It has been just over a decade since I completed my UAF master's degree in Justice Administration. I began the UAF program on the heels of finishing a master's degree
in Criminology from Florida State University. I regularly get asked, "what's the
difference between the two degrees?" I have found there are two distinct and easy
articulable differences between the degrees. While the FSU degree helped me understand
why criminals and victims behave and act the way they do, the UAF program helped me
understand why criminal justice agencies perform the way they do. In the progression of my career, the latter has
been as, if not more, important to me in my agency leadership roles. Secondarily,
and certainly not a negative, but the FSU program was more suited to preparing me
for a career in academia, while the UAF program was far more practitioner focused.
There were aspects of topics I learned in the UAF program that I immediately applied
to the work I was conducting internal to and external of the agency. Brian Boetig, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Legal Attache
