There is a lack of qualified faculty: The actual "department" only has four members. Two professors of chemistry, one of which is a college dean and the other who is the program director, and two office positions, a program coordinator and senior administrator. The director teaches one class, only in the spring and all other FSC classes are taught by adjuncts. These adjuncts, most of the time, have no idea how to teach, they are simply professionals in the subject matter. That's good, but also bad. And, somewhat insultingly, a student in the program is teaching a class this fall.
There is a severe lack of professional direction: As a student in a masters program, you should be able to go to your director and be able to develop a plan and skills to point in the correct professional direction. That is not the case here at SU. The director knows little about the world of forensics and what you should take given your career goals. There is no reason to have academic advising in this program because no actual advising goes on.
The program has one direction... DNA: The classes that can count for the masters degree are taken from other departments, mainly biology. These are excellent classes for backgrounds if the student wants to work in DNA analysis. But some don't, including myself.
There is no actual skills learned: When teachers get their masters (or even their bachelors) they go through student teaching and develop the tools they need to succeed in their profession. Other masters programs do the same. The MS in Forensic Science at SU doesn't teach you anything that you would use in the real world. The theory, yes, but when job postings require that the person be proficient in the use of certain instruments, this program is at a disadvantage.
The degree proves nothing: Most, not all, masters degrees, especially in science, require indepth research or a thesis. This program does not. All the student really needs to do is pass the 34 required credits and there is a masters degree in their hand. I feel the main reason for this lack of requirements is that there is no research lab for forensics at the university. The student, required to take an internship or do "research", goes into another lab with another professor and works on their project that could loosely be tied to one subject in forensic science. There are three unused labs in the Life Sciences Building and nothing is done with our "department"
The small class size allows for new relationships: One of the only upsides to the lack of classes is that the students create close relationships with each other. The five first year masters students were practically taking the same schedules since there wasn't much of a selection and we have created a close bond with each other.
The program is not actually accredited: The main reason that the program took so long to start is that the curriculum and program needed to be accredited by the state. Once it was, the program started in the Fall of 2009. Come to find out, the government doesn't accredit the program until after the 2nd class graduates. As of right now, one student has technically graduated, having finished his credits in a year, so my class will be the second "graduating" class. But again, the program is NOT accredited.
Little, if any, changes will be made this coming fall to the shortfalls of this program, a class was actually cut due to lack of faculty. It's a bigger problem when the students in a focus group point out these issues we're having but then make a bigger deal about the lack of parking. I may not be ready for a job but thank god I got my car on campus.
