Statistics, justice studies major available for Spring

With spring registration beginning today, students now have the option of registering for classes and declaring majors in statistics and justice.

"I was anticipating a lot of students who would be interested [in statistics as a major]," said David Carothers, department head of mathematics and statistics. "Especially since there was a growing number of student interest in the minor program."

Five students graduated last December as statistics majors, Carothers said. He expects the number to increase in the next few years.

Carothers says the department did not undergo any drastic changes in staffing. "There was some faculty decision on who we were going to hire and assign to teach that area," Carothers said, "but the major program itself didn’t have any direct affect on the number of faculty."

Another new major being offered next semester is justice studies, which was approved by the state in July. Students who declare this major can choose from three different tracks: crime and criminology, policy and justice in global context and community or youth and family.

According to coordinator Peggy Plass, criminal justice is the largest minor in the university, which is why they decided to make it into a major track. "We’re expecting student demand to be very high," Plass said, "but funding is a problem, making it hard to hire more faculty members."

Plass will teach some of the justice studies courses along with three other professors, two of whom are new to JMU this year. They also plan to hire another professor before the beginning of the spring semester.

Despite some of the financial difficulties, Plass is still excited about the new major.

"The university has been very enthusiastic and supportive and we’re hoping to get more resources in the future," Plass said.

Junior Robert Mehring, a sociology major, wanted to enroll in more justice-related courses but said that the department was already fairly full.

"It’s pretty hard to get into," Mehring said. "A lot of people want to get into the classes. It’s a really popular area now."

Mehring encourages other students to take advantage of the new justice studies major. "I think if you want to do anything with law enforcements or working with crime and how it affects the community, you should definitely think about this," Mehring said.

Only 60 students will be accepted into the justice studies program.

Students interested in this major need to pick up an application from the department of justice studies and send it back to them once completed.