According to enrollment statistics collected by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, the number of Criminal Justice majors has more than tripled in the last four years and is rapidly emerging as one of the more prominent programs at CMU. Although it has little to compare to, a number of professors within the department feel as though it is the case.

Dr. John Reece, an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Mesa, served as a Grand Junction Police Officer for 20 years. He has been teaching classes at Mesa for 10 years, and believes it is important for students to know that it isn’t all just academic and theory, they should expect there to be an equal balance between theory and practice for the department majors.

“All of us bring to the table practical experience as well as a strong academic background,” Reece said. “Criminal Justice is a very pragmatic degree, so I think we do a pretty good job of bringing those two credentials (practical experience and academics) to the table so students can get a rich experience in terms of both sides of the fence.”

Practical experiences are such an important aspect of criminal justice that teachers find ways to incorporate them into their daily curriculum. Reece, for example, brings in a multitude of guest speakers, ranging from the district attorney, defense attorneys, and probation/parole officers.

“We embrace service learning,” Reece said. “We’ll do tours and bring in guest speakers; so although physically we are in the classroom with these guest speakers, it truly is taking the learning outside the classroom, at least in terms of their perspectives.”

Students like Jordyn Harbin, a sophomore who is majoring in both Criminal Justice and Political Science at Mesa and has interned at the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has found these practical experiences to be extremely interesting and helpful in giving them an expectation for their future careers.

“It’s a lot of fun and the stuff we learn is really interesting. It’s really cool because the teachers have real-world experience,” Harbin said. “For example, last semester I had one of my classes taught by a judge, at Mesa County Courthouse. You actually get to talk to people who have done it before and those who are currently doing it. They can not only tell you, but show you what it’s actually going to be like.”

As the program continues to grow at a rapid pace, they will add a couple more staff members in the fall to help with the expanding class sizes. Relieving the large class loads teachers is an important step towards insuring the major remains an experience that students will remember as something that helped in their preparation for their futures.