John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

   

New York, NY, October 21, 2009 – With an eye to the future and the College’s 50^th Anniversary in 2014, President Jeremy Travis recognized the “stunning achievements” of a revitalized John Jay College of Criminal Justice during his State of the College address. “We should be very proud of the distances we have travelled over the past five years,” said Travis. He recognized faculty, staff and students for taking on the challenges of improving student success, reinvigorating the faculty and reforming core academic programs.

Travis continued, “As we celebrate our role in the last chapter of John Jay, we are ready to write the next chapter.” He then announced the launching of a new master planning process that will enable the College to produce Master Plan John Jay @50 -- a new five-year Master Plan by the end of the academic year. The plan will be built around five domains that define John Jay: Student Success, Academic Excellence, Research Excellence, External Partnerships and Institutional Effectiveness. The strategic planning process will serve to inform the Middle States Accreditation Process, which will begin with a self-assessment.

In noting the recent accomplishments, Travis stated, “The changes at John Jay are simply breathtaking and everyone at the College should feel a great sense of accomplishment in creating a revitalized College.”

Highlights of these accomplishments include:

Improving Student Success
Five years ago, John Jay’s entering freshman class consisted of 1,182 baccalaureate students, this fall we enrolled 1,657 baccalaureate freshmen, a 40% increase. Based on this success, the College has officially closed associate degree programs and will seek senior college designation next fall. Simultaneously, working with the six CUNY community colleges, John Jay has created joint degree programs in criminal justice forensic science and forensic financial analysis. These educational partnerships, collectively called the CUNY Justice Academy, will enable us to expand access to criminal justice programs across the university.

Reinvigorating Faculty
This fall the College welcomed 36 new full-time faculty members. With their arrival John Jay reached another milestone – since 2004, our ranks of full-time faculty have grown from 335 to 449, a 33% increase. Fully 50% of the College’s full-time faculty have been hired over the past five years. These new faculty come from premier doctoral programs around the world, committed to excellence in scholarship and teaching, and eager to join the John Jay community. They are a critical building block of a revitalized John Jay College.

Retooling Core Academic Programs
John Jay has added liberal arts majors in English, Economics, Gender Studies and Global History, with Philosophy, Law and Society, American Studies, Anthropology, Latin American and Latina/o Studies and Sociology in the pipeline. These new majors are receiving positive reviews from academic colleagues around the country and will distinguish the John Jay undergraduate education in the coming decades. The College is also expanding options at the graduate level with two new Masters programs – one in Forensic Mental Health Counseling and another in International Crime and Justice and certificates in Forensic Psychology and Forensic Accounting. In addition, this fall, the College launched its first online degree program – the MPA – Inspector General Program.

To further raise the quality of John Jay’s academic programs, the College is midway through an overhaul of its general education programs. It has redesigned its Honors Program and will accept the first students in Fall 2010. And, the College has revised its science curriculum and launched Math 2012, an initiative to strengthen its math curriculum.

To read the full text of President Travis’ remarks, click here.

For a copy of the State of the College Roadmap, click here.