University Fast Links Academic Affairs Academic Calendar Academic Community Engagement (ACE) Academic Planning and Assessment Accepted Students Admissions (Undergraduate) Admissions (Graduate) Admission Requirements Analytical Laboratory Advising (Medical/Dental Related) Advising (SAM Center) Agricultural Sciences and Engineering Technology Alumni Association Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative Army ROTC - Military Science Athletics Banner Banking Bearkat Camp Bearkat Express Payment Bearkat Marching Band Bearkat OneCard Bearkat Transfer Scholarship Blackboard Blinn College Transfers Bookstore Books & Supplies Budget Office Bursar's Office Business Administration Calendars Campus Map Career Services Catalogs Class Schedule Computer Account Creation Computer Labs Continuing Education Controller's Office Correspondence Course Division Counseling Center Criminal Justice Current Students Dean of Students' Office Departments Department of Dance Dining Services Directory Education Educator Preparation Services Emergency Management Employment Opportunities English Language Institute Enrollment Management Environmental, Health and Safety Office Exchange Mail Facilites Management Facilities Space Management Faculty Senate Faculty/Staff Directory Final Exam Schedule Finance and Operations Financial Aid Fine Arts and Mass Communication First-Year Experience General Information Graduate Studies Great Names Health Sciences Honors College Homecoming Human Resources Humanities and Social Sciences IT@Sam IT@Sam Service Desk Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) Institutional Effectiveness Internal Grant Program Institutional Review Board (IRB) International Programs Joint Admission Students KatFacts Library (NGL) Lone Star College Transfers Lowman Student Center Map - Campus Marketing & Communications Math CAMP Medical & Allied Health Programs McNair Program Military Science Mobile Go Center Music Music Choir News Nursing Office of Business Services Office of the President Online Information Request Organization Chart Orientation - New Student PACE Parent Relations Office Parking Payroll Office Procurement and Business Services Procurement Opportunities Project Connect Property Prospective Students Public Safety Quality Enhancement Plan Reading Center Recreational Sports Registration Registrar's Office Research and Sponsored Programs Residence Life Risk Management Sam Shuttle SACS Reaffirmation Sam Houston Memorial Museum SamMenu (Download) SamWeb Sciences Services for Students with Disabilities Schedule of Classes Scholarships SHSU Marketplace Spirit Programs Staff Council Student Activities Student Government Association Student Health Center Student Legal Services Student Money Management Center Student Services Student Services Calendar Summer Camps Technology Tutorials Testing Center Theatre and Dance Today@Sam Tour the University Transcripts Transfer Equivalency Guide Transfer Students TRIES University Advancement University Center University Hotel University Park - Northwest Houston Campus University Police Department Veterans Visitor & Alumni Center The Woodlands Center Writing Center

Today@Sam Article

College To Develop Online Forensic Certification For Teachers

March 10, 2011
SHSU Media Contact: Beth Kuhles

The College of Criminal Justice currently offers a high school criminal justice instructor training program annually.

Sam Houston State University will develop a free, online course for high school teachers to become certified as forensic science instructors.

The forensic science program at SHSU received a $150,000 grant to develop the online professional education program that high school educators will be required to take to teach a high school forensic science classes beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year. The 90-hour course will be available to teachers by August.

“The benefit for teachers is that they will be given the required knowledge from an accredited university course with live professors,” said David Webb, program manager for the project. “For the university, it makes us review what high school students need if they want to take science courses in college so that we are far more joined up in the process.”

The program—which is being developed by forensic scientists David Gangitano and Chi-Chung Jorn Yu and program coordinator Kelsie Bryand—will include PowerPoint presentations, experiments, pictures and graphics.

It will offer 10 modules on safety and the scientific method; an introduction to forensic science; crime scene investigations; firearms and tool marks; trace evidence; forensic biology; fingerprinting; forensic toxicology; the originality of documents; and forensic anthropology.

“The objective of this project is to translate all this science from the graduate level to high schools,” said Gangitano. “I see this project as a wonderful opportunity for our high school students to encourage them to learn science. Forensic Science is a nice example of how science can be applied in a very useful way."

The course, which will be filmed at SHSU facilities and will be available through Epsilen, a global learning management system. It will be offered by the Texas Education Agency at no cost to teachers.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature added several career and technical programs, including forensic science, that could be used to fulfill the fourth year math and science requirements to graduate high school. The legislature required that teachers be certified in these programs beginning in the 2012 school year.

The TEA selected SHSU to deliver the forensic science program because of its outstanding reputation in forensic science.

The university offers a Bachelor of Science degree in forensic chemistry and a Master of Science degree in forensic science. In addition to the academic program, the university also hosts the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility, one of only four “body farms” in the country, as well as the Regional Crime Lab, which provides drug analysis and toxicology laboratory services to agencies in a 10-county area.

“It is nice to be acknowledged as one of the best forensic science programs in Texas,” said Webb.

Because some forensic science teachers already have skills in the discipline, the course is designed to allow educators to take an exam to test out of each of the 10 modules in the program. The program requires a score of 80 to pass or teachers will be required to go through each step in the module.

The high school teacher education program is only one of the opportunities offered to high school instructors and students at SHSU’s College of Criminal Justice.

Each summer, students interested in criminal justice can attend summer camps that introduce participants to the diverse career opportunities in the field, including forensic science, local, state and federal law enforcement, and crime scene investigation. Past camp speakers have included the DEA, U.S. Marshals, FBI, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Homeland Security, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, and Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility.

The college also presents an annual conference for high school criminal justice instructors, which provides professional training workshop with the College’s faculty and experts in the field.

Finally, two summer programs are offered for teachers in forensic science, as well as an accredited Forensic Science “Crime Scene Investigator” course run at the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas.

 

 

- END -

 

 

This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office
Director: Bruce Erickson
Assistant Director: Julia May
Writer: Jennifer Gauntt
Located in the 115 Administration Building
Telephone: 936.294.1836; Fax: 936.294.1834

Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.