Method: Effective planning must balance vision with realism. This document represents a collation and consensus of the views and professional judgments of the department's faculty.

For this plan to be effective, three assumptions must be met:

1. Achievement of departmental goals cannot be done without adequate resource support from the college and the university.
2. The departmental plan must be consistent with the mission and essential values of the college and university (see "Mission and Values" below).
3. The fulfillment of the goals in this plan requires the full professional collaboration of the three social science disciplines unified by this department, guided by a sense of common interest and purpose.

Mission and Values: The Department of Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Political Science endeavors to provide every student in our courses with key elements of a liberal arts education, emphasizing critical thought and analytical skills appropriate to the course level. The department serves a central role in the college's mission to serve students through the core curriculum. The department seeks to build major and minor programs in criminal justice, political science, sociology, international studies, and pre-law in which every major and minor will adequately prepare students for graduate level work in the same or cognate fields. The department encourages applied and experiential learning that prepares students for careers as leaders in public service. The department contributes substantively to the university's principled support of international study. Departmental faculty pursue excellence in teaching informed by scholarship, professionalism in relationship to all students with emphasis on the value of advisement, and service to the community in our capacities as social scientists.

Short-Term Plan (Timeframe: 2003-2005)

The following goals and challenges are to be addressed within the next two to three years.

These 12 items may be accomplished at current levels of budgetary support:

• Recruiting and hiring qualified full-time tenure-track faculty to maintain present level of staffing and program capacity
• Full departmental participation in the president of the university's leadership initiative with appropriate curricular, scholarship, and service support
• Developing and implementing a plan for improved racial and gender diversity within the department, both among majors and faculty
• Systematic review of course offerings and scheduling of courses, to assure that sufficient offerings are available in a timely manner to serve major, minor, and core programs
• Increased emphasis on advisement, including incentives for faculty to give a higher priority to advisement
• Increasing the campus and community-wide visibility of the department and its programs in order to build the major and minor programs
• Further support for career and education enhancing student activities such as career fairs and study abroad programs
• Review of the roles of and policies affecting the departmental internship programs to enhance student career development and maintain academic standards
• Continued development of web-based and web-enhanced courses and other technological innovations in course delivery
• Revitalization of the legal studies minor on a collaborative basis among the three disciplines of the department
• Review of the credentials and role of adjunct faculty to assure effective teaching in all departmental course offerings
• Promote faculty development activities in order that all members of the department are able to fully participate in the development of new scholarship in their respective fields

These 9 items should also be addressed within the next two academic years, but require increased levels of budgetary or external support:

• Creation of a "Law and Society" program, with an additional tenure track faculty member (open field) and a half-time coordinator
• Recruitment and hiring of additional tenure-track faculty above the current level in order to serve the increased demand for courses in the major and core courses. Priority areas for additional recruitment are methodology, sociology, and pre-law
• Review of the graduate program in criminal justice to determine continued viability of the Master's program without an increase in the number of graduate criminal justice faculty
• Review of the public administration program to determine continued viability of the track without the hire of an additional tenure track faculty in the field
• Review of the political science major with teacher certification to determine continued viability of the major without appointment of a political science coordinator
• Appointment of a political science coordinator to represent the political science major program in administration, curriculum planning, and liaison with other colleges and departments
• Improved support for faculty development, including use of advanced research leaves, increased participation in teaching abroad programs, recognition for professional service and scholarly achievement
• Promoting research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students, including participation in such activities as moot court, model African Union, and academic conferences in collaboration with, or under the mentoring of faculty
• Improved tracking of departmental graduates to provide a resource for career guidance and external support for the department
• Reassigned faculty time for preparation and implementation of departmental exit exams and/or surveys consistent with pedagogical goals of departmental faculty, including quantitative analysis of the results and feedback to curriculum planning and course offerings

Long-Range Plan (Timeframe: 2003-2008)

Within the next five years, the department hopes to address following opportunities for growth:

• Creation of a sociology major, supported by two additional tenure-track sociologists
• Creation of an applied politics concentration, supported by one additional tenure-track political scientist
• Collaboration in the development of the pre-law and international studies programs, supported by one or more additional tenure-track criminal justice faculty
• Participation in the creation of a multidisciplinary journal and related activities such as conferences identified with and institutionally based at Armstrong Atlantic State University's proposed Leadership Institute

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