By (July 11, 2008)
All in the Family
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| From left, Emily Tashjian, who will enter the University at Albany-SUNY in the fall as a criminal justice major, with her mother, Guilderland Police Chief Carol Lawlor. (Photo Mark Schmidt) |
Tashjian's mother, Carol Lawlor, was recently sworn in as Guilderland's new police chief. Lawlor has served the department for almost 30 years. Emily's father, John Tashjian, retired in May after 25 years of service as a senior detective with the same police department.
Why did Emily choose UAlbany? "I knew that I wanted to stay close to home and I heard really good things about UAlbany's program for criminal justice," she said.
For a time, she was trying to decide between special education and criminal justice. To find out which path was best for her, she took one internship in special education and another with the Guilderland Police Department.
That second internship, in which she rode along with police officers, and saw the workings of traffic court and criminal court, "was really fun." That experience was pivotal in her decision to pursue criminal justice at UAlbany, ranked No. 2 in the nation for graduate criminology programs by U.S. News & World Report.
