The University of Missouri-St. Louis’ recent ranking as the 4th best Ph.D criminology program in the nation didn’t catch Maj. Dan Isom by surprise.
“I always knew it was top-ranked, but I wasn’t aware that it was in the top five nationally,” said Isom, a 20-year St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department veteran. In May he will graduate from UMSL’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice doctoral degree program.
U.S. News & World Report released the rankings in its April edition, America’s Best Graduate Schools 2009. It ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine annually.
“It really is a great program for me because it has helped me to understand my profession better and the complexity of crime,” Isom said.
“You study it on so many different levels.”
Isom pointed out faculty researchers who publish in important scholarly journals. Current research projects in the department include homicide and violence, youth crime, gangs, criminal victimization, policing, juvenile courts, adult corrections, program evaluation and criminal data systems.
U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline. The American Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice provided lists of schools and individuals surveyed.
The university’s program tied for fourth place with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and the University of California-Irvine.
The first three bullets went respectively to the University of Maryland-College Park, SUNY-Albany and the University of Cincinnati.
“The competition is severe,” said Richard Wright, UMSL professor of criminology and criminal justice and department chair. “The designation is good for the community and the St. Louis region.”
Wright, who has been at the university nearly 25 years, is the longest-serving member of the department. Over the years, he said, “it’s changed dramatically from a relatively small, local focus to an absolutely international profile.”
“Many of us are engaged with the local community, but a lot of us are engaged elsewhere,” for instance in the UK and Ireland, Wright said.
Enrollees come from around the world. The program accommodates particularly place-bound and ethnically, racially and economically diverse St. Louis-area students who already hold a related master’s degree.
Students already employed by St. Louis institutions typically retain their jobs. UMSL offers comparatively low-cost tuition, making high-quality doctoral work accessible to students whose schedules require late afternoon, evening and weekend classes.
Graduate students pay $316.40 per credit hour for in-state tuition and fees, or $929.20 per course. Out-of-state grad students pay $732.90 per credit hour and fees, or $2,178 per course.
Graduates cop a wide variety of professional jobs, including in probation and parole agencies, legal positions, federal and research agencies and faculty appointments.
Isom is continuing his commitment to the SLMPD.
Isom obtained his undergraduate degree at UM-St. Louis and said he only had two choices when deciding where to go after his doctorate.
“It was either St. Louis U. or UM-St. Louis – I chose UM-St. Louis because I knew it was highly ranked,” Isom said, noting the tuition difference as well.
The first body of doctoral students was admitted to the department in the fall of 1996. In less than 10 years the graduate program has become one of the most competitive in the country.
UMSL Chancellor Tom George said, “Those who wish to study criminology, whether on an undergraduate or graduate level, look to UM-St. Louis as a leader in the highly competitive field.”