Masters Degree in Criminal Justice or Criminology

Masters Degree in Criminal Justice or CriminologyMasters Degree in Criminal Justice or CriminologyTheres little debate that earning college education is beneficial to any criminal justice career, even if the particular job you want doesnt require it. After completing your undergraduate studies, though, should you work to earn a masters degree in criminal justice or criminology? To be overly simplistic, theres really no such thing as too much education. Every day presents opportunities to learn new things and improve both yourself and your career. A masters degree, though, requires a special commitment of both time and money. In reservierung to figure out whether or not you should earn a masters degree, you should first find the criminal justice career thats best for you and then platzset career goals within that field. After youve determined your career path, you can evaluate whether or not a masters degree in criminology will be worth your time or your hard-earned cash. Evaluate Return on Investment Making the decision to earn an advanced degree should be based primarily on return on investment.Remember that it will probably take you at least two years and thousands of dollars or more to earn your degree, so serious consideration should be given to how much it will be worth your while in the long run. A masters degree requires a serious investment of time and can be very expensive. Because of this, it would be wise to make sure theres a payoff for you on the other end. How do you decide whether or not a masters degree will be worth your while? It all goes back to career planning. Some careers within criminal justice and criminology expect and reward advanced degrees, whereas others do not. Jobs Requiring a Masters Degree or Higher? CriminologistForensic psychologistCriminal ProfilerUniversity or college professorUpper management and administration On the other hand, many jobs wont require a masters degree, in which case you may be spending time and mon ey that could be put to better use. These include Police officerDetective or criminal investigatorForensic science TechnicianLoss prevention specialist Reasons Why You Should Get a Masters Degree Career Advancement If you have no intention of advancing your career or promoting, there will be little need for you to earn an advanced degree. If, however, you want to move up the rank and into high-level management or executive position, a masters degree can be just the thing that can give you the edge. The diploma alone will set you apart, but the extra knowledge and expertise you gained through your degree program will really help you shine in any promotional assessment process. College Instruction If you have any designs on teaching at a university, an advanced degree will almost certainly be required. In fact, instructing at the university level for any length of time will often lead to the need for a doctorate. In any case, though, if you would like to become even an adjunct col lege professor in your spare time, it will be worth your while to pursue a masters degree in criminal justice. As an adjunct instructor, you might be able to earn a respectable extra income in addition to your full-time job. Public Policy Advisory Positions Every legislative body has an army of staffers backing it up, doing research and advising lawmakers on matters ranging from fiscal policy to education and yes, even criminal justice. Working as a legislative staffer can be financially lucrative, as criminal justice issues are often hot-button issues. In most cases, though, a masters degree or higher will be expected in order for you to have any credibility in advising representatives and senators on forming criminal justice policy. If working for a state legislature or Congress isnt for you, there are leise opportunities to influence public policy. Criminal justice think tanks, such as the Justice Research Association and the Center for Court Innovation, perform independent resea rch to help make positive changes within the criminal justice system. As careers in these organizations are, necessarily, research-heavy, a masters degree would be very beneficial to landing a job. Edging out the Competition Though many careers in criminal justice dont require an advanced degree, some place more value on it than others. For example, if your goal is to become a local or state police officer, there will be little need for a masters degree, and local agencies will probably pay no attention to it unless you look to promote. However, if you are looking to get hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, a masters degree may likely be the thing that puts you over the edge and above the other candidates. When Deciding Choosing whether or not to earn a masters degree in criminal justice or criminology is a huge decisionand one that should not be taken lightly. The right choice will be different for every individualand should start with deciding on a career path. Plan your educational objectives around your career goals. If you are geared more toward academics, instruction, planning or administration, than a masters degree should definitely be part of your long-term plan. If you have no desire to promote or you are more interested in fieldwork, you will do just fine with a bachelors or associate degree.

ASME INSPIREs Fourth Year New Content Leads to Bigger Impact...

