More than 20 community partners from 15 regional criminal justice agencies recently joined Averett University for the first Roanoke Regional Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB) meeting.
Averett University’s Dr. James Hodgson, Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) criminal justice program director and professor, has been working to form CJAB’s in the Danville, Richmond, Roanoke and Northern Virginia (Quantico) communities to bring together the leaders in criminal justice at Averett and in the surrounding communities where Averett has GPS satellite campuses.
“The advisory board members gave us some valuable feedback in regards to the University’s curriculum developmental initiatives,” said Hodgson. “The meeting highlighted the necessity of community partners to ensure enhanced levels of public safety in our communities. These types of community partnerships are essential to ensure that our students experience the best quality of education that prepares them to be preeminently equipped to complete workplace expectations and tasks within criminal justice agencies and subsequently provide exceptional criminal justice services for our communities.”
On Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Roanoke Higher Education Center, members from the following agencies gathered for the meeting: Roanoke City Police, Roanoke County Police, Western Virginia Regional Jail, New River Valley Regional Jail, Vinton Police Department, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke County Criminal Justice Academy, New River Criminal Justice Academy, Salem Police Department, Roanoke Co Sheriff’s Department, Vinton Police Department, Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Corrections- Adult Probation, and Roanoke County Criminal Justice Academy.
The role of the Roanoke Regional CJAB is to facilitate opportunities in the following areas:
- Establish and reaffirm Averett’s commitment as community partners with agencies in the region that provide criminal justice services.
- Share and present Averett’s mission, vision and values of integrity, innovation, engagement, discovery, diversity and tradition with our criminal justice community partners.
- Seek the guidance and feedback from our criminal justice community partners in regards to changes and development of criminal justice curriculum and programing.
- Seek the guidance from our criminal justice community partners in regards to industry trends and educational needs within the criminal justice field and how Averett can meet these educational requirements.
- Seek assistance from our criminal justice community partners in the recruitment, retention and the graduation of practitioners to enhance the delivery of professional criminal justice services in our communities.
“One of our goals is to provide our students with the most up-to-date and progressive sociology and criminal justice education. Averett is moving forward to take prominence in providing exceptional, leading-edge sociology and criminal justice educational opportunities for our students,”
“One of our goals is to provide our students with the most up-to-date and progressive sociology and criminal justice education. Averett is moving forward to take prominence in providing exceptional, leading-edge sociology and criminal justice educational opportunities for our students,” said Hodgson. “This advisory board participation is win-win for the many diverse communities in the greater Roanoke area, as public safety is always a priority for community members.”