Professor leads effort to establish criminology major

By Allison Dickey | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Tina Jaeckle, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology, is championing a new major that has been in demand.

Jaeckle and other sociology professors at Flagler College have been able to move forward with a separate criminology major at the college starting this fall. The new addition has been a long process for Jaeckle, but certainly worth the wait.

“We just weren’t sure how it would fit in with the sociology department. The timing had to be right,” Jaeckle said.

The major will allow students to further prepare for graduate school or their career paths in the field. Professors at Flagler have noticed a steady increase in student interest and have conducted a student survey to determine the actual interest.

The decision to make criminology a major reflects the major increase in projected job outlook for criminologists, which is 15 percent greater than the average field demand according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Students with a criminology major can be hired anywhere from police departments to federal and state justice agencies. Criminology graduates become FBI agents, research officers, airport security agents, U.S. customs workers and probation or parole officers.

Some students, however, feel the change came too late.

“I would have picked criminology instead of my sociology major if the college had offered it. I think it would have been much more beneficial for me,” said Jourdan Maney, a sociology major with minors in both pre-law and criminology.

“Before I graduate, I would love to see an interrogation class offered at Flagler. Students would really be interested, I think,” says Gabrielle Grubbs, a sociology major at Flagler College. Grubbs wishes she could have made the cut to change her major to criminology as well.

Jaeckle not only specializes in the social and behavioral sciences, she is also a licensed clinical social worker in Florida and Texas, Board Certified in Emergency Crisis Response and Bereavement Trauma and a diplomat with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. She is also involved with the Florida Association of Hostage Negotiators, the American Society of Criminology and much more. Jaeckle graduated from Nova Southeastern University and earned an M.S in Criminal Justice, a Master of Social Work from the University of Houston and a B.S. in Criminology and Sociology from Florida Southern College.

A few of the courses taught throughout her career include: Sociology of Evil, Human Sexuality, Contemporary Social Problems, Globalization, Marriage and Family, and Criminal Profiling.