The Department of Criminology and Justice has a long-standing commitment to improving the quality of justice through education, research, and public service. The faculty of the Department of Criminology and Justice recognizes its mission as threefold.
First, the department is dedicated to offering its majors a state-of-the-art education in criminology and justice by providing them with a comprehensive and critical understanding of the criminal justice system and the society in which it functions. At the same time, as part of College of Arts and Sciences, Loyola University New Orleans, the faculty is committed to addressing the special needs of adult learners and to preparing students to move into criminal justice careers or post graduate work as liberally educated, intellectually mature, ethically aware, and culturally sensitive men and women. Moreover, the department is dedicated to providing students throughout the university with opportunities to examine critically the broad questions of how justice is administered in American society and globally as well as confront the fundamental issues of criminal justice, which they face as professionals and as involved citizens.
Second, the Department of Criminology and Justice is dedicated to excellence in research and scholarship as reflected in grants, awards, and publications. The faculty is committed to research that advances the teaching, assessment, and the knowledge base of the field of criminal justice, and also research that has policy implications and serves the goals of equity and efficiency in the administration of justice.
Finally, the department has a special commitment to providing the expertise of its faculty as a resource to assist criminal justice and social service agencies in the greater metropolitan New Orleans area and the state of Louisiana in the realms of applied research, policy development, training, and planned change to meet the social and technological challenges of the 21st Century.
In order to accomplish its mission, the Department of Criminology and Justice pledges:
- To provide a state-of-the-art curriculum and educational environment
- To foster the talent development of students, faculty, and staff
- To integrate technology into the curriculum including web enhanced instruction
- To promote each student's capacity for self-directed, life-long learning
- To ensure learner-centeredness in order to maximize learning
- To support faculty scholarly endeavors and research activities
- To enhance quality through a commitment to continuous improvement
- To honor the Ignatian tradition of educating the whole person by developing both cognitive and humane skills
- To reinforce the value of service to the community
- To develop ongoing partnerships and collaboration with criminal justice agencies
- To expand placement opportunities of graduates
- To inspire a sense of pride in being an alumnus or alumna of the Criminology and Justice Department at Loyola University New Orleans