Mission
To serve the criminal justice professions through the interdisciplinary and comparative study of crime and criminal behavior as well as the policies and systems designed to control criminality: The program promotes lifelong learning among students who develop into justice professionals prepared to ethically lead public and private efforts to make communities safer and promote the equitable application of the law across all boundaries, perceived and real. Our curriculum provides a base comprised of both substantive and practical knowledge linking multidisciplinary social science theories and methods with effective, responsible public policy to advance the ethical practice of the justice professions within a multicultural, constitutional democracy.
Licensure
The Public Safety Administration (PSAD) program offers a 120-unit Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in criminal justice that prepares students for a wide variety of career paths, such as law enforcement, correctional counselor, CSI careers, legal/court positions, and more.
The PSAD program meets all educational requirements preparing graduates for pursuing state-mandated law enforcement certification in California, as well as all other U.S. states and the District of Columbia. California requires Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certification for police officers, deputy sheriffs, school district police officers, district attorney investigators, and a few other classifications of peace officers.
Students who wish to pursue law enforcement careers in locations outside of California may or may not have additional non-educational requirements to complete prior to, or in association with, seeking employment in law enforcement.
Woodbury University encourages prospective and current students to explore certification processes in the states where they anticipate working. Prior to enrollment, prospective students must visit Woodbury’s PSAD Professional Licensure webpage to review a full list of U.S. states and jurisdictions in which the PSAD program meets the educational requirements. Woodbury University will assist individuals in exploring certification requirements in states and U.S. jurisdictions where students wish to practice this profession. For assistance, please contact Admissions at admissions@woodbury.edu or 818-252-5221. For more information on state legislature-mandated law enforcement requirements see: National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
Additional Learning Opportunities/Requirements
Woodbury’s Career Development Office offers a variety of programs, services, and resources to assist students in exploring careers and securing internships. The staff works with students one-on-one to develop successful internship search strategies and help students connect with employers through internship postings, résumé collections, on- and off-campus interview opportunities, alumni connections, and employer outreach in the United States.
Internship
To reinforce knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom, all students are required to complete a four-unit practical internship of 160 hours at a site of their choosing. Internship possibilities include law enforcement agencies, state and local political offices, non-profit organizations related to criminal and social justice, and various government offices, among others. The internship includes regular journaling, evaluations, and a concluding reflective essay.
Students may also fulfill the internship requirement by attending American University’s Semester in Washington Program in the nation’s capital, and serving in one of more than 2,000 internship sites in Congress, the White House, and numerous federal agencies.
Program Learning Outcomes
Civic Engagement
- Evaluate the merits of competing theoretical perspectives used to explain the nature of crime and application of criminological theories to specific types of crime.
- Apply ethical principles to criminal justice issues, policies, and practices and evaluate their implications
Processes
- Explain the criminal justice process, the role of discretion among criminal justice actors, and evaluate best practices.
- Understand the research process (both qualitative and quantitative) gained by conducting original research and analyzing existing data.
- Express a thorough knowledge of the criminal justice system, including the police, the courts, and corrections.
Roles
- Describe and relate the constitutional rights and responsibilities of citizens, offenders, and victims as they apply to state, federal, and procedural laws.
- Identify the legal and moral responsibilities of criminal justice professionals as they relate to cultural diversity and the foundation of positive community relationships.
- Understand public safety careers and explore their own qualifications for entry-level public safety positions.
Contexts
- Evaluate the historical, political, and social contexts and empirical support for a particular criminal justice policy area.
- Identify ways in which oppression, privilege, discrimination, and social and economic disadvantage contribute to inequalities and injustices within criminal justice systems.
Program Specific Academic Standards
Assessment Process
The Public Safety Administration faculty assess individual student learning for each assignment in every course based on established University grading guidelines. Beyond evaluating individual learning, the department faculty regularly review the collective work of students over time. The department archives students’ research papers, exams, presentation evaluations, internship reports, and senior theses for review purposes. Every other year, an assessment report is written for the faculty and used to make adjustments and improvements to the program, its courses, and students’ overall learning.
The PSAD curriculum has two major components— foundational and advanced concentrated coursework—and culminates in a capstone project (the senior thesis) that demonstrates summative student learning. In the first two years, PSAD students take courses on the building blocks of the discipline, specifically, critical writing, research methodology, and various foundational survey coursework. Introductory coursework provides a forum where students are evaluated individually on their analytical abilities, writing, and understanding of research methodologies before taking advanced courses that regularly test and utilize these skills.
