Our Graduates
The doctoral program at UMass Lowell will ensure that our graduates will be at the forefront of the expanding frontier of criminology and an ever-evolving criminal justice and security system, and consequently, will more effectively be able to address crime control and criminal justice policy problems through sophisticated research than would otherwise be the case. We expect graduates of the doctoral program to be competent to conduct interdisciplinary research and to teach at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in aspects of criminology, criminal justice and security studies, depending upon their specific areas of specialty.
Criminal Justice and Criminology Track
The program will thus train the next generation of faculty who will teach criminology and criminal justice in the state and region’s community colleges and four-year institutions, as well as nationally, and who will be well positioned to develop productive research agendas in crime and justice. Our graduates will be well prepared for analytical and administrative leadership posts in international and domestic research and policy institutions. The program will thus train the policy analysts, managers, and administrators in criminal justice and community venues to help prevent crime in the first place, or alternatively, respond effectively to those who violate the law or who come into contact with the justice system.
Terrorism Option Track
We expect our graduates to be the next generation of security professional and scholars. In order to achieve this objective, our doctoral program engages in academic education and professional development. These interrelated components are designed to offer students a world-class education in the different facets of contemporary security threats and responses to these challenges, while creating a community of security professionals. Our overall goal is to provide doctoral students with the intellectual, conceptual, analytical and theoretical tools to understand the nature, implications, root causes and complex challenges posed by security threats in the twenty-first century, as well as the various policies and strategies which were developed to counter these threats. Thus, our students will be able to compete effectively both in the academic market (thus fill teaching positions in institutions of higher education) as well as in the private and governmental markets (thus fill positions in various policy oriented organizations and agencies).
The application deadline for the doctoral program in Criminology and Criminal Justice (including the Terrorism Option) is Feb. 1 of each year.