CCJS Advisement

One of our goals is to provide useful and timely advising.

Last Modified: April 24, 2008

Getting Advised in CCJS
Department Requirements
SSU Advising Resources

Getting Advised in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies


All Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies major and minor students have an assigned advisor. The next time you need an advisor you should bring a copy of your transcripts and go to your assigned faculty advisor, as follows:

Assigned Advisors for CCJS Students
If your last name begins with
 Your faculty advisor is
A-C
D-G
H-L
M-R
S-Z


Exceptions: Students who already have a regular advisor can continue to be so advised, but most students are encouraged to see their assigned advisor when they need advisement.
Here are Faculty office hours and contact information.
Here is contact information for our helpful office staff:

Lisa Kelley (e-mail: & phone is 664.2561) and
Katie Musick (e-mail: & phone 664.2934).

Department Requirements

Although we are formally an impacted program we do not use supplemental criteria for admission to the major at this time. Any eligible student with a "C" or higher grade point average can major in CCJS.

Follow this link to core requirements for the CCJS major. These include:

  • 36 units of core requirements
  • 24 units of electives in support of the major.

SSU Advising Resources

SSU provides a wealth of advising resources online for you to utilize. First, you may want to see the "Important Policies and Procedures for Students" page. There is also the web page that tells you who has priority registration and why. Moreover, the Advising Center has links to the following:

Moreover, Admissions and Records contains a wealth of information of direct relevance to you as you move toward registering, declaring a minor or double major, petitioning things, applying for graduation, and the like. For example, here are links to:


Notes on Spring into Fall 2008--Some of what CCJS majors need to know


CCJS. When registering for classes for Fall 2008, the Department's name is CCJS: Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies.

Schedule. The Spring 2008 Schedule of Classes, Searchable Schedule, is supposed to be up-to-date.

Commencement 2008:Information regarding commencement is available at http://www.sonoma.edu/uaffAirs/commencement/index.shtml.

Grad Senior: If you are a graduating senior at the end of Fall 2008 you need to sign up for senior seminar (see below).

Freshman and Sophomore students: you should be focusing on completing GE requirements. If you don't already have one you should print the GE form applicable to you (either 48 unit or 51 unit GE pattern) at http://www.sonoma.edu/sas/advising/ge/gepattern.shtml and check off GE courses as you take them. Do not duplicate GE requirements (a common mistake). Be sure to wait on completing your 9 units of upper division (300-400) GE units until the semester you become a junior (i.e., attain 60 units)--otherwise the units will not count toward this requirement. Try to make one of your GE classes satisfy the Ethnic Studies requirement (identified with an * on the form), and make one of your science classes satisfy your lab requirement (identified with a # on the form). Note: if you came to SSU with an AP class that satisfies the POLS 200 requirement, you have NOT yet met the California State and Local Government requirement. Bring your GE checkoff list to any advising appointment, along with a current copy of your transcript.

Filled classes: As CCJS classes inevitably fill up and you are a junior (or about to be) through a first semester senior, there are other alternatives for filling in your courseload. For example, many students can take CCJS electives and upper or lower division GE requirements that are required for graduation. The CCJS Internship is also available (see http://www.sonoma.edu/cja/intern.shtml). "Electives chosen under advisement" include graded courses in CCJS or in the College of Social Sciences (such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science, history, womens and gender studies, environmental studies and planning, geography, and gerontology). Don't forget to do that WEPT exam by the end of your junior year. (See the WEPT Schedule here.) If you don't pass it you'll then have time to get remedial help.

Some semesters there is a web or pdf listing of general education and other classes still open. See Admissions and Records.

Retaking a class. If you are retaking a class be sure to fill out the Repeat of Course Form at http://www.sonoma.edu/ar/records/forms.shtml in advance of taking the course. Give the form to your advisor or put it in the mailbox of the CCJS Chair for signature.

Graduation Addendum. You are taking a different course than you thought you would be to graduate. Time to fill out the Major-Minor Contract and Graduation Addendum form. Use the Graduation Application form if you are applying to graduate for the first time or changing the date that you want to graduate.

Reminder: Pay close attention to fees and holds. If you fail to pay fees, fines or deal with holds you might be disenrolled from classes during registration. That can cause big problems if you think you're graduating. : (

Courseload: During Fall of 2008 you may not take over 20 units, including the internship, unless you fill out the Petition to Take More Than 20 Units

Filing and Graduation Dates (copied from the A & R web page)

Graduation Applications must be received in the Office of Admissions and Records by the following dates:

GRADUATION DATE PRIORITY FILING DATE* FINAL DEADLINE**
Spring 08: May 24, 2008 (was September 15, 2007) February 15, 2008
Summer 08: August 16, 2008 February 15, 2008 April 1, 2008
Fall 08: December 19, 2008 February 15, 2008 September 15, 2008

*Undergraduate students who file by the Priority Filing Date will have the benefit of receiving a Graduation Evaluation prior to registering for their final semester. (Note: While Undergraduate students are encouraged to file by the Priority Filing Date, please do not file more than one year in advance of your planned graduation date.)

** The Final Deadline is the date by which students must submit applications to be considered for graduation at the conclusion of that term. However, no guarantee is made as to when a Graduation Evaluation will be completed.

Note: Acceptance of applications turned in after the Final Deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but there will be NO GUARANTEE that the student will be considered for graduation.

Note: If any filing date or deadline falls on a weekend or holiday applications will be accepted without penalty through the following regular workday.

CCJS Club THE CCJS Club needs YOU this semester. Use your budget (given to you by Associated Students) to have a party with other CCJS students, organize a charity event, invite guest speakers to your own events or other more creative ideas. Interested students can add themselves to a CCJS Club listserv. That's easy to do. Go to https://webmail.sonoma.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccj-club and follow the instructions on adding yourself. Once you're on the list you can send an e-mail to everyone on it by addressing your e-mail to ccj-club@sonoma.edu.

The fun part is figuring out what to do. All it takes is you and a couple of other people to get things going...

Jobs/Internships Take these links to job listings and internships in CCJS.

Graduate School: Many students are considering whether to apply for graduate school and, if so, which ones. There are many good choices so keep your options open. Apply to a minimum of three. Your department faculty are a good resource for this purpose and you should seek them out. It is important to consider your career goals and desired living locations, the subject areas that schools offer, their number of faculty, potential mentoring opportunities, if appropriate, whether or not you may want to go beyond a Master's degree, financial support available, and other factors.

There are a couple of lists of potential graduate schools around the country or in California in particular. Here are two lists that distinguish between M.A. and Ph.D. programs: list one and list two. Moreover, the Schultz Information Center has good listing of graduate catalogs.

Graduating Seniors: If you believe that you are a graduating senior, print out the Instructor Approval Form (available here in pdf), read the instructions, and hand in all the required paperwork at the designated location, including a current PeopleSoft transcript. Please do NOT email these materials. Advice: complete a major/minor form and a graduation form if you haven't already and run them by your advisor first. They're located in the vertical file in the CCJS office. Turn them in with your Instructor Approval Form, remembering your latest unofficial SSU transcript.

Important Dates. Perhaps you will like this mini calendar with planet Mercury in the background for Spring; bold dates mean no class: pdf or jpeg.