardless of location. G. Assessment of programs and student learning 1. a. See LAJ Assessment Plan for the Law and Justice Department and Matrix of Law and Justice Learner Outcomes Aligned to Courses. (See Appendix G). 2. a. The specific quantitative results for each student learning outcome can be found at pp. 12-21. b. A comparison of the above results to standards of Mastery is to be found on pp. 32-33. c. For a concise interpretation of the above see p. 35. 3. a. In the fall of 2008 the LAJ Assessment Committee met with the faculty and presented the findings found in this document. Some suggestions included: 1. The faculty should review the rubric results concurrently with a review of assignments in the appropriate courses and make changes to both where necessary. The learning objectives were designed to be quite broad and contain many sub-categories; therefore it may be unrealistic to require so many skills in a particular artifact. Meeting as a group will allow us to focus and refine the rubrics and artifact assignments to better measure the skills demonstrated by students. In addition, the Assessment Committee should continue to work on interaterreliability in the use of rubrics, as there still appears to be variation in the assignment of rubric scores. 2. The faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement at 60% of students receiving an “adequate” (2) or above (3) ranking on each of the skills measured in the rubrics. Once this is achieved the goal should be raised to 75%. This was approved by the faculty. Additionally, the faculty set a Standard of Mastery/Criterion of Achievement of our students average score being 4 or above on a 5 point scale for the employer evaluation of student interns. 3. Faculty members who have demonstrated strength in a particular skill area share ideas and technique with other faculty members. 4. Encourage faculty members to form partnerships with the writing center and library staff to improve student communication, library and referencing skills. 5. Develop rubrics to assess student learning in the remainder of our core classes (LAJ 300, LAJ 302, and LAJ 303), which will be the focus of next years’ assessment efforts. 6. The faculty should discuss ways to improve our collection and completion rates for artifacts and surveys respectively. 7. The faculty should discuss a revision to the Assessment Plan schedule because the Assessment Committee found it particularly onerous to complete the rubrics and report during the last two weeks of the quarter. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 47 b. III. The specific changes related to assessment process are noted above in a. An updated programming student outcome assessment plan for the future is in appendix G. Faculty A. Faculty Profile Table 31: Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty Profile 20032004 20042005 20052006 20062007 20072008 5 Year Annual Total Avg. 49% 50% 49% 60% 62% 270% 54% 6 6 7 9 9 37 7.4 Peer Reviewed Articles 5 9 6 10 15 45 9 Conference Presentation 8 10 12 14 10 54 11 1 3 6 2 12 2 0 3 2 1 6 1 3/0 2/0 0/1 5/1 2 2 5 1 10 2/0 1/1 4/1 0/1 7/3 % of Classes Taught by TT-T Faculty # TT-T of Faculty Scholarship Measures: Other Grants: External 0 Funded / Unfunded Internal 0 Funded / Unfunded 2 Service measures: CWU Committees 6 4 14 15 20 59 12 State Committees 1 3 3 2 2 11 2 Leadership & Service – Professional Organizations 2 4 6 4 11 27 5 Community Service 10 10 13 24 13 70 14 Other 1 2 3 5 8 19 4 1 0 2 3 3 9 2 6 5 2 7 5 26 5 Faculty Mentored Research SOURCE Graduate Committees UG, Publications, Presentations Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 48 B. Faculty Vitae (See Appendices J - R) C. Faculty Awards See vi and vii on pp. 29 and 30. D. Department, college and university performance standards (See Appendix E) IV. Students A. Student accomplishment over the five year period. Our students have been quite involved in professional activities such as paper presentations and independent research as indicated in tables 15 and 16 on pp. 2527. No systematic data are available concerning the number of students who go on to graduate study, however, anecdotal evidence suggests several go to law school or pursue a M.S., M.A. or M.S.W. Our alumni survey data, Appendix E, indicate that 17% of respondents were in law school/graduate school, while another 48% were currently employed in law and justice areas. Thus, 65% of respondents were pursuing law and justice areas. B. Masters Project N.A. C. Student Advising As evident in Table 14, p. 25, our faculty have a very high number of students to advise. Once the student is admitted to our department s/he is assigned to an advisor on the Ellensburg campus based on equitable numbers among Ellensburg based faculty. At the Centers, each Center Director has the responsibility to advise all the LAJ students at their respective Center. The Center Directors hold quarterly orientations with all new students, providing basic information on the program, scheduling, advising, etc. Each Center and the Ellensburg campus have two year schedules of course offerings to facilitate advising and progression through the program. All new students must meet with an advisor upon entering the program. Also, all students have a hold put on their registration at 75 credits and 120 credits, until they meet with their advisors. Several handouts describing the program, course scheduling, electives, among other things, are made available to students at all sites. On the Ellensburg campus, where the large majority of students attend, a new part-time staff position was added in 2008. One of the duties of this new position is to provide preliminary, general information to students, including assignment to advisors and facilitating meetings with advisors. This has greatly aided the advising process and student satisfaction. