Instructor: Randall K Nichols, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
Office: Hubbard B-4
Email: rnichols@utica.edu
Phone: 315-223-2501
Email: rnichols@utica.edu
Yahoo ID: Profrknichols
VOIP 315-207-4825
Website: www.infosec-technologies.com

Please use my WebCT email or Yahoo IM / VOIP account to communicate with me on all matters regarding this course.

CRJ 461 Z
Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice – CyberSecurity       

Course Description

Utica College’s criminal justice, economic crime investigation and cybersecurity majors are interdisciplinary programs that emphasize the needs of contemporary practitioners to have firm foundations in law and the liberal arts.  A theory-into-practice formula is applied to the curriculum, which allows students increasing involvement in theory, research and practice. The program incorporates a systems approach that is important for preparation of future managers and graduate students. At the same time, through course electives, students are able to develop specializations within the appropriate concentrations.

Instructor Website A wealth of supplementary information for our course is available at www.infosec-technologies.com. Material downloaded must be appropriately attributed to contributors in all team / individual papers.

The Senior Seminar is a capstone course and a major requirement for all majors. In addition, this course fulfills a UC requirement as a “writing intensive” course, and is therefore treated as such. The course begins with a review of major concepts and current issues related to economic crime investigation as an academic discipline.   Each student will also develop an in-depth understanding of a major economic crime policy issue using the skills gained in previous courses.   Additionally the course will review major economic crime investigation career paths to assist those students in both career development and future completion of the criminal justice internship program.
The lecture/discussion section of the course will cover:

• the preparation for the internship program (“do’s” and “don’ts”),
• professional preparation (resume development, job interviews),
• empirical research skills development,
• use of APA writing style and
• general report writing skills.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course students should be able to:

1. Understand the process for procuring and completing  CJ / Cybersecurity internships
2. Understand effective procedures for thriving in the CJ / Cybersecurity work environment
3. Effectively perform empirical research methods/analysis
4. Effectively use APA writing style
5. Produce an empirical research report that meets the standards of excellence in the CJ / Cybersecurity  field

Required Textbooks and Resources

1. To assist in the developing the required paper for this course, each student is required to obtain a copy of The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition, American Psychological Association.
2. To facilitate an introduction to senior internship, each student should obtain a copy of Criminal Justice Internships: Theory into Practice, by G. Gordon, R. McBride and H. Hage, 5th Edition, Anderson Publishing.

INFOSEC News

All students are expected to keep up-to-date with currents events in the world of Cybersecurity / Computer Forensics or Information Assurance crime investigation. Students are, therefore, expected to web- subscribe to INFOSEC news, Stratfor Intelligence, and INFOSEC Magazine.  Other resources include the New York Times national and international news and the business / technical sections. Bring your knowledge of these events to class. There will be several pop quizzes on current events related to cybersecurity events around the world.

Course Requirements
Online lectures and materials will cover the development and production of a high quality public policy paper, as well as an introduction to general characteristics and principles of the final requirement of the major: the senior internship.

Senior Seminar Paper and Presentations

Each student will develop a major public policy paper (20 page minimum), and two PowerPoint presentations, on a selected ECI-related topic to include the following sections:

• Historical and legal background (Introduction and Literature Review)
• Research and theory (Methods you will use in the study with instrument draft)
• Results/public policy impact (Results description and a Discussion of implications of results)

More on the Paper

Reviewing, each student will develop a major empirical research paper with the following topical sections: 1) historical and legal background (Introduction with literature review); 2) research and theory (Methods you will use in the study with instrument draft); 3) results (Results description) and discussion (Implications of results).
Paper topics will be assigned to students by the instructor. Paper topics must be original. That is, students are not permitted to use a topic that has already been used as a topic for a paper in another course. Students must adhere to all APA standards for format and citations starting from the first written draft to the final written product (grade reduction penalties will be assessed for violations). Acts of plagiarism will be dealt with harshly. Before submitting a paper draft, students will be required to submit the paper to Turnitin.com and present the results to the instructor. 

A FINAL PAPER LOGICALLY MERGING THE 3 PARTS DESCRIBED ABOVE MUST BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN THE NEXT TO LAST DAY OF CLASS. THE PAPER MUST INCLUDE AN ABSTRACT. FAILURE TO SUBMIT A FINAL PAPER BY THE DEADLINE DATE WILL RESULT IN A LOWERING OF GRADE PENALTY. FAILURE TO SUBMIT A FINAL PAPER BY THE DEADLINE WILL ALSO RESULT IN A GRADE OF  F FOR THE FINAL PAPER. THE FINAL PAPER MUST BE BOUND IN A HIGH QUALITY FOLDER.

Presentations

Students are required to develop two PowerPoint presentations, each of which will be presented as an attachment in the Discussion area of the course in Weeks 8 - 11. The Presentations should cover the main points of each paper section, and must have accompanying explanatory notes (similar to presentation commentary one would give if giving a traditional classroom presentation):

1. Part I - Introduction, Literature Review and Methods
2. Part II - Results and Discussion

A written report on each part should also be completed and submitted to the assignment drop box on the day of your cohort’s respective “presentation.” Late presentations and late submissions will result in penalties to grades.

All other students will take the role of “observer” when not “presenting” and participate in Peer Review discussions during the presentation weeks. More details will be provided on this in Week 8.

Grading Criteria

Comprehensive Exam

There will be a comprehensive examination on the major economic crime investigation / criminal justice / cybersecurity concepts and issues. Passing the comprehensive exam is a requirement for graduation from the ECI program.

The exam is administered as a part of Senior Seminar, but does not factor into the grading for Senior Seminar. The comprehensive exam will be broken into 2 parts; the first will be a series of multiple choice questions and the second part will be comprised of essay questions. This will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The first part is worth 67% and the second part is worth 33%. Below 68 on the exam is a failure. Students who fail the exercise will be given a second chance towards the end of the semester. Students must pass the comprehensive exam to advance to the economic crime / cybersecurity or criminal justice internship.

TENTATIVE SENIOR SEMINAR SCHEDULE

General Course Schedule 

• Week 2  - Paper development
• Week 3- 5 -  Preparation for internships
• Week 6  – Review for Comprehensive Examination
• Week 7  – Comprehensive Examination (Parts I and II)
• Week 8  – Paper Presentations begin