Proud - Youngstown State University

evidence
reveals
Forensics
Enrollment
Growth
Prompts
Department
Name
Change
Criminal Justice major
Eric Miller dusts for
fingerprints.
Forensics scientists are making headlines—cracking
high-profile “cold” cases,
foiling terrorist plots – and the positive press
has bolstered YSU’s Forensic Science degree
Tammy King program. Enrollment has grown more than
400 percent in five years.
Now the department that houses the major has been
given a new name, the Department of Criminal Justice and
Forensic Sciences, to reflect its growing emphasis on the
forensic science discipline.
Tammy A. King, associate professor of Criminal Justice
and former department chairperson, said 128 undergraduates duates
were majoring in forensic science this spring, up from just 31
when the degree program was created in 2003.
Overall student numbers for graduates and undergraduates
in what was formerly known as the Department of Criminal
Justice are also on the rise, totaling about 767 in the fall
semester, its highest level since the mid-1970s.
Faculty members are working with the Department of
Computer Science and Information Systems to create a second
baccalaureate forensic science major program, Computer
Forensics. “It’s a changing world, law enforcement is becoming
more technical and science based,” King said. “We’ve got
to keep up.”
Planners expect the new Computer Forensics program to
be approved by YSU’s Board of Trustees, university administrators
and the Ohio Board of Regents by Spring 2009, she
said, but students interested in the major will be permitted to
start taking coursework as early as next fall.
Forensics typically involves working in crime labs, performing
drug analyses and toxicological studies, comparing
DNA, analyzing fingerprints, conducting ballistics tests and
preparing courtroom evidence, she said.
Computer forensics differs in that it deals
with cyber crimes such as computer system
hacking, child pornography, embezzlement and
identity fraud.
By collaborating with the Department of
Computer Science and Information Systems,
King explained, planners were able to adapt
some computer courses already offered to create
the new Computer Forensics curriculum. Working together
to utilize another department’s faculty, course offerings and
equipment was more cost effective than developing separate
courses and hiring additional staff exclusively for the
Department of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.
Faculty used a similar strategy to create the program for
Forensic Science majors, she said, forming partnerships with
the Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Anthropology and Sociology
and Health Professions departments to develop the
appropriate curriculum without having to add many courses
or staff. “It was a unique collaboration of five departments,”
King said. “Most of the courses were already there.”
Summer 2008 25