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probably saved his life. That’s something
I think about a lot.” McCafferty
acknowledged that he doesn’t know
what ultimately happened to the boy he
“saved,” but that success as a probation
officer is often measured by “never seeing
that individual again.”
McCafferty felt like he could also have
an impact at the college level. In Fall
2006, he enrolled in the Criminal Justice
graduate program at the University of
Cincinnati (Cincy), where he received
his master’s degree in 2007, and a Ph.D.
in Criminal Justice in 2013. Today, he is
still the only Lycoming criminal justice
graduate to receive his doctorate. After
a couple of years teaching at Cincy,
McCafferty followed his wife, Heidi, to
Kennesaw State University.
“I wanted to teach. There was always
that desire to teach inside me,” said
McCafferty. At Kennesaw, he’s had the
chance to work with students, fostering
their strengths and helping them in
their professional careers. “I really enjoy
mentoring. I just placed a student at
Georgia State after working with her for
a few years. She has a full ride to their
grad school. That’s something I’m very
proud of.”
McCafferty encourages his students
to embrace opportunities and to make
both personal and academic connections
to get to the next step — something
he learned at Lycoming. “Some of
my professors at Lycoming were my
employers and greatest inspiration.
Every step of my career has had a
logical progression because of the
people I met at Lycoming.”
Today, McCafferty wants to increase
his research footprint. Recently, he
became a consultant on a million-dollar
grant for the Department of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention
that looks at risk assessment in Ohio,
Indiana and Arizona. In addition,
McCafferty is the mentor for the
Kennesaw criminal justice student
organization and hopes to make the
Ghana training an annual trip.
“Lycoming wasn’t so much a stepping
stone as much as a jumping-off point,”
said McCafferty. “Without Lycoming, I
certainly wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Growing up, McCafferty thought
of working in criminal justice as an
attorney or judge, but remembers
wanting to be a high school history
teacher more than anything. “When I
went to Lycoming in 1999, I was still
planning on becoming a history teacher,”
said McCafferty, “but I never took a
single education or history course as
an undergraduate. I took this criminal
justice course with Dr. Carter and that
was it. I just fell into criminal justice and
loved it.”
And McCafferty has already had a
rewarding and varied career. While
still attending Lycoming, he worked
with juvenile delinquents at STEP
Inc., a wilderness challenge program
in Williamsport. After graduation,
McCafferty was a probation officer in
York County, Pennsylvania, a place
where his instincts actually helped save a
young man’s life. “Going through initial
intake checklists, I asked a particular
young man if he was considering
suicide,” recalled McCafferty. “The boy
said ‘yes’ and that was the only time
I’d ever received that response. The
boy was immediately transferred to a
mental health facility. A couple of weeks
later the judge presiding over his case
pulled me aside and told me that the boy
was serious about his intent and that I
McCafferty encourages
his students to embrace
opportunities and to make
both personal and academic
connections to get to the
next step — something he
learned at Lycoming
“Lycoming wasn’t so much a stepping stone as much as a jumping-off point”
39
www.lycoming.eduF E AT U R E S