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 49 The results of the Alumni survey (Tables 5, 6, and 7 on p. 15-17 and Appendix C) indicate overall satisfaction with the program, including advising. D. Law and Justice student club, advised by Professors Francis and Britto, has been very active over this five year period. The LAJ Club in Ellensburg has been extremely productive over the past three years. In 2005-2006 the Ellensburg Club reorganized and made a commitment to focus on scholarly/professional and service activities rather than purely being a social club. Part of this reorganization included the election of two faculty coadvisors. The 2005-2006 Ellensburg LAJ Club had over 35 active members and dedicated the majority of the year to raising funds to attend the Academy of Criminal Justice Science meeting in Baltimore, MD. The club rose over $22,000 to attend this conference. Thirty-one students attended this conference and participated in a variety of Law and Justice related activities while in Baltimore including a visit to the FBI training academy in Quantico, Virginia, visits to local law schools, a tour of the national monuments in the Washington D.C. area and attendance at many ACJS panels. Three students presented academic research at ACJS. In the fall the club donated to local agencies to help with food needs during the holiday season and in the spring the club donated clothing, blankets and toiletries to agencies working with victims of interpersonal violence. The 2006-2007 Ellensburg LAJ Club voted at their first meeting to dedicate their efforts to raising money to do a service project. There were over 20 active members during this time period. They unanimously decided to travel to New Orleans to help rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina and meet with criminal justice officials to discuss how the hurricane had impacted the criminal justice system in New Orleans. The efforts yielded over $14,000 to complete this service learning project. The LAJ-Ellensburg Club also partnered with the LAJ-Des Moines Club on this project. The end result was 14 students and two faculty members (Teresa Francis and Robert Moore) went to New Orleans for just under a week. Professor Reimund arranged for meeting with a local prosecutor and police official during their visit. LAJ Club members helped gut flooded houses, worked at an animal shelter and helped feed the homeless. The students also toured the devastated areas in the greater New Orleans area and learned invaluable lessons about social justice. The club also formed a chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon (a professional national criminal justice fraternity) and several club members were inducted into this organization. The 2007-2008 Ellensburg LAJ Club opted to focus on local service, and organize and host a showing of the film Execution. There were over 20 active members during this period. The club donated to local food banks during the Thanksgiving season. Some club members volunteered their services to tutor disadvantaged youth. During the winter holiday season the club sponsored a giving tree and collected hats, scarves, mittens and jackets, and other items for local youth. In the spring the club collected needed items to assist families affected by interpersonal violence. Several club members also volunteered their time to work at the Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 50 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference in Seattle, WA. In coordination with the Des Moines and Lynnwood LAJ Clubs the Ellensburg LAJ Club brought the director/producer the leading actor (who also was an ex-death row inmate) of the film Execution to the Des Moines, Lynnwood and Ellensburg campuses during spring quarter. Club fundraising garnered over $6,000 to bring these events to fruition. The event included a panel discussion after the film. The panel consisted of the director (Steven Scaffidi), the ex-death row inmate (William Moore) and CWU LAJ Alumni currently work in the criminal justice field. The events were a huge success and attended by more than 500 individuals including alumni, students, faculty and members of the general public. The events were also written up in several newspapers and CWU was the focus of several positive You Tube clips describing the events. V. Facilities and Equipment A. Facilities available and adequacy Each of the Centers moved into new facilities during the five year period in conjunction with their paired Community College. The Ellensburg based program remains short on space for students, clubs, and adjuncts. However, in Spring Quarter, 2009 the Department will move to a new location in Farrell Hall. This will provide much more space for departmental needs. The major need in the next period for the Ellensburg campus is creation of space for a computer lab, plus room for a mock court. B. At the Centers, the Law and Justice program share all equipment with other