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Show bu/ine// MONDAY-SEPTEMBER 12*2005 B5 CSI UVSC Executive lectures Criminal justice looking to add forensic science program Lecture Series are free to the public every Thursday at noon in the Ragan Center. So why not supplement your education with some real world advice from professionals in the know? Whose Most UVSC students don't know brain would you like to pick? Whose about the Reed and Christine Halladay knowledge and insight would you like Executive Lecture Series. Don't let the to absorb? Whose mistakes would you like to learn from? word "lecture" scare you. This week's lecture features Patricia You may find after reading through A. Richardson, a Senior Vice President the line-up of noted guesl speakers, of Wells Fargo, Chair of the Salt Lake all working professionals, that you Downtown Committee, member of the could use a good talking to, especially if you'd like a little more motivation Utah Advisory Council for The Trust for about, say, professional women in the Public Land, recipient of the Salt Lake work place, how to make and distribute Chamber's ATHENA award (2000) and a major motion picture, or how to start this year's winner of UVSC's Excellency in Leadership award. an airline company. The Fall 2005 EL Series features a Past lectures have featured just such speakers, from Adam Abel, producer of host of CEOs, entrepreneurs and other "Saints and Soldiers," to David Neele- professionals, so make a note of it and man, founder of JetBlue airways. Other plan to attend a few. Many professors names you may recognize are former are willing to grant extra credit for such Salt Lake mayor Deedee Corradini, events, so don't miss out on a good opconsultant and educator Ed Pinegar, In- portunity. For more information contact Doug ternet marketing guru Paul Allen, and a Miller 863-8859 millerdo@uvsc.edu score or more of others. And the best part is, the Executive Celeste Christiansen & Peter Waters Your Campus Writer It stays behind as a silent witness, telling a story without saying a word. Piece by piece, it forms a pattern to reveal the truth. It waits to be discovered, gathered, processed and evaluated. Evidence tells all. Students may soon uncover evidence's secrets and the skill of solving crimes in a new forensic science program at UVSC. Proposed through the School of Business Criminal Justice program, forensic science will train students of various disciplines as crime scene technicians (who identify and collect evidence at a crime scene), and criminologists (who analyze crime scene evidence in a laboratory). "A forensic science degree would enable our students to graduate more marketable in the criminal justice field, but would open doors for students in the hard sciences and technology fields as well," said Judge W. Brent Bullock, UVSC department Chair of Legal Studies. The School of Business currently offers a three credit Introduction to Forensic Science course (CJ 1350). The course teaches the importance of proper identification, collection and preservation of physical evidence. With this class alone, interest has spanned majors like aviation, fire science, biology, chemistry, computer science and even accounting. If the proposed four-year program receives approval, it will be the only Forensic Science baccalaureate program in the state. "I've had students here and at other institutions already express an interest in pursuing the Forensic Science degree when the program is approved," Bullock said. "It is a program for the whole college and a program for Utah." With evidence collected college-wide, the initial report concludes that several schools are deeply interested in the proposed program. Along with the School of Business, the Forensic Science program will involve the School of Science and Health, the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the School of Technology, Trades and Industry. "We envision criminal justice and forensic science students gathering, evaluating and storing physical evidence prior to turning it over to the hard science and computer technology forensic science students, who will do further analysis in the crime lab we hope to establish here," Bullock said. There are three phases every forensic case goes through, beginning with the crime scene itself and ending at court. The middle phase is where all the analysis takes place. "So what you need, then, are two things," said forensic science director Gary Naisbitt. "A specialist in his field, and a knowledge of how the system works. They need to know how to dismantle a crime scene, reconstruct the evidence, and then be able to testify with a certain degree of certainty and persuasiveness in court, and according to the standards of the legal system." The forensic portion of the degree consists of 16 interdisciplinary core credits, with the remaining credits related to the students' field of emphasis. "Forensics is interdisciplinary by nature," Naisbitt said. "It's similar to Integrated Studies, but it's not the same thing because it's so broad." The introductory class covers what happens in a crime lab, complete with simulated crime scene exercises wherein students work the case from different perspectives, whether it's taking photographs, entering descriptions, making sketches, taking inventory, or learning "what's called the 'chain of command,'" Naisbitt added. "We'll even go through and issue a mock warrant. Each student will then do a write up of evidence." The driving force behind the proposed degree is Jim Fenton, former Dean of the School of Business. "I saw the market need for a forensic education and recognized the opportunity for a cross-disciplined program," Fenton said. "With the reputation of the UVSC School of Business programs