Course Requirements

Financial Wellness is a practical approach to making informed and empowering decisions about financial health. Students explore values, feelings, and knowledge related to money, acquire basic financial knowledge and apply this knowledge to short and long-term financial decisions. The curriculum is customized to individual student learning, with four required modules and two elective modules.

This course is designed to introduce and explore the basic concepts of digital forensic investigations and analysis. Students will learn the basic terminology and tools utilized in a digital forensic investigation. Students will broaden their knowledge and understanding of what a digital forensic investigator does and the types of skills needed in this field.

In this course, students develop basic mastery of digital photography as a means of visual communication and creative expression. Through lectures, discussions, small group and one-on-one demonstrations, and hands-on experience, students learn how to shoot digital images and to work creatively with these images using Photoshop software.

This course will be an introduction to the criminal justice system in the United States. Crime, criminals, victims, explanations of criminal behavior, law and the criminal justice system, policing strategies, police and the law, courts, and courtroom workgroups, proceedings before trial, conviction by trial and guilty pleas, sentencing, community corrections, prisons, and jails, prison life, and juvenile justice are the topics that will be covered.

The fundamentals of effective and professional criminal investigations will be studied, through the lens of the elements of criminal law. Crime scene procedures, evidence collection, and preservation, forensic science technology, interview and interrogation techniques, use of informants to obtain information and intelligence, surveillance methods, writing comprehensive reports, identifying and arresting suspects, legal searches and the Fourth Amendment, investigating violent crimes against persons as well as property will be covered within this course. (Prerequisite: CRJ 120)

The focus of this course is to provide an overview of women's involvement in the criminal justice system as criminals, victims, and professionals. Students will explore cultural forces, contemporary studies, and historical influence which shaped theories, policy, and treatment today. This course will also explore the importance of gender equality within the field of criminal justice. Areas of the study include theoretical perspectives, drug addiction, prison environment, sexual assault, restorative justice, domestic violence, women in law enforcement, the legal profession, and corrections.

Criminal Procedure will be examined with an emphasis on the varying, and sometimes conflicting, roles of professionals in law enforcement, including police, probation, parole, corrections, homeland security, and court administration. The course will cover police stop-and-frisks, probable cause, arrest, search and seizure, search warrants and affidavits, Miranda Rights, confessions and interrogations, line-ups and show-ups, investigations, informants, plain view doctrine, consent, exigent circumstances, right to counsel, due process, entrapment, and the exclusionary rule. (Prerequisite: CRJ 120)

This course builds a bridge from student's general education to the work they do in the field of criminal justice. With the aim of preparing students for both professional life and graduate work, this writing-intensive course introduces disciplinary strategies for investigating provocative issues and for communicating to others about them. In this way, the course offers students time to learn and to practice more advanced skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening; in using appropriate software support in presentations; and in mastering information literacy in the field of criminal justice. The course emphasizes fundamental principles of communication with time-on-task and real-world, discipline-specific models for communication tasks. (Prerequisites: ENG114, ENG122, and ENG124)

Topics of study will include the burden of proof and burden of production for criminal trials, probation hearings, and parole violations; forms of criminal evidence; relevance; competency; direct and circumstantial evidence; exculpatory evidence; identification; authentication; expert testimony; admissions and confessions; the Hearsay Rule and its exceptions; character evidence; alibi evidence; and privileged communications. Criminal courtroom procedure, witness preparation, and both Grand Jury and courtroom testimony will be discussed. Multiple actual criminal case studies will be utilized throughout this course. (Prerequisites: CRJ 120, CRJ 222, and CRJ 275)

This course introduces the integration of communication skills essential for effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college level. In this writing-intensive course, students develop composition skills to produce collegiate-level papers modeling rhetorical modes and thematic content in addition to strategies for reading complex texts; presentation skills for personal introductions, verbal summaries of readings and response writings, and peer review of papers; and basic technological skills for word processing, e-mail, and introductory-level online research.

In this course, students will apply the practices for effective reading and writing introduced in ENG114 to the distinctive language and forms of various disciplines. This course lays the foundation for academic and professional research and stresses the use of appropriate and effective information sources. Readings for a variety of academic audiences will provide students with strategies to communicate in the sciences, business and technology, psychology, liberal studies, and the social sciences. Research and documentation skills appropriate to the disciplines are stressed. In addition to leading students through the research process from start to finish, this course will examine the many ramifications of academic honesty. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

Selected readings in fiction, poetry, and drama introduce the student to literary types and techniques. These readings provide a basis for collegiate-level discussion, analysis, and the development of critical judgment. Building on the communications and research skills from earlier courses in the sequence, this course emphasizes continued practice in writing, and students complete a documented research paper using primary and secondary sources as one of the course writing assignments. Discussions and oral presentations based on assigned literature support the overall goal of the sequence: to enhance the advancement of the students, first academically and then professionally. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

This course introduces the theoretical underpinnings of criminalistics, including the techniques for discovery, collection, preservation, and analysis of physical evidence.