programs. In Ellensburg, the department shares a copy machine with Political Science. After the move in Spring, 2009, the Law and Justice Department will need to obtain a copy machine, plus create a computer lab. In order to establish a mock courtroom, remodeling will need to be completed, plus the purchase of related furniture and specialty items. C. While all Centers have distance education possibilities, they need to be upgraded for delivery of more courses to multiple sites. The Ellensburg program needs more computers to establish a computer lab in their new location, plus a new copy machine. VI. Library and Technological Resources A. The Centers have availability to all of the same library resources that are available on campus. With electronic availability of many databases and resources, we have not found this to be a problem. Des Moines and Lynnwood have a library resource person who can assist students and Marcus Kieltyka is the instruction and outreach librarian and he comes to the centers to assist and facilitate the centers with any library issues and also along with the two on site resources people at Des Moines and Lynnwood gives instruction sessions to students. He also assists the department with the administration of Westlaw by assigning Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 51 passwords to students each quarter at all locations and assists in doing training on the legal resources and online databases. In Ellensburg, the main library provides adequate resources, particularly online materials. The new location in Farrell Hall will allow for the establishment of a departmental library/study area. In the future, funds for departmental library acquisitions eg. law materials, would be needed. B. Faculty regularly use the main library for hard copy resources, while there is a heavy reliance on computer based resources, particularly law and justice related eg. Professional journals, government documents, abstract services, etc. Also, the two major online legal resources, West Law and Lexis Nexis, are invaluable to students and faculty. In the classroom, most faculty use blackboard and various related I.T. C. At the Centers, there is adequate upgrading of computers, plus availability of computer labs for students. In Ellensburg, the major need in the future is a computer lab in the new building adequate for class instruction. VII Analysis of the Review Period A. What has gone well in the department and degree programs 1. Since the last review, we have added three tenure track faculty. 2. The Law and Justice Student Club has been active in both professional and public service activity, including helping build homes in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. 3. A new part-time office assistant/pre-admission advising position has been obtained, greatly aiding students and the program. 4. Overall, our student teaching evaluations of instruction and courses are above college and university averages. 5. The faculty are accessible and approachable to students in classes and through advising, in spite of the high number of advisees. 6. The department provides excellent advising, this is especially notable at the university centers where non-traditional students, who juggle work and family, often encounter numerous issues that need individual attention and understanding. 7. Our faculty and students have increased in terms of ethnic/racial and gender diversity. 8. An assessment plan has been implemented for some core classes. 9. Employer evaluation of law and justice cooperative student interns is over 4 on a 5 point scale. 10. An alumni survey finds that there is high overall satisfaction with the program. 11. According to the alumni survey, nearly two thirds of graduates get a job in the law and justice related area or do graduate work. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 52 12. The faculty are dedicated to getting students through the program in a timely manner by offering independent study opportunities and arranged courses as necessary for students to complete their degrees in a timely manner, as indicated by graduation numbers. 13. We maintain currency in our areas of scholarly interest by regularly attending professional training programs and professional conferences. 14. All faculty are yearly involved in mentoring students in cooperative internships. 15. All professors expose their students to guest speakers from the field. 16. Law and Justice students are involved in presentations at professional meeting, SOURCE and other forums, including publications. 17. Over 10% of students avail themselves of directed and/or independent research via LAJ 495 and 496. 18. Membership in the National Criminal Justice Honor Society – Alpha Phi Sigma, increases each year. 19. The average number of faculty publications a year is 9 while conference presentations average 11. 20. The department has done well at organizing appropriate summer courses so that enrollments allow for revenues, which are used for faculty professional development, amongst other needs. 21. The department has done well at actively participating in the McNair Scholars Program and the Link Program. 22. The department has a high level of commitment to recognizing students through the annual Eastside and Westside banquets to honor outstanding students and alumni. 23. Several faculty have been promoted and one has been chosen as the Teacher of Excellence for the year in the College of Sciences. 