Seminar-style advanced courses not only require students to present ideas coherently in written work, but also demand an ability to orally articulate ideas to their peers and to the faculty. Students make individual choices based on their interests (i.e., law enforcement, legal studies, community service, or forensic science) and take advanced courses that will contribute to the production of their senior thesis.
In upper-division classes, students become familiar with the peer-review process and will produce several revisions of any given term paper. Thus, the faculty continually evaluate student progress on argument formation, critical thinking, and writing.
The senior thesis project, or capstone, is designed to show a mastery of critical thinking, writing for the discipline, oral presentation, and a deep understanding of the chosen topic and associated literature. The senior thesis is presented to all PSAD faculty members and simulates the professional conference experience where other scholars openly critique and evaluate scholarship.
Finally, every PSAD student completes an internship relevant to his or her major and career goals. Departmental faculty and the student’s internship mentor—a professional in the industry—evaluate this work. The internship opportunity allows students to put skills learned at Woodbury into practice and is part of their senior-year experience.
Overall, the collaboration between students, faculty, and professionals allows for evaluation not only of the individual student, but also of the effectiveness of the advanced curriculum and the extent to which upper-division classes build on and integrate the foundational coursework in the curriculum.
Results of Learning
The primary focus of the Public Safety Administration program is on improving students’ analytical abilities, their knowledge of the world, and their awareness of their own values and ambitions. The emphasis is on how student learning is expressed in written and oral arguments and in the organization and display of information, both qualitative and quantitative. Evidence of student learning in research papers and oral presentations, with particular emphasis on the senior thesis, is collected and reviewed by the department faculty on a regular basis to monitor the collective performance of the students in the program.
Curriculum Summary
Program Major Curriculum
| Unit Type (UT) |
Number of Units (U) |
| Major (MA) |
48 |
| General Education (GE) |
49 |
| Unrestricted Electives (UE) |
19 |
| Internship (IN) |
4 |
| Minimum Total Units Required |
120 |
Suggested Sequence of Courses
First Year
Fall Semester
| WRIT 113 | First-Year Academic Writing | 3 |
| ENVT 220 | Environmental Studies | 3 |
| PSAD 101 | Introduction to Public Safety | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 1 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 13 |
Spring Semester
| PSAD 102 | Enforcement and Corrections | 3 |
| PSAD 202 | | 3 |
| MDST 120 | Public Speaking | 3 |
| PSYC 150 | General Psychology | 3 |
| LSCI ___ | Information Sources Elective | 1 |
| ____ ___ | General Education Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Second Year
Fall Semester
| PSAD 201 | | 3 |
| PSAD 203 | | 3 |
| BIOL 231 | Human Biology | 3 |
| INDS ___ | Interdisciplinary Core Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Humanities Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Spring Semester
Third Year
Fall Semester
| PSAD 301 | Criminology and Forensic Psychology | 3 |
| PSAD 302 | Data Analysis for Public Safety | 3 |
| PSAD ___ | Concentration Elective | 3 |
| PSAD ___ | Concentration Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | General Education Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
PSAD 301, PSAD 302, and PSAD (Concentration Elective): MA.
General Education Elective: GE.
Spring Semester
| PSAD 303 | | 3 |
| INDS 350 | Interdisciplinary Research | 3 |
| PSAD ___ | Concentration Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
PSAD 303 and PSAD (Concentration Elective): MA.
INDS 350: GE.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
| PSAD 491 | | 3 |
| PSAD 490_ | Internship | 4 |
| PSAD ___ | Concentration Elective | 3 |
| ____ 3__ | Upper Division General Education Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Type:
PSAD 491 and PSAD (Concentration Elective): MA.
PSAD 490 (Internship): IN.
Upper Division General Education Elective: GE.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Spring Semester
| PSAD 492 | | 3 |
| PSAD ___ | Concentration Elective | 3 |
| ____ 3__ | Upper Division General Education Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| ____ ___ | Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
PSAD 492 and PSAD (Concentration Elective): MA.
Upper Division General Education Elective: GE.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.
Public Safety Concentrations
Students must choose one of the following two concentrations by the beginning of their junior year: 1. law enforcement; or 2. community justice. Note: Concentration electives above refer to classes taken in the chosen concentration.
Community Justice
Law Enforcement