Pasco-Hernando State College Volume XIV, Issue II Fall 2020 | Page 5

CSI: PHSC
Executive Director of Public Service Programs
Charles May often jokes with his students
by asking, ‘Would you donate your body?’
He laughs as the answer is generally ‘no’ but a
donated body to science is exactly what future
students of the Pasco-Hernando State College
Forensics program will be analyzing. PHSC will be
offering forensics as an AS degree or a certificate.
Students will take classes such as crime scene
safety, fingerprint dusting, or crime scene
photography. The program will give students a
hands-on approach to learning to help them get
ready for a career in forensics from the moment
they complete the program.
Forensics is growing in popularity, May says in
part to the many television shows with a crime
scene focus, but also because of the emphasis on
technology. “Now with all the technology and DNA
research that’s available more cases are being
solved than ever and people who were wrongly
convicted are being released.”
The way a crime scene is analyzed is constantly
evolving and students will learn how to work
a scene from print dusting to analyzing body
decomposition. In partnership with the Pasco
Sheriff’s Office, PHSC students will use the
Thomas Varnadoe Forensic Center for Education
and Research located in Land O’ Lakes. The
center is the seventh body farm created in the
United States.
Forensics students will study bodies
decomposing in a variety of ways. They will be
able to use the information in real-world crime
analysis. Forensics is going to play a key role in
workforce development for students in Pasco
and Hernando counties and PHSC’s forensics
program will set students up with a pathway
toward their future career.
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