Annual Goals for Criminal Justice Department
1. What are the department’s annual goals? How do they align with the college mission
statement and the Santa Ana College (SAC) Strategic Plan?
The Criminal Justice (CJ) Department's primary goal remains the same from its 2011
Quadrennial Review: To provide the best possible education for students seeking employment as
police officers, probation officers, state parole agents, crime scene investigators, or federal
agents. A secondary goal for 2014 includes: (1) providing students who are not interested
seeking employment as stated above with sufficient knowledge of CJ issues to enable them to
pursue their educational goals (e.g., transfer to a university), and (2) adding to the list of CJ
student clientele those students who seek employment in the private security field. These goals
align with SAC’s Mission to prepare students for a career. Furthermore, these goals align with
SAC’s Strategic Plan in the areas of Student Achievement and Workforce Development.
2. What progress has been made toward the department’s goals over the last year? What
causes can be identified (e.g., population/demographics trends; industry; technology; lack
of resources)?
The CJ department has made more than satisfactory progress over the last year toward the
department goals regarding educating CJ students, as evidenced by the large number of students
who continue to enroll in its traditional program. According to SAC data as Table 1 reveals, CJ
generated the 15th highest number of FTES (out of 76 subjects college-wide), and generated the
5th highest number of FTES in its division (out of 17). Regarding retention rates, the CJ
Department retains on average 80% of its students (SAC’s average retention rate is 85%), based
on an average of 1,265 students for the past five Fall semesters. In Fall 2013 the CJ
Department’s retention rate was 83%.
Furthermore, a substantial number of SAC students declare CJ as their major and pursue
the traditional AA degree in CJ. As evidence of student interest in the CJ AA degree, SAC
awarded an average of 25 AA CJ degrees to its students each year, for the past five years (in
2012-2013 SAC awarded 32 CJ Degrees). This average places CJ in the #8 position (out of 80)
of degrees that SAC awards.
Table 1. Summary of CJ Department data.
CJ
FTES-SAC
15th of 76
FTES-Div
5th of 17
AA Degree
Annual Avg. = 25
8th of 80 for SAC.
32 in 2012-2013
Retention Rate
80% Avg.
83% Fall 2013
SAC Avg.= 85%
Avg. enrollment
1,265 students
each Fall.
1,232 Fall 2013
One final item of progress toward department goals of note during the past year is that the
CJ Department completed substantial state reporting requirements and, effective Fall 2014, will
offer California's Administration in Science Transfer (AS-T) Degree in Administration of Justice
to those students who wish to transfer to a state university program.
3. What research has the department conducted?
One of the two CJ department chairs is presently working on his PhD in the discipline of
Psychology; his dissertation consists of an examination of emotional intelligence, decisionmaking style, and the level of exposure to criminal gang activity upon youth. This topic has
significant relevance to the CJ Department program and the field of CJ. Additionally, several of
CJ’s part-time faculty serve in supervisory and management capacities with CJ agencies that
conduct substantial research into CJ topics, which the CJ part-time faculty use in teaching their
courses to SAC students.
4. Do goals need to be restructured, eliminated, or pursued with different activities?
Currently, the CJ Department goals as modified above are meeting the needs of SAC
students.
5. What are the proposed goals for next year? (Include fiscal implications)
The proposed goals for next year consist of re-examining the existing goals and making
adjustments as necessary. Moreover, a goal for next year will consist of an evaluation of the first
year of SAC’s offering of California's new AS-T Degree in CJ. There may be fiscal implications
due to the impact of the AS-T Degree offering upon SAC’s traditional AA Degree in CJ, but it is
too early to project.