The Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida provides excellence in teaching, research, service and community engagement and aims to foster academic excellence and engaged student learning while addressing our most pressing social problems and supporting our community.

As a top-enrolled program on campus, the department collaborates on college and university-wide initiatives to strengthen and support faculty, staff and students; facilitate teaching and research collaborations; and inspire faculty excellence to advance the campus mission of research, teaching, community partnerships and entrepreneurship. Our academic program teams and faculty are committed to engaging and inclusive teaching, experiential learning, student internships, research-intensive experiences, and other high-impact initiatives that support students’ educational environment, contributing to the strategic mission of the University of Central Florida.

The department will continue to work to foster and maintain a collegial environment that promotes creative and problem-based scholarship, innovative transdisciplinary curriculum, and high-impact learning experiences leading to excellence in teaching, research and community-engaged partnerships.

Advisory Council

  • Robert Barnett – Orange County Corrections
  • Brandon Borodach – Senior Security Enterprise Sales Engineer, Lacework Inc.
  • Jan Edwards – Founder and President, Paving the Way Foundation
  • Jeff Goltz, Chair – School of Public Safety, Valencia College
  • George Holcomb – UCF Criminal Justice Department Adjunct Faculty
  • Ron Hopper – Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
  • Carlos Francisco – Meta, Regional Security Leader
  • Alexander Gulde – Florida Department of Law Enforcement
  • Brett Meade – Mount Dora Police Department
  • Desmond Meade – Vice Chair, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
  • Carl Metzger – UCF Police Department
  • Shamir Ratansi – UCF Criminal Justice Department Adjunct Faculty
  • Stephen Szabo – Retired, Daytona Beach Police Department & UCF Criminal Justice Department Adjunct Faculty
  • Tim Woods – Director of Safety & Security, K.B. Hutchison Convention Center