In 2018, Elizabethtown College didn’t have a criminal justice major to offer on its own. Now, there are over 35 students at Etown majoring in criminal justice. One of the main reasons for that is Kadee Crandall, who received her doctorate in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University.
Crandall, the director of criminal justice at Etown since 2023, has created a vast potential for the once miniscule major. During this school year alone, she has worked on a criminal justice minor to be offered, as well as new classes to offer such as Introduction to Law and Victimology.
“There have been more experiential learning opportunities this year not only on campus, but also off campus as well,” Crandall said.
One of the growths of the criminal justice program at Etown is the creation of a criminal justice club, open to criminal justice and non-criminal justice majors alike. The club’s president, Olivia Sullivan, expressed her gratitude for the creation of the club.
“I am going to work hard for the rest of my time here at Etown to grow opportunities for our criminal justice students,” Sullivan said.
The club is currently planning a trip in April to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Museum in Washington, D.C.
While the criminal justice minor has not been officially approved, Crandall said she “feels confident that the committee will approve it.”
The minor would allow students like Isabell Anderson to follow both of her career goal paths without the stress of two majors. Anderson, a second-year at Etown, is currently majoring in chemistry. However, she had to drop the criminal justice dual-major at the beginning of this academic year.
“I dropped the criminal justice major because I’m not interested in having any of the careers that a criminal justice degree would get me,” Anderson said. “For me specifically, I want to work in the lab, and I need a science degree to do that. But, I want to do forensics, so having the criminal justice minor would allow me to learn the criminal justice side of things as well.”
So, where will the criminal justice major be in three to five years? Crandall hopes it is still growing. Her goals include higher student enrollment, more course offerings and more partnerships with agencies and organizations. She is also hoping to provide ACT 120 training, which is training for the police academy and is required for a job in law enforcement. In the span of just four years, the criminal justice major at Etown has gone from nonexistent to thriving.
“I can’t wait to see what the criminal justice major turns out to be,” second-year Grady Zigner said.
