Lt. Garry Hansen - BA in Justice Studies

I chose Royal Roads University because the learning format seemed to fit very well with both career and family obligations while allowing the pursuit of my educational objectives. For the most part, it has proven flexible enough to allow me to focus on any one of those areas at given time. I enrolled in the Bachelor of Justice Studies program out of a desire to position myself educationally for a potential post-Navy career in law.

As with most things in life, this program was different in reality than the one I had envisioned in my mind`s eye. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by both the level of commitment of the faculty and their degree of concern for the quality of our learning experience. Having adjunct professors on staff allows RRU to draw in working professionals with real-life career experience.

I guess the greatest challenge for me was that of embarking on a field of study with which I had no previous experience. At the beginning of the program, I quickly realized that I was one of the few learners in BJUS who had no prior justice field experience or education. Despite that lack, both fellow learners and faculty proved most willing to lend me the benefit of their respective experiences and insight. That mitigated what would otherwise most certainly have been an extremely frustrating experience.

During the last residency, the program brought in professional mediators to critically assess our performance in "mock" mediation scenarios. These mediation sessions were videotaped for our later review and a comprehensive critique was given. This “no holds barred” evaluation of our trial mediation techniques and strategies was highly useful and a bit humbling.

My experience at RRU thus far has been thoroughly pleasurable. I now find myself subconsciously pulling the lessons of the great philosophers out of my back pocket and applying them to considerations of fairness and human interactions in the workplace. It is amazing how well much of the reasoning and evaluation of humankind by the great thinkers throughout history holds up to this day.

Lieutenant Garry Hansen, Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies, Naval Engineering Officer with Canadian Forces.