This course will entail a practical examination of topics and laboratory testing procedures introduced in FSC105 such as fibers, blood spatter patterns, footwear and tire impressions, narcotics, blood, semen, soil, fingerprints, documents, firearms, and other topics. (Lab fee) Corequisite: FSC105

This course focuses on the application of the scientific method to the analysis of crime scenes and their reconstruction. Scenes involving a variety of violent crimes, including homicides, sexual assaults, and non-fatal stabbings and beatings will be discussed in detail. The goals of crime scene reconstruction will be presented along with scientific and ethical matters associated with reconstruction. Types of evidence used to reconstruct crime scenes will be explained. (Prerequisite: FSC 105 and junior or senior status)

This course provides an understanding of the function of the American national government. The development of the Constitution and the American political system are considered in the light of contemporary economic, social, and technological conditions.

This course will discuss social issues that impact the concept of Justice. How does Justice impact such important issues as health, race, ethnicity, work, economic equity, equality, war, terrorism, and the environment? Students will be challenged to look at modern problems and issues and be aware of their impact on society.

This course is an introduction to analyzing conflicts to arrive at peace and justice. It examines conflicts from a variety of social justice perspectives. The course focuses on the ways that understanding people and organizations impact conflict and how organizations shape methods that may encourage or discourage conflict or peace. Such important issues as the economy, politics, the legal system, the educational system, and the family may all be considered as points of conflict and resolution. The course also examines race, class, sex, and gender dynamics of justice within these institutions and how they encourage or discourage peace. The instructor will focus on contemporary concerns as noted by the instructor and students at the beginning of the term. (Prerequisites: GOV100 and JUS103)

The Advocacy Leadership course is designed to produce future leaders and advocates in Justice with the skills to become forces of social and organizational change. Students will engage in discussions that promote how to get to know and understand their community as well as how to create organizational engagement and develop a mission in communities, justice organizations, business, and political power structures as well as community organizing, and advocacy skills. This course will help develop a set of advocacy skills that can be applied to her future practice and/or community involvement including how to challenge people to create change, understanding mission as well as synergistic collaboration between the community and the student’s organization. The student will learn to create an environment to develop a creative change in organizations and society. (Prerequisites: GOV100 and JUS103)

This is an introduction to the basic descriptive and inferential statistics for students from all disciplines. It emphasizes the development of statistical literacy and the use of computers for analyzing data. Topics include principles of experimental design; graphical and numerical methods for summarizing, describing, exploring and analyzing data; binomial and normal probability distributions; point and interval estimates for means and proportions; hypothesis testing; and correlation and regression (Pre-requisite: MAT104 or appropriate placement test score).

This course provides a basic foundation in psychology by introducing numerous psychological perspectives as explanations for human behavior and mental processes. Basic neurophysiology, consciousness, learning, personality theories, psychological disorders, and current interventions are discussed. This course is a prerequisite for all other psychology courses.

This course introduces students to the field of forensic psychology and explores the relationship between psychology and the legal system. Current events, case studies, and research are used to demonstrate the applications of forensic psychology to critical issues and special topics in the field. Students will gain a broad understanding of the different career opportunities from a multidisciplinary perspective. (Prerequisite: PSY 101)

This course explores a wide range of personality, behavioral, and cognitive disorders. The symptoms, etiology, and dynamics of various disorders are studied, and a variety of therapeutic theories and techniques are discussed. (Prerequisite: PSY 101)

Race, class, and gender are axes of stratification, identity, and experience. This course will address the multiple and intersecting ways these concepts shape society, individual life chances, and daily social interactions. Students will explore the “socially constructed” nature of race, class, and gender, and the meanings and values attached to them. Using comparative and historical perspectives on group formation, students will examine how these issues present in work, families, media, education, and social policies. In addition, solutions to social inequality and strategies for social change will be evaluated. (Prerequisites: PSY101 or SOC100)

Women as Empowered Learners and Leaders is an interdisciplinary course, designed to give all students entering Bay Path University a common experience and foundation for their education. This course is an introduction to the University, to academic study, and to various approaches to thinking about personal potential, to understand the process of becoming a learner, and a leader, and composing a life, to appreciate the beauty and work actively toward establishing community and justice in the context of being a woman at the beginning of the 21st century.

(This course is graded Pass/Fail.) In their junior year before the opening of the spring semester, baccalaureate degree students will be offered a special opportunity to learn up-to-date information about the current work world in an intensive two-and-a-half-day workshop format. Students will meet successful professionals who will discuss the challenges and opportunities of their respective fields and help students prepare for interviews as well as learn how to navigate the early stages of their new careers.

By WEL400, you will be ready to blend all the skills you have learned during the WELL program—leadership, critical thinking, research, writing, analysis, and public presentation—with a community service project. Empathy, respect, and tolerance are the core human values that are stressed. It’s what every good leader needs to confidently show the way.