24. The first two sabbatical leaves granted to law and justice faculty occurred during this review period. 25. One professor’s book gained national recognition. 26. All professors are very active in service activity. 27. Our faculty has greatly increased their research, publications, presentations and service activity concerning diversity issues. 28. Our breadth of courses has increased, particularly regarding issues of diversity. 29. The department facilitates student participation in the annual career fair at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. 30. The department continues to do well in providing the opportunity for people already in the criminal justice field (police, paralegals, probation and correctional Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 53 officers) to complete their degrees so they have career advancement opportunity with increased compensation. 31. The department and faculty members have organized and provided two-day Victim Offender Mediation Training for people in the community and across the state. 32. The department provides our students with high ethical standards and quality education through our LAJ courses and they are serving all of us in communities across the state by being on the front lines as police officers, probation officers, correctional officers, lawyers and paralegals. 33. Our commitment to social justice and service has increased. 34. LAJ alum, Christine Henderson, is an active member of the COTS Development Board. 35. The difference between Law and Justice and COTS in terms of class size and proportion of tenure track/lecturer teaching has narrowed over the five year period. B. Existing Challenges 1. Establishing stable internal leadership in the Chair position. During the five year review period there were three department chairs, including one faculty member from outside the department. There were also two interim and one “permanent” College of Science Deans. One of the causes of the instability is that the demands on the Chair have greatly increased over the years, while the rewards/benefits have largely remained the same. In terms of professional progress, it does not make sense for an Associate Professor to take on this responsibility. They have to largely give up their research agenda, while still being held accountable for research. Changes in the reward/compensation structure would help to foster junior faculty to take on this significant position. 2. Creating more frequent, effective communication/exchange between faculty about their professional activities, teaching issues and community service. Given the fact that nearly half the faculty are off the main Ellensburg campus, face to face meetings have been rare. Faculty meetings are generally done via telephone conference. The Center Directors must act as quasi-chairs of their respective sites, and have little time for collegial meetings with other faculty. There are, on average, only two face to face meetings each academic year of the entire faculty. 3. The department still faces challenges gaining recognition and respect at the college and university levels. This challenge becomes greater because we are not a traditional science, so gaining respect for what we do within the college and an understanding of our unique program can be challenging. Further compounding our difficulty, we have a small staff and a large number of majors at disparate locations, so we have difficulties in participating in activities and committees to gain voice and exposure for the department. We are making efforts to increase our participation on university committees and in disseminating information about Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 54 the department. During this review period there was increased participation of faculty on University and College committees. This effort needs to continue. 4. Distance Education presents challenges because of occasional technical problems and because of the logistics of getting papers and assignments collected and returned to students timely and difficulty of engaging students at the remote location. It is evident from the data that we have significantly increased distant education offerings, including web based courses. This has led to some concerns with availability of appropriate technology and quality control issues. Nonetheless, the SEOI’s of the department remain high. 5. The role of center directors has been challenging since their responsibilities have not been formalized in employment contracts or through separate service contracts. Although their work is recognized departmentally, there are concerns about their status at the college and university levels since these added responsibilities do not allow faculty time to do what a traditional on-campus faculty member would be doing in order to gain tenure and promotion. While we now have full-time tenured/tenure track professors at all four centers, their ability to move forward in terms of professional research obligations remains problematic. This is particularly so in terms of promotion. Like the position of Chair, there is a great deal of administrative demand, but little formal recognition of this in terms of promotion criteria. 