ASME INSPIREs Fourth Year New Content Leads to Bigger Impact... ASME INSPIREs Fourth Year New Content Leads to Bigger Impact... ASME INSPIREs Fourth Year New Content Leads to Bigger Impact and DreamsJan. 12, 2018 The fourth year of the ASME INSPIRE digital STEM course for middle and high school students is off to an auspicious start, with new, enhanced program content and a record number of schools incorporating the course in their curricula.During the last academic year in 2016-2017, ASME INSPIREs hallmark program INSPIRE STEM Readiness was used in more than 1,000 schools across 48 states. Over the past three years, this award-winning online, in-class student experience of using early algebra and coding skills to successfully complete 16 missions has engaged more than 100,000 middle in high school students.As every engineer knows, with proof of concept comes opportunities. Enter ASME INSPIRE Career Readiness, a new program that allows middle school students to explore real career s and gain applicable skills. Based on their personalized journey through unterstellung career paths, students develop a personalized portfolio of exciting opportunities and profiles specific to their interests.And the impact of this new experience? As of December, ASME INSPIRE programs were already in use in 897 schools by more than 45,000 students, an astonishing 114 percent increase over the same timeframe last academic year. April Carpenter (far right) and herbei eighth-grade students at Alexander Graham Middle School in Charlotte, N.C., show their enthusiasm for the ASME INSPIRE program during an INSPIRE Connects classroom visit on Nov. 7. (Photo by Patti Jo Rosenthal, ASME Programs & Philanthropy)INSPIRE Classroom Connects school visits are already in full swing, with a Nov. 7 visit to INSPIRE scholars at Alexander Graham Middle School in Charlotte, N.C. Led by their teacher, Air Force veteran April Carpenter, these eighth-grade INSPIRE champions have already completed the IN SPIRE Career Readiness program and have started INSPIRE STEM Readiness.Following a 17-year military career, Carpenter has spent over a decade teaching Career and Technological Education (CTE) in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. This is her fourth year integrating ASME INSPIRE into her classroom experience, finding it an invaluable tool in supporting her success and primary goal as a CTE teacher, which is to promote college and career readiness.Using INSPIRE within our curriculum opens the doorway to opportunities and gets students thinking, Carpenter said. Its real-world and the software itself is encouraging and motivational. It gets them talking about college and a career direction that they may not have ever considered. Students from Alexander Graham Middle School work on an INSPIRE Innovation Investigation brainstorming exercise during the INSPIRE Connects visit in November. (Photo by Patti Jo Rosenthal, ASME Programs & Philanthropy)Additionally Carpenter shared that using ASME I NSPIRE with its hands-on and self-guided approach helps students discover exciting possibilities and illuminates a path toward a fulfilling and important career in engineering. Some students may not hear that they can go to college, but we support that dream and the pursuit of STEM career fields, she said. These students will make an impact in the world.For more information on ASME INSPIRE and overall K-12 STEM education programs, contact Patti Jo Rosenthal, rosenthalpasme.org, or visit https//www.asmefoundation.org.Patti Jo Rosenthal, ASME Programs Philanthropy

A 4-day work week is proven to make employees happier

A 4-day work week is proven to make employees happierA 4-day work week is proven to make employees happierAre we happier when we work a little less? New Zealand company Perpetual Guardian worked to find out, giving us a blueprint on how we can apply their workflow to our own companies.Back in March, the company let about 250 of its employees work a four-day week with eight-hour days for eight weeks. Pay did not get docked. The employees still got full-time pay while they worked shorter work weeks.After the landmark experiment, the company declared it a success and recently announced that they are going to adopt the work schedule full time. This is about our company getting improved productivity from greater workplace efficiencies, Perpetual Guardian founder Andrew Barnes told the Guardian. Theres no downside for us. How employees really feel about working four daysTo get more insight into what shorter work weeks can do for employees, two New Zealand academics collected data on the ex periment. They found that employees were indeed happier after the change. Before the trial, only half of employees said they were satisfied with their work-life balance. By the end of the trial, that number jumped up to 78%. Commitment to the company also rose by 20 percentage points. Employee stress levels decreased by seven percentage points.But the system was not perfect. Some employees said they felt stressed about completing work in a shorter timeframe. One manager expressed disappointment that the new work week did not spark radical change. Nothing slipped, this manager said, according to the data. But I didnt see a drive, I didnt see busy-ness, I didnt see, ooh, how are we going to do this better and more innovative? But overall, there were few reported concerns about what the extra time would do for employees personal time. Employees said they felt more motivated and productive overall when they got an extra day to organize the chaos of their personal life. Helen Delaney, on e of the researchers, wrote that, employees were freed up to spend quality time with friends, family, or themselves on a weekend. Many reported feeling less psychologically rushed.When you have more freedom to yourself, it can help you understand what you really want out of life. Thats a valuable lesson employees can take beyond any one job. As one person in the trial said Someone said to me now youve got at least 48 extra days in your life every year, imagine if it went forward, what are you going to do with that? And that was just like a passing comment from someone, but it keeps ringing in my ear and I keep thinking to myself, you know, what am I going to do? What could I do for me?Eight weeks is not a ton of time to get used to a radical change in production. It remains to be seen what would change if the shorter work week was enacted long-term. However, the data overall suggests that with tweaks in clarifying expectations around workflow, the four-day work week can become a doa ble reality for more companies.