and the other disciplines across campus, a program of this nature will bring to UVSC a unique undergraduate educational opportunity not yet seen in Utah." Members from each of the schools meet regularly to plan the curriculum for the proposed forensic program and to put it on the campus-wide agenda. According to Sam Rushforth, Dean of the School of Science and Health, "Perhaps most interesting to me and our various Schools is the 'interdisciplinary' feature of the degree. A student with a forensic interest will have training in legal, scientific and human behavior areas, among others. This overlap and integration is a unique educational opportunity." According to Rushforth, producing a worldclass forensic science program, which will include the "hard sciences" from biology, physics and chemistry found in his school, inBusiness Desk (801) 863-7009 Ryan Meeks/NetXNews The criminal justice department is in the process of trying to attain the funding to start the only forensic science program in the state. Peter Walters Your Campus Writer Executive Lecture Series volves several important considerations. First, UVSC will need to acquire sufficient scientific instrumentation to teach the skills necessary to examine sites. Second, it will need to redesign laboratory space to house the advanced technologies, including DNA analysis equipment, comparative DNA analysis instrumentation and Patricia A Richards, VP Wells Fargo Bank other sophisticated laboratory instruments. Septl "In order to become proficient in thisfield,our David Wilson, CEO Wilson Audio initial expenditures will have to go toward instruSept 8 mentation," Rushforth said. "We have excellent Rhett Fornof, Regional VP, Enterprise RentaCar faculty in place who must have access to specialSept 15 ized instruments to teach appropriate skills." Sept 22 Jack Schiefer, CEO, J2D Connect With the high cost technology necessary for the program, UVSC saw the potential for partnership Sept 29 Terry Dickson, CEO, Avinti with local law enforcement. Students will prepare for forensic careers while assisting the criminal justice community in analyzing hard evidence Oct06 Bob Nilsen from crime scenes across Utah in a new crime lab on campus. If approved, the facility (enabled by Octl3 John English, Director, Transit Authority the program at UVSC) will be the first and only crime lab in Utah County. Oct27 Perry Sorenson, COO, Outrigger Hotels Sergeant Wade Raab of the Orem Police Department described the prospect of having a crime Nov03 Jeff Alexander, President/CEO, Alexander's Advantage lab in the County as "huge." The four crime labs Printing in Utah experience an overwhelming number of cases. Because of lack of facilities and resources, NovlO Deborah Palmieri, President and CEO of the RussianA the labs often have to turn down volumes of cases. merican Chamber of Commerce These cases must then be contracted out to private organizations, which is costly and time consumNovl7 Rhett M Roberts - CEO, Redmond Minerals ing. "The demand is high for current crime labs in Dec 01 Darl McBride - CEO, SCO the state," Raab said. "With a crime lab in Utah County, there is also a potential for each lab to specialize in just one area likefingerprintingor DNA analysis." Recently, Raab investigated a case where the evidence included an audio-tape. The voices on the tape were too hard to hear. The nearest crime lab in Salt Lake City could not take the case, so Raab sought an outside contract. The Orem Police Department spent extra time and money to analyze the tape, something the new UVSC crime lab & will be capable of doing. "The crime lab with a UVSC forensic science program will help to alleviate the time and resources it currently takes on every case," Raab im ** said. "We are grateful there are people who have the foresight to put this dream into place at UVSC." Raab also sees the potential for students to receive hands-on training with the approval of the new forensic program. The Utah Department of Public Safety Bureau of Forensic Services en$ courages all individuals interested in thefieldof forensic science to do an internship in a crime lab. KIT SKU#Z4Q«846. UVSC students would have that opportunity as part of their regular courses in the crime lab right ROOM GROUP INCLUDES: on campus. 1. Desk 2. Hutch 3, End Table 4. Occasional Table "UVSC forensic science students will receive 5. Entertainment Center 6. Futon 7. Lamp 8. File the highest level of training," Raab said. "Excellently qualified graduates will staff crime labs and ^ . --~ • i lie •-- ~ ^ ^ spread throughout the criminal justice field. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved." by RC Wiley. Offer valid only at those Outlet Stores Emry btanb available a\ OuUtt: The proposed degree has already received grants WestJordan 9010 S. Redwood Rood 567-2200 Provo 207 North 100 West 818 from the state and federal government including $100,000 from the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to assist in building the forensic curriculum. The price tag for the first stage Extfr/Extraite^of the proposed program is $1.7 million. scholarship -%^A "JJ*£i>l! With some funding already in place, adminis- * available' - 1^, T.^S- t trators hope it will help the degree approval process with the UVSC Curriculum Committee and Deans Council before it goes to the UVSC Board of Trustees and Utah State Board of Regents for KW'flt^fW,^^..^. final approval. If all the piecesfittogether as the clues indicate, We're looking for someone, to the new UVSC Forensic Science Program could P deliver our newspaper begin as early as 2006. Fall 2005 schedule 999 199 t i ^, Portions of this article originally appeared in Business Exchange Magazine. every week. 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