6. There is a demand for a master’s program. We are challenged because we are unable to respond to this need. The Higher Education Coordinating Board approved our proposed program in 2001. However, there has been no specific effort by the University to pursue this program. Our alumni survey (appendix C), plus anecdotal evidence from the field, attest to the demand. It was well documented in the earlier approved masters program. Since the approval by the HEC Board, only Seattle University has added such a program in the state. The only state public university with a masters’ remains Washington State University. 7. The department needs a full-time tenure track position on campus with a focus on law enforcement. Although approximately 40% of our majors focus in this area, we rely almost exclusively on adjuncts to teach these courses. The need for mentoring, advising, and career counseling, besides teaching, is great. As evident from the data concerning our major’s focus, law enforcement is in high demand. While we have over 300 majors on the Ellensburg campus, we do not have a full time faculty member devoted to this specialty. 8. Operating our program with a large proportion of adjuncts remains a challenge. As the data indicates, in 2007-2008, 38% of classes were taught by nontenured/tenure track instructors. 9. Given the large proportion of non-tenured/tenure track faculty, the department remains very vulnerable to downturns in the economy. When staff are cut, it is first those that are non-tenured/tenure track. This was experienced by the department in the early part of this decade. Therefore, since we have a higher proportion of such instructors than other COTS programs, we remain most vulnerable in terms of economic crisis. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 55 10. The department needs to increase its visibility through a variety of strategies, particularly at the Centers. C. Implementation of Previous Program Review Recommendations 1. Undergraduate curriculum and outcomes-based assessment. As is evident from this report, we have made great strides in establishing outcomes-based assessment. While we have much yet to do, we have established a methodology and framework for continual assessment and feedback. Both student learning expectations and knowledge and skill-based learned outcomes have been built into course syllabi and expectations. Periodic review of all faculty course syllabi ensures the development of standard expectations and course uniformity across campuses. Alumni survey results largely confirm positive outcomes and satisfaction with the program. 2. Faculty credentials performance standards and department culture/leadership. We have developed departmental performance standards which have been approved by the Provost. Peer review of instruction has been implemented via syllabus review and an annual retreat to discuss this issue. A standard checklist for syllabi has been established and periodic evaluations of part-time adjuncts have been instituted to develop adequate consistency and maintain rigorous standards. The three new tenure track faculty hired since the last review, Professors Britto, Noga and Francis, have excellent credentials and have greatly enhanced the department in teaching, scholarship and service. As evidenced from the current review, the more recent, younger additions to faculty have made great contributions to the faculty. In terms of culture and leadership, the more recent members of the faculty have helped to invigorate and change the culture in a positive way. As they rise through the ranks, new leadership will be forthcoming. As noted in the challenges section, this, in part, necessitates larger changes in inducements/rewards for those assuming leadership roles. Some indicees of changed culture include representation of law and justice in wider university committees. For example, we had a faculty member , Mary Ellen Reimund, on the Dean’s Search Committee, among other committees. Along with faculty member Mike Olivero, our Secretary Senior, Sharon Talley serves on the President’s Art Selection and Permanent Collection Committee. In addition, two sabbaticals were awarded during this review period to Professors Reasons and Sun. These are the first sabbaticals in the history of the department. Two books were published by Professors Britto and Sun, with Britto’s gaining national honors. The greatly increased diversity of the department faculty has provided positive cultural changes. All of the above portend a vibrant, active, and creative future for the program. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 56 3. Completing the transition to an academic model and staging for the Master’s program. This has progressed well with the addition of a theory course (LAJ 451) as part of our core required courses, plus the addition of several new courses such as African Americans and the Constitution and Crime and the Media. The addition of three new faculty, Professors Britto, Noga and Francis, who have been strong contributors to our academic/professional advancement, adds to our transition and staging for our Master’s. 4. The most critical direction for the department is to fund additional faculty positions so that the dependence on adjuncts can be reduced to acceptable levels. As evident from our average class size, faculty advising load and proportion of non-tenured/tenure track faculty, we continue to need more faculty to obtain acceptable staffing levels with quality assurance. Our specific need is for the addition of two new Ph.D. positions, one in policing and one as a generalist. While 40% of our majors in Ellensburg are law enforcement oriented, we do not have a tenure track faculty with this specialization. This is crucial to correct the above noted deficiencies and to set the conditions for the establishment of a Master’s during the next five year cycle. 