SS2 -- Criminal Justice Majors’ Perspectives on Career Readiness

USC Upstate’s new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) MOVE UP focuses on offering innovative, career-relevant academic programs that improve student retention, increase enrollment, and expand high-impact practices. It is vital for academic programs wishing to achieve these outcomes to understand current majors’ experiences while at USC Upstate and their perspectives about future career possibilities. To that end, four students enrolled in an independent study aiming to collect data that can inform the Criminal Justice program. This presentation describes the process by which we developed relevant interview questions and recruited Criminal Justice juniors and seniors to share their thoughts about the program and their future careers. The interview guide includes questions about advising, experiential learning opportunities (e.g., internships), discussions about careers during class, and faculty support more broadly. Students will also be asked about their desired career paths and potential obstacles to achieve their goals. Finally, students will be invited to share advice for incoming Criminal Justice majors. Recruitment will take place online and in the classroom, as the independent study students are expected to make classroom visits to boost enrollment in the study. All interviews are to be conducted via Blackboard Collaborate, recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed using the principles of grounded theory by the independent study students. While this presentation will focus on the initial process of data collection (including the difficulty in creating a comprehensive interview guide and barriers in recruitment), we also include anticipated results of the analysis. These include the need to improve advising practices to emphasize career planning and encourage engagement in internships and other experiential learning activities, including more experiential learning opportunities in classes (e.g., service learning or enhancement, professional guest speakers, field trips, etc.), and designing ways as a program to support students’ pursuit of their careers before they graduate. Not only will this project benefit the Criminal Justice program and majors, but provides the independent study students an unique opportunity to engage in original research as undergraduates