Overview
Marywood University, established 1915, is an independent, comprehensive Catholic university, owned and sponsored by the Congregation of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Graduate studies were inaugurated in 1921. The Department of Social Science, a bi-level entity, offers a range of graduate and undergraduate programs, which focus on the social behaviors of people. Faculty members are experienced teachers and respected scholars in their fields.

The total enrollment at Marywood University in 2004/05 was 3,127, of whom 1,316 were graduate students.

The Location and Community
Marywood University is situated in Scranton, a city of about 75,000. Located a little more than 100 miles west of New York City and 100 miles north of Philadelphia, Scranton is served by the Scranton?Wilkes-Barre International Airport and is accessible by a network of superhighways. As home of the Federal Middle District of Pennsylvania (a thirty-three county region), a large number of federal criminal justice agencies are housed in Scranton. This provides a wealth of research, internship, and employment opportunities with these agencies.

Programs of Study and Degree Requirements
The Master of Science (M.S.) in criminal justice program at Marywood University combines a strong background in criminal justice with the management skills needed for an administrative position in a criminal justice agency. The program is designed for those who wish to assume, or already hold, a criminal justice management position as well as for those who wish to pursue doctoral work elsewhere. Program course work overviews American criminal justice institutions; surveys the presumed causes of delinquency and crime, the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs, and the research on which this knowledge is based; evaluates contemporary criminal justice research and policy; introduces appropriate management tools; and features opportunities to express complex ideas orally and in writing and to further develop analytic and critical skills.

Program faculty members combine strong academic credentials with substantial experience of criminal justice agencies at the state and federal levels. Classes are typically small seminars, in which students assume responsibility for the presentation of material with the instructor. The program offers substantial opportunities for students to explore their individual interests in criminal justice and closely related fields. In addition, opportunities to join faculty members in their research are available.

Facilities & Resources
The Learning Resources Center houses the library and media center. The library collection consists of more than 217,290 bound volumes, 881 print journal titles, and more than 44,300 nonprint items. Numerous electronic full-text and indexing/abstracting databases are accessible both on campus, through networked workstations, and remotely, from a student's home or office computer. Traditional library services are available 91 hours per week during regular semester hours. Most of these services are also available around the clock through the library's Web page. The library also participates in a national and international interlibrary loan network. The department?s suite of offices located in the Liberal Arts Center includes a conference room as well as a curriculum and computer lab, where students may access the Internet and library systems.

Expenses and Aid
Tuition for 2005/06 is $643 per credit. The general fee is $280 for students enrolled in 4-11 credits and $790 for those enrolled in 12 or more credits.

Financial Aid:
Assistantships, scholarships, and loans are available to graduate students. Students enrolled for at least 6 credits per semester can borrow under the Federal Stafford Student Loan. Information is available from the financial aid office. The application deadline is February 14.

Housing/Living Expenses:
Students may elect to pursue off-campus housing. Marywood is located in a residential area, and rental apartments are available for graduate students.

How to Apply / Application
An undergraduate major in criminal justice, sociology, or a related field is recommended but not required. Students without an undergraduate course in criminology, delinquency, or deviance and those without an undergraduate course in statistics or social research should complete an undergraduate course before taking advanced graduate work in these areas. An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better is customary.

A completed application must include official, unopened transcripts from all institutions attended, two letters of reference from college or university faculty members (these may be supplemented with references from supervisors in a criminal justice agency); and an essay that discusses the applicant?s career objectives and the way in which the master?s program contributes to these objectives. The preferred application deadline is April 15 for the fall semester and November 15 for the spring semester. Applications are processed on a rolling basis.

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