Dear Spartan: Enjoy reading the 2008 winter edition of the SCJ e-News, our online networking and informational newsletter for our alumni, students and friends. In addition to enjoying our newsletter, we invite you to visit online to get updated information about alumni, academic and certificate programs, research and outreach/professional development opportunities. Take time to visit our updated alumni Wall of Fame site. Banner Photo: 2008 Career Fair, Left to Right: Grant Humerickhouse, Ben Split, Shannon Brigman, Ed McGarrell, Aimee Brimacombe, Sterling Raehtz, Amanda Halabou and Tim Homberg
The same week as the Career Fair, the American Academy of Forensic Science held its annual scientific meeting in Washington, DC. I am guessing you could not walk the hall without bumping into a MSU faculty member, student or alum. Indeed, Professors Foran and Waddell Smith and their students made presentations on 23 panels during the conference. Another important development in the School is the Center for Police Executive Development. The Center brings together the School’s historic leadership in policing with the highly successful Police Executive Development Series and the newly developed School of Staff and Command. We are fortunate to have the support of MCOLES in developing the School of Staff and Command as well as a tremendously distinguished Advisory Board of law enforcement leaders working with Director Kim Lawrence and our MSU team. A related program, The First National Joint Police Union – Management Executive Symposium, is being developed in collaboration with the School of Labor and Industrial Relations and will be offered in the fall. We are very excited about the emergence of the Center. Of course, none of these activities would be possible without the continued scholarly excellence of our faculty. Once again, MSU faculty and students were very visible in the academic journals. Chris Maxwell and “honorary faculty” member, Ron Wilson edited a special edition of Police Practice and Research on geographic profiling. I say honorary because Ron, director of the Crime Mapping Center at the National Institute of Justice, has come to campus the last few years to offer an outstanding course on crime mapping in collaboration with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. Merry Morash and alum Hoan Bui (University of Tennessee) extended their collaborative research on domestic violence in the Vietnamese-American community through an article in Criminal Justice Studies. Jesy Pizarro and recent Ph.D. alum Nick Corsaro (Southern Illinois University) published an article on the journey to crime and victimization published in Victims and Offenders. Chris Smith continued his scholarly writings about the Supreme Court with articles in the Prison Journal and Insights on Law and Society. Charles Corley and Homer Hawkins teamed up for an article on the Michigan Firearms Statute that appears in the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice. I could continue and include our entire faculty and many of our graduate students and alumnae but space prohibits. The School remains at the forefront of generating new knowledge about crime and justice. The Career Fair and the Center for Police Executive Development represent the extension of this scholarship to future and current criminal justice leaders. Spotlight Awards
To learn more about Dr. Morash's research >> David Roush, Ph.D. 89’ received the 2007 M. James Toner Fellows Award for lifetime achievement in juvenile justice. The Fellows Award recognized Roush's contributions to program and staff development in juvenile detention, citing his work as Director of the Center for Research & Professional Development.
Professor’s Christina DeJong, Charles Corley and Steve Chermak helped Jerry’s Kids by volunteering in the Muscular Dystrophy Association “Lock-Up”. This event helped raise needed resources to make a difference in the fight against muscular disease in the Lansing area.
Center for Police Executive Development (CPEDS)
School of Staff and Command To learn more or apply for the School of Staff and Command>> 60th Annual Scientific Meeting
In addition to the poster presentations, they also had an opportunity to network and take a tour of our Nation’s Capitol. Top Photo from Left to Right: Erin Lenz, Rachel Aikman and Ashley McClellan
The 2008 Career Fair was once again a resounding success for our students and participating agencies. There were public and private organizations from the local, state and federal sectors. Many of the students and alumni in attendance made valuable connections for part-time jobs, internships and full-time employment. To learn more about career fair opportunities>>
To learn more about the Start Center>>
The mission of the CIP program is to “enhance cities, counties, and regions’ capabilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters through public and private sector collaboration, communication, and cooperation.” Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)—Community Facilitation Program brings together public and private sector leaders to build strategic partnerships for joint crisis management, utilizing an all-hazards approach. This program enhances emergency preparedness in communities by leveraging the expertise, experience, and capabilities of business and government entities through cooperation, communication and collaboration. The CIP Program is grant funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is offered at no cost to participating communities. We look forward to discussing the benefits of partnerships for emergency preparedness in your community. To learn more about Community Facilitations>>