5. Additional support staff to address the demands of increased enrollment in the major and address the needs of students at five locations. This has been partially met by the addition of a regular part-time office assistant III position, filled by Crystal Boothman. Given the demands of the program at five locations, this should be a full-time position. Implementation of the graduate program. Issues with the undergraduate program regarding standardization, academic integrity, learner objectives/outcomes, among others, are being addressed. The principle need for implementing the graduate program is the addition of two new Ph.D. Faculty. 6. Revision of departmental mission and goals. This has been completed. 7. Continue to address the issue of faculty diversity in full time and adjunct hires. As evident by this report, much progress has been made in this area. 8. Maintain and enhance the achievements of the department in teaching, research and service to the university and to the community. This has been accomplished as is evident in this report. 9. Continue to offer opportunities for students to participate in research. The current report provides evidence of this accomplishment. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 57 10. Development of research/resource centers within the department regarding topical areas of faculty strength such as Restorative Justice and Mexican/American policing. This has not been done largely due to the lack of resources. New courses such as Comparative Criminal Justice and Community Justice will in part, address this need. 11. LAJ Advisor position to handle the express advising needs of LAJ majors thus freeing up faculty time for teaching, research and service. The new part-time position does pre-advising on campus, but there are no resources for a part-time/full-time academic advisor. 12. Pursuit of ABA approval of the campus paralegal program and alliances built with Edmonds Community College and Highline Community College so Westside center paralegal students could graduate with ABA Approved Paralegal Certificates. This has not been pursued due to change in focus to the Master’s and lack of resources. 13. Additional faculty and alliances with related departments for elective offerings. This has been done with our offerings for Family Studies, African and African American Studies, and IDS. Progress is being made to provide some service law and justice courses in the future. D. Make a comparison between the last program review and where the department is now. 1. Our advances since the last program review are listed in VII A. pp. 52-54. These have been particularly aided by the addition of three new tenure-track faculty. Such external support by the college and university has been crucial to this 50% increase in our regular faculty. The addition of these younger faculty, has greatly contributed to our diversity in terms of gender, race/ethnicity and ideas. This infusion of new faculty has had a beneficial impact on departmental culture, policies and practices. It has allowed more involvement with students in terms of research, advising, maturing and quality instruction. Their contributions to the department have enhanced our respect as a department in the larger university. Through teaching, scholarship and community involvement, they have added significantly to positive visibility for the Law and Justice Department. 2. One of the outstanding unmet needs from the last program review is the implementation of the graduate program. The department only needs one more tenure track faculty position on campus in the policing area in order to offer it on campus. Given recent program changes eliminating the tracks, there will not be the need to offer a wide variety o courses each year. Assuming adjunct instructors can cover several courses, regular faculty will be able to teach graduate courses on Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 58 campus. This assumes that the graduate program approved by the H.E.C. Board in 2002 is still viable. While some of the other recommendations from the previous Program Review (pp. 56-58) have not been achieved, there are efforts to pursue them as noted. VIII Future Directions A retreat was held on Friday, November 21 to address this issue, among other departmental concerns. Carolyn Thurston acted as a group facilitator. Combined with earlier meetings and discussions of department aspirations, the following arose: A. Department Aspirations 1. Continue to establish a social justice identity through our teaching, research and service activity. 2. Implementation of the graduate program. 3. Maintain and enhance the achievements of the department in teaching, research and service to the university and community. 4. Continue to offer opportunities for students to participate in research. 5. Continue to address issues of diversity in the program, including faculty, students and course offerings. 6. Continue to establish a culture of professionalism, collegiality, and inclusiveness in the department, amongst faculty, students and staff. 