Presiding: CHRIS DUFOUR, Pennsylvania State University
Presenter: RUTH ANN MURRAY, Boston University

      When you think “private eye” do you think of cheating spouses or Guy Noir? Think again. Think Enron. Think Polly Klass and the thousands of children and adults who go missing each year. The US Department of Labor estimates that employment of private investigators will grow faster than the average for all occupations, up to 26 percent, through 2014. Growing financial activity worldwide will also add to the demand for investigators in order to control internal and external financial losses and to monitor competitors.
      To address this need, Boston University’s Center for Professional Education, in conjunction with the national director of the Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council, has spent several years creating an innovative and rigorous curriculum in the field of professional investigation. Informed and taught by some of the top investigative specialists in the field, this 160 hour program has been well received by the public and the profession, and promoted enthusiastically by the media. This fall, the University will welcome its fifth cohort of students.