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Jeremiah Johnson Hometown: Bethel, Conn . Major: Justice Administration WCSU Degree: Master of Science in Justice Administration Activities: "Balancing the demands of graduate school and work was always difficult; I never had the benefit of participating in campus activities. My first priority has always been my wife, Nadia, and our two children." |
Honors and Awards: 3.81 GPA
Jeremiah Johnson graduated from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., with a degree in sociology in 2000. For the past six years, he's been employed as a police officer in Darien, Conn. When Johnson decided to pursue graduate studies, he intially enrolled at Pace University in New York.
"Initially I was a student at Pace Law School," Johnson says, "but found that I was disinterested in much of the curriculum, which focused on civil, not criminal, law. My foray into graduate study at WCSU began in the fall of 2004. Most semesters, I was enrolled in two to three courses."
Johnson says it was WestConn's Justice and Law Administration program that drew him to the university. "I was already working full time in law enforcement and did not want to pursue a master's program that would focus only on criminology. I wanted a course of study that would be applicable throughout my police career and beyond. WestConn's JLA program is an outstanding hybrid of criminal justice and public administration."
Johnson also is impressed with WestConn's professors. "The full-time JLA faculty is superb. Assistant Professor of Justice and Law Administration Dr. George Kain has consistently been a source of encouragement and counsel. I feel particularly privileged to have studied under JLA Professor Dr. Casey Jordan, who habituated my intellect to an academic approach of criminal justice."
Asked what he will remember most about his WestConn experience, Johnson says, "Having the opportunity to network and study alongside a number of exceptional criminal justice practitioners.”
After graduation, Johnson will undertake the doctoral program in criminal justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. "I will be a full-time doctoral student while I continue my career with the Darien Police Department."
Johnson’s advice to new students entering WCSU is: “I would advise incoming graduate students that the demands and expectations of the graduate program are markedly amplified from what they might have experienced at the undergraduate level. There is a learning curve to which grad students must quickly adapt.”
