Doing research that makes a difference

[sanantone]

I do have to say that it is nice to have professors who are available several hours a day every weekday on campus and often on weekends by email. I did have some CC and for-profit college instructors who had to go out of town, couldn't be contacted, and had to delay grading papers in the middle of a course. Because their full-time jobs were doing something else, they couldn't dedicate a lot of time to their instructor positions and definitely did not have enough time to do applied research and consulting. At the same time, it is kind of frustrating to have professors who know very little about the occupations in their fields. Even though I have never been a police officer, I know a lot about them from my work in security, a non-sworn job at a law enforcement agency, and from research. I was appalled that our PhD program didn't have courses in corrections and policing like most other PhD programs. They are going to add those courses soon, but they've already sent graduates out into the world who know nothing about the largest professions in the CJ field. Corrections and law enforcement-related courses make up the bulk of CJ courses.

I don't think it is really necessary for the person to currently be in the field even though it helps him/her stay current. I had a professor who stayed current because she was always doing consulting work with police departments. Organizations often turn to universities for evaluations and consulting because they lack the research skills to pinpoint a problem. There are things people do incorrectly in industry and pass down generation after generation because they don't know anything about the scientific method. One example is arson investigation. The training for the field is very poor, and it took a chemist in a death penalty case to see that the investigation was done very poorly and based on pseudoscience. But, this is the kind of stuff I want to see academics do more of. Even though the person ended up being executed, the Texas Commission on Fire Protection is calling for better training. This chemist's work is having a real impact.

A professor that I've gravitated toward because I don't have to struggle to explain to him what I'm trying to do was a former state trooper. It may have been decades since he was a police officer, but he knows how it is and what it takes to become one. I believe you can have the best of both worlds: a professor who has worked in the field in the past and a professor who is always going to be available to you. The research requirements mostly take away from the time needed to properly develop a course and prepare for lectures.