To learn more about Dr. Nalla’s research>> Alumni President Update We have an incredibly focused and dedicated Alumni Board working very hard to assist the School of Criminal Justice to accomplish the goals noted in our Past President, Bill Wilson’s message. It is a tall order but we are making progress. Our Director, Ed McGarrell met with a small sub-group of the Alumni Board on February 23rd to provide an update on several critical initiatives that I would like to expand upon. Dedicated Facility for the School of Criminal Justice There has been quite a buzz since the State of Michigan announced plans to move the Department of State Police to a new facility later next year in downtown Lansing, abandoning the magnificent facility on the west side of Harrison Road across from the campus. The MSP buildings are actually located on MSU property and would be a natural home for the School of Criminal Justice and the MSU Department of Public Safety. The Alumni Board has long advocated for the consolidation of the nation’s oldest criminal justice degree granting program into a dedicated facility that would eliminate the virtual diaspora of faculty and programs across the Michigan State campus, well beyond the confines of the current portion of Baker Hall. Our Director, Ed McGarrell joined Public Safety Director, James Dunlap and MSU building engineers in a comprehensive walk-through of the site. The good news is that the space is adequate for everyone to stretch out in a more functional workspace. The more sobering news is that renovation of the building is pegged at $5 to $10 million dollars providing there are no serious issues with asbestos, major plumbing or electrical overhauls. Renovation of all of the on-site building could run a whopping $120 million. A full and final report is due from the MSU Building Engineering department any day now. The MSU Development Office is recommending that a campaign strategy be initiated to identify possible funding sources. We desperately need your input on people, corporations and foundations that may be helpful in this effort. No recommendations and ideas will be overlooked! All of this translates into the MSU Campaign Office kicking into high gear with a strategic plan. Establishing a Comprehensive Basic Police Training Curriculum within the School of Criminal Justice The Sheriff of Leelanau County, Michigan and Board member, Mike Oltersdorf, enthusiastically moved on a proposal advanced during the October 2007 annual Board meeting to explore the feasibility of bringing Basic Police Training to the MSU campus. The MSU Department of Public Safety has been exploring this as well so it was logical that we join in preliminary discussions with the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. Furthermore, the Alumni Board recognizes that the State of Michigan is hard pressed to maintain the current twenty-four basic police training programs. In typical outside-of-the-box thinking, the Board is advocating a National Police Training Program initiative that would provide our law enforcement bound students with the ability to meet police officer and training board standards in all fifty states! This dream will be pursued with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Training in the upcoming months. Proposed Expansion for the Wall of Fame Ceremony Last October’s Alumni Board meeting discussed enhancement of the Wall of Fame ceremony. This change under consideration of the SCJ faculty includes the awarding of a Service Award to a non-graduate, non-faculty recipient and a Faculty Emeritus Award. The Director of the School will make nominations for the Service Award and the Faculty Emeritus Award will be submitted and voted on by the Alumni Board of Directors. The deadline for nomination will be June 30th of each year. Please visit our Wall of Fame page to nominate an individual for this years Distinguished Alumni Award. All nominations are due by June 30, 2008. One final pleading: Please, please attend this classy ceremony on October 3rd this year! We will have you out in time for the Midnight Madness festivities over at the Breslin Center as the Women and Men’s Basketball teams launch their campaigns toward the 2009 March Madness of the NCAA Basketball Championships! Wall of Remembrance A very sobering void must be filled and we need your assistance to identify our graduates who were killed in the Line of Duty or during Combat Operations since World War II. I have asked our new Board member, Mike Thompson to spearhead this initiative. Mike has served as an Assistant Professor of Military Science at MSU. Please e-mail Mike Thompson with any information that will assist the Board in bringing recognition and honor to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. During the year, there is one real enjoyable benefit to my non-stop weeks as a bona fide Road Warrior traversing the United States providing law enforcement training and consulting — meeting our Board members in other states prior to our formal meetings. Bill Wilson and I meet for dinner and engaging conversation in the Chicagoland area on a regular basis. I will again be meeting shortly with Paul Sparks in our nation’s capital. These meetings always provide an opportunity to expand upon the myriad of projects that the Alumni Board has in the hopper. It is sheer enjoyment to work with alumni that have a sense of mission and purpose to advance our beloved Alma Mater and in particular, the School of Criminal Justice – the Nations Oldest and Best! I hope you will e-mail me with your ideas, comments, suggestions – anything that you believe will assist the Board and the School of Criminal Justice during what has to be the most challenging budget constraints since 1935. Our Director Ed McGarrell, the faculty and staff are working under exceptionally severe constraints. They need and deserve our support and assistance! Coach Sok
Nominations for the 2008 Wall of Fame Award are now being accepted for alumni who have distinguished themselves by attaining the highest level of professional accomplishment while demonstrating strong personal integrity and character. The Wall of Fame has honored forty-one alums since it's inception in 2000 representing the "best of the best" in multiple disciplines in the field of Criminal Justice. Nominate Today!
