Not ready to leave Salve? Graduate program may be the answer

By: Megan Furtado
Posted In: Features

With May approaching and graduation just over the horizon, it is time for the annual reminder that four years at Salve Regina go by pretty fast, and decisions have to be made. The question is brought up, and an answer must be given: where does one go after Salve? Once commencement has, in fact, commenced, do students have to leave?

Not necessarily, if they plan on going to graduate school. The Graduate Studies and Continuing Education Department at Salve has recently expanded to include new courses of study and a revised Administration of Justice graduate program, making continuing one’s degree at Salve Regina even easier than before.

The Dean of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education, Dr. Lance Carluccio, as well as the staff of the Graduate Studies Department, is pleased to announce the newest addition to the graduate program: the Rehabilitation Counseling program. This program, which awards its graduates with a Master of Arts degree, enables students to become counselors for the disabled.

“The program serves to educate a counselor to help people with disabilities, achieve employment, and to live as independently as possible,” says Dr. Carluccio.

The program certifies its graduates to help all people within a wide range of disabilities, including psychiatric, physical, cognitive, and substance abuse disabilities. It is a 48-credit program, available in an accelerated five-and-a-half year program to graduate students of any major.

“Rehab counseling gives (people with disabilities) the skills to live and work independently,” says Dr. Carluccio. He adds, “Way back, people with disabilities used to simply live in day cares or institutions, and just watch the world go by.” He is pleased that the program will expand the capabilities of rehabilitation counselors and open doors for people with disabilities.

In addition to the new Rehabilitation Counseling program, the graduate program of the Administration of Justice Department has revised its degrees by offering two concentrations: Law Enforcement Leadership, and Justice and Homeland Security.

The Law Enforcement Leadership program emphasizes supervision, management, and education and allows students to earn a Master of Science degree in Management with a concentration in Law Enforcement Leadership.

The Justice and Homeland Security program, with its strong focus in international relations, allows students to earn a Master of Arts degree in International Relations, with a concentration in Justice and Homeland Security. Both programs consist of 36 credits and offer a five year accelerated option, in which seniors can begin taking graduate courses a semester early.

Dr. Lance Carluccio, who came to Salve on June 1, 2003, says that he is pleased to see new programs being integrated into Salve’s graduate curriculum. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Connecticut, his primary goal is to see the graduate program expand. He expects to see Salve become as well known for its graduate studies as for its undergraduate studies.

“My interest is to encourage the students to go to graduate school. My door is always open,” Dr. Carluccio insists.

He wishes students to learn more about the graduate program at Salve and to consider staying on longer for graduate school.

“The focus of graduate education at Salve includes ethics, values, and integrity. If you go to a good university,” he says, “it makes sense to continue there.”

For more information about any of the graduate programs at Salve Regina, Dr. Lance Carluccio can be reached at extension 2424, or by email to lance.carluccio@salve.edu. There will be an information session on Tues., May 4, in the McAuley lobby from 6 – 8 pm. Refreshments will be provided.