PVCC Puma Press: April 2006

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	Courtesy of Tom Powell
	The corrections class, led by full-time AJS faculty member Tom Powell, far left,visits the Estrella Jail tent city, one of two field trips taken throughout the year for the AAS degree
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The establishment of an Associate of Applied Science degree in Administration of Justice at PVCC was approved at a Feb. 28 Maricopa Community College District board meeting. The AAS degree officially went into effect the day it was approved by the board.

The district’s approval was the culmination of a two-and-a-half year process, which mandated the configuration of the degree’s requirements, formation of an advisory committee and approval of the degree’s curriculum by the college before it could be brought before the district board for approval. Thomas Powell, PVCC’s only full-time AJS faculty member, steered the AAS proposal through the entire process.

Powell spent hundreds of hours conducting surveys and research, writing up curriculum proposals and chairing an advisory committee composed of experts from diverse specializations within the justice system. He credits Mary Lou Mosley, PVCC Dean of Learning, and Kurt Hill, chair of the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, with “supporting 101 percent the whole way” his efforts to land the degree for the school.

Powell, who contemplated the degree while being interviewed four years ago for the faculty position in AJS, believes that the need for the AAS was manifest. He was informed by the PVCC’s Academic Advising Center that approximately 35 percent of all potential AJS students who called to enquire about the college’s program enrolled elsewhere when they learned that a degree was not offered. Furthermore, those students who have enrolled in AJS classes at PVCC have had to transfer to receive their degrees at other schools.

“It would be nice to retain the students here because a lot of students love the campus and would much rather complete the program here,” says Powell.

With a degree now in place, PVCC will not only be better positioned to retain its own students, but perhaps even draw students from other AJS programs in the area who might find the curriculum in PVCC’s AJS program better suited to their interests. Paradise Valley’s degree is distinct from that of other AJS degrees in the district.

“Just because the other community colleges have that (a degree in AJS), this is not a carbon copy or mirror of any of the other community colleges,” says Powell. “This is tailored specifically to our community and our area.”

The degree at PVCC places an emphasis on the social and behavioral aspects of the justice system. This degree requires students to pass AJS 258, Victimology and Crisis Management. In addition, students can apply HES201, Substance Abuse and Behavior, as one of the degree’s restricted elective courses. Furthermore, the long list of general education options for other AAS degrees are limited to three for the AJS degree: introductory psychology, introductory sociology and the sociology of racial and ethnic minorities.

All of the necessary AJS courses and faculty for the new degree are already in place.

“What we have in place now is we can guarantee a student who starts any semester to graduate within two years with an AAS degree,” according to Powell.

In addition to Powell, seven adjunct faculty members teach a combined 16 class sections each semester. All AJS adjunct faculty are not only experts in their respective areas of specialization (all have graduate degrees) but practitioners in their fields as well. Among those teaching at PVCC are a former Phoenix crime lab supervisor, a practicing attorney, a retired Chicago homicide gang detective and a medical examiner who has performed over 4,000 autopsies.

The hands-on experience that PVCC’s faculty brings to the classroom is well suited to the needs of the students, most of whom want to rapidly translate their degrees into employment soon after graduation. “The majority of them (students) are looking forward to employability first rather than continuing on to the bachelor’s,” says Powell.

With the needs of his students in mind, Powell designed the AAS to be a terminal degree providing them with all they need to walk out of the classroom and right into the workplace. “It was specifically developed for students to be job and employment ready the day they graduate without any further academics,” he says.

For those students who wish to pursue higher degrees in administration of justice, the AAS degree will facilitate the process. Powell is currently working with NAU, ASU and ASU West to make the degree transferable into their bachelor’s programs.

Regardless of whether they complete their schooling with an AAS degree or continue on in their studies, Powell believes that there will be an ample supply of jobs awaiting future AJS graduates. The AAS degree will enhance the flexibility of graduates to find work in a plethora of justice-related areas that require college degrees.

Powell estimates that only 5-10 percent of the students in his introductory AJS class are specifically interested in working as policemen. The AAS degree can launch students on career paths as diverse as evidence technicians, probation officers, victim advocates, and gang task force coordinators.

“It definitely benefits the college by offering students an additional degree opportunity, additional employment opportunity in a field that is growing explosively,” Powell says of the degree. “That’s a very significant asset for Paradise Valley and the local communities.”