7. Continue to establish stable consistent leadership within the department. 8. Continue to foster the mentoring and progress of junior faculty through the trials and tribulations of reappointment/tenure and promotion. 9. Establish a new location, culture and identity in the move to Farrell Hall in Spring 2009. 10. Continue to promote collaborative work with other programs and units in the university. 11. Continue to enhance the academic consistency and rigor of the program at all five sites. 12. Continue to address issues of learner outcomes and assessment. 13. Continue to update/revise departmental policies and practices where necessary. 14. Re-establish a working Advisory Board. 15. Increase distance education courses, particularly web-based, with an emphasis on consistency and academic integrity. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 59 16. Continue to reduce the reliance on part-time instructors. 17. Provide more flexibility/support for junior faculty as they progress through their career. 18. Reduce both average classroom size and advisee load to the COTS average. 19. Establish a joint computer lab with Sociology in Farrell Hall. 20. Establish a social science survey research center in Farrell Hall with Sociology and Political Science. 21. Establish a mock courtroom and oral board venue in Farrell Hall. The mock courtroom will allow students to recreate trials, while the oral board venue will allow students to undergo mock interviews. 22. Facilitate more face to face interaction between faculty at the various sites. 23. Enhance opportunities for Center Directors to participate in campus events/culture. 24. Support the needs of Center Directors. 25. At least a half time position for a student advisor. 26. Enhancing and updating our we site to assist current students in getting information about the program as well as for recruiting efforts. 27. More marketing and recruiting efforts to gain more students at all of our locations. 28. Continue our efforts to involve our alum in departmental activities such as guest speakers, panel participation and mentors. B. Ways the department might increase quality, quantity and/or efficiency with evidence that supports the promise for outstanding performance. The evidence of our promise is in our current level of performance. We graduate more students per tenured and tenure-track faculty than other departments; we maintain scholarly records that are consistent with university expectations and comparable to those in more resource-rich departments; we serve the community with distinction. Our faculty have more advisees and larger classes than the College and University norm; yet exceed College and University averages for SEOI’s evaluation of both the Courses and Instructors. To increase quality, quantity and/or efficiency: 1. The elimination of tracks will increase efficiency, particularly at the Centers. Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 60 2. Increasing distance education, particularly online courses would help in both efficiency and quantity. 3. Creation of an online minor will help efficiency and increase enrollment. 4. Establishment of assessment and peer review of syllabi increases quality. 5. Implementing specific pre-requisites for some classes may increase quality. 6. Providing some courses as service courses will increase quantity. 7. The quality of the program would be enhanced through investment in additional tenure track faculty and less dependence on adjunct faculty. 8. Addition of an advisor position would increase efficiency, quality and quantity since one individual could handle the bulk of the advising load, thus freeing up faculty to concentrate on teaching and research, which would greatly increase their efficiency and quantity in these areas. 9. While the addition of a part-time staff position has greatly aided in the quality of service, this should be a full-time position. 10. Our establishment of a two-year scheduling plan lends itself to efficiency because faculty and students know for planning purposes what the department course offerings will be. With good master scheduling plans, less time is needed to work out courses each quarter. 11. The scheduling of weekend/evening courses will continue to optimally serve students. Further additions/revisions to this may enhance efficiency/quantity. C. Specific resources needed to pursue future directions 1. Two new tenure track positions. 2. Resources to hold at least one meeting per quarter face to face for faculty from all sites. 3. Enhanced technology in Farrell Hall to have audio-visual connections with all sites for faculty meetings. 4. Resources to hold two annual meetings of the newly constituted Advisory Board. 5. Remodeling costs for establishing a mock courtroom in Farrell. 6. Costs for establishing a computer center in Farrell for at least 26 computer stations. 7. A half time position for a student advisor. 8. Financing the increase of our part-time office staff position to full time. 9. Remodeling costs to establish a social science survey center in Farrell. D. What do you want us to know that is not included in this self-study? Department of Law and Justice - Program Review - 2008-2009 61 Nothing. IX. Suggestions for the program review process of contents of the self-study? There is a great deal of redundancy in this reporting form which should be eliminated. 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