CJ 809 Issues in Criminal Justice: Elements of Essential Court Operations (Spring, 2010)

 

Judicial Administration Specialization General Course Description
Spring Semester 2010

CJ 809 Issues in Criminal Justice: Elements of Essential Court Operations. The purpose of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to study the essential management infrastructure of court operations; to analyze the intersections of court operations and constitutional mandates related to issues of judicial independence, interdependence, and accountability; and to situate the role of the courts within the communities they serve.  Students will be exposed to five distinct course segments, which will be taught by six instructors.  This course will begin with court budgeting and its relationship to accountability and organizational planning and performance goal-setting.   Human resources management will address the challenges of hiring and retaining talented and dedicated court employees at a time of continual organizational change.  The role of information technology management in serving current court operations while simultaneously answering the call for faster innovation, greater accountability, and transparency, will be explored and analyzed.  Finally, education of judges, court employees, the public, and members of the other branches of government will be presented and analyzed as the catalyst for developing a culture of learning and engagement that forms the expectations and interactions with the judicial branch.  Students will be engaged in the subject matter through readings, group discussions, writing assignments, and analysis.

This is an online course, which will offer students the opportunity to access the course materials at times that are best for them but still within the prescribed time periods.  Interactions with other students and with the instructor will be online. Required readings will be announced.

Required Course Materials : This will be provided at a later date.

Instructors: Dr. Maureen Conner, Associate Professor and Judicial Administration Program Director will be the instructor of record; topic instructors include Dr. John Hudzik (Resources, Budget, and Finance), Dr. Terry Curry, (Human Resources Management), Tim Dibble (Information Technology Management), Bob Fagan (Court Community Communication), Jan Bouch (Education, Training, and Development)

Student Eligibility:  CJ 809 (Elements of Essential Court Operations) is a required course for both the Judicial Administration credit-bearing certificate and master’s degree specialization.  Thus, both the certificate and graduate program students are eligible to enroll in this class.

Course Dates:  Classes begin Monday, January 11, 2010 and end Friday, May 7, 2010.

Tuition:  $1560.00 for students in the CJ Master’s Degree (JA Specialization)
               $1302.00 for In-State Lifelong Education students (JA Credit-bearing Certificate)
               $1704.00 for Out-of-State Lifelong Education students (JA Credit-bearing Certificate)

Registration: Dr. Sharon George (georges@msu.edu) will make enrollment arrangements for this course.  Registration has already begun.  Students can enroll up to the date the class begins (Monday, January 11, 2010). Students that are interested in enrolling should contact Dr. George expressing their intentions. Other important dates that are not course-specific including late registration fees, drop/add and tuition refund deadlines can be found at: https://www.reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/Calendar/WWWDates.asp?Semester=FS09