CLAS, WSU Grad School and Detroit Police Department present Chief's Scholars Program awards

Two Detroit police officers have been awarded full scholarships for their graduate studies through Wayne State University's Department of Criminal Justice.

Representatives from the Detroit Police Department, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and the WSU Graduate School were on hand to award Sergeant Howard Phillips and Sergeant Dawn Engel with the university's annual Chief's Scholars Program award.

The program, co-funded by the WSU Graduate School, is aimed at keeping Detroit Police Department (DPD) officers at the forefront of crime prevention, technology and theory in criminal justice education.

"We're looking forward to deepening our relationship with Detroit," said Ambika Mathur, associate provost and dean of Wayne State's Graduate School. "We are honored to partner with our highly dedicated law enforcement officials to prepare future leaders for the DPD."

The officers have the option of taking their courses in person or online through the Department of Criminal Justice's online master's program.

"We are excited to have two new Chief's Scholars in our master's program," said Shanhe Jiang, chair of Wayne State's Department of Criminal Justice. "The Chief's Scholars Program helps promote fair and effective policing in Detroit and raise the profile of WSU, CLAS, as well as DPD. The partnership enhances the collaboration between WSU Criminal Justice and DPD. The Chief's Scholars bring a unique applied perspective to the classroom which benefits all of our graduate students and our program.