To learn more about his publications>>
In 1945, one hundred and four steel Quonsets were erected on the East side of Harrison Rd. to shelter the growing student enrollment at Michigan State University. Students slept in bunk beds at one end with an open area at the other end that they utilized for studying and recreation. In addition to the sleeping area, one oversized Quonset served as the community’s cafeteria.
Shop online for great gifts for others or yourself!. |
As indicated in the fall e-newsletter, there is an endless supply of events occurring within the School as well as accomplishments to “brag about”. One of the big events of the School year is the Career Fair. As described in this newsletter, the Career Fair was once again a great success with over 600 students and 80 agencies participating. My thanks to Tim Homberg and Mary Lee VanderMoere for all their work to make this so successful. My thanks as well to the many alumni who returned to meet with and recruit fellow Spartans. 
From left to right, Christina DeJong and Charles Corley.
Meredith Gore, Ph.D has joined the faculty of the School of Criminal Justice. She has a joint position in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and will become a core member of a group of MSU scholars building research and education programs in "Conservation Criminology." Dr. Gore is a specialist in risk perception and natural resources and received her Ph.D. in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Cornell University.
David Foran, Ph.D and Ruth Waddell Smith, Ph.D along with students and graduates Rachel Aikman, Nicole Burt, Andrea Clowes, Amber Heard, Shane Hoffmann, Sara L. Jubelirer, Stefanie Kremer, Lisa LaGoo, Erin Lenz, Christina Malone, Lucas Marshall, Sarah Meisinger, Amy Michael and David Szymanski, presented their research at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting, (Washington, DC). Michigan State University led all other Universities and agencies with a record 23 poster presentations.
Criminal Justice Ph.D student Jeff Gruenewald is among other students across the United States studying domestic terrorism. As a member of the Department of Homeland Security Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), Jeff is studying right-wing, left-wing and single-issue terrorism, specifically homicide. Already his research is determining behavioral patterns of groups and individuals who are a potential threat to the United States.
Mahesh Nalla, Ph.D is the Director of Graduate Studies and the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. His research includes, Comparative/International Communities, Crime Corruption and Integrity Issues in Africa and Asia, Policing in Turkey, Slovenia, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Citizen Confidence in Police and Private Security and Police and Security Relationships in Developed, Emerging, and Transitional Economies. 
Greetings fellow CJ Spartans from an old-timer Geezer Cop who graduated from the final commencement with the School of Police Administration and Public Safety! This is an exciting time to be at the helm of your alumni association, and a real honor to have the leadership baton passed to my hands from my good friend Bill Wilson.
Meet Board Member Richard Lively who graduated from the School of Criminal Justice earning a Bachelor in 1973 and a Masters in 1979. He has served in the capacity as an Operational Lieutenant with the Saginaw Police Department and currently holds the position of Director, Grants and Special Programs for the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department. Richard is Regional Coordinator of the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center and Adjunct Instructor in Criminal Justice for Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University.
Photo from left to right: Dr. Ed McGarrell, Director, and the 2007 Inductees, James M. Botting, Dr. Robin N. Haarr, Ellen T. Cokinos and Dr. Jonathan R. White 
Bruce Benson, BS 69’, MS 71’ has been appointed Interim Assistant Vice President for the University of South Florida’s Division of Public Safety. Bruce is also Police Chief and Director of Public Safety Emeritus at Michigan State University as well as an Associate Professor for the School.
Barri Flowers, BA 77’, MS 80’ has written several new mystery stories "Ripper--Part 1," "Deception--Part 1," The Jury Has Spoken," and "The Phone Call." 
Matthew Heins, 89’ has been appointed Chief of Police for Jackson, Michigan. Matt earned his BA from the School of Criminal Justice and a Masters in Public Administration from Western Michigan University. He is also a graduate of the Northwestern School of Staff and Command and the FBI Academy and currently serves as Vice President of the Alumni Association Board.
Paul Sparks, BS 72’, MS 76’ met with our new Alumni Board President Bruce Sokolove this fall. Paul is retired after serving 27 years as a Special Agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Currently, Paul is employed by the Intelligence Division (TASC) of the Northrop Grumman Corporation and serves as a Senior Advisor, Law Enforcement/ Counterintelligence /Counterterrorism, in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (CIO) and is serving as a new member of the Alumni Association Board.
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Michigan State University • School of Criminal Justice • 560 Baker Hall • East Lansing, MI 48824