By ED ZABRUSKY, IVISU News Bureau
On football
Saturdays, Steve Bogdalek, a 265-pound tackle from Naperville, Ill., is
one of the mainstays of George Perles' offensive line. He "definitely"
would like to go on to pro ball, and from his performances, his chances
are good.
He has a double option. In addition to pro ball, the affable senior
in criminal justice has long-range plans for a career in the Secret Service.
A consensus all-state grid choice in Illinois, Bogalek was highly recruited
by Michigan, Nortre Dame, Purdue, Illinois and UCLA, just to name a few.
Why, then, Michigan State?
"Ever since high school, I wanted to go into the Secret Service. I knew
that MSU had a highly respected School of Criminal Justice and I also talked
to a number of agents in the Chicago area who were qraduates of the school.
I looked at other schools, but State had what I wanted."
Steve is not the first athlete to aspire to a career in criminal justice.
One of the first three graduates of the program was a man named Arthur
F. Brandstatter, Sr. An outstanding Spartan fullback, his many honors included
being named to the Sports Illustrated Magazine's Silver Anniversary All-America
Team.
Following his graduation in 1938, he began a distinguished career that
included heading the MSU School of Criminal Justice for 30 years. Since
1976, he has held the important post of director of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center.
Two weeks ago, Brandstatter and more than 400 alumni of the school returned
to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the first School of
Criminal Justice in the United States.
If Bogdalek had not been off campus, helping the Spartans to win at
Purdue that weekend, he would also have met another famous graduate of
the school, H. Stuart Knight, former head of the U.S. Secret Service.
Both Brandstatter and Knight were given special honors at the school's
Golden Jubilee.
There was a time when there was a mutual distrust, and even outright
antagonism, between academics on campus and practitioners in the field.
MSU helped to change all that, beginning in 1935 with the establishment
of the School of Police Administration and Public Safety. It became the
School of Criminal Justice in 1970. The land-grant philosophy that MSU
pioneered is clearly reflected in the program. It combines education, research
and public service.
The MSU criminal justice program was to serve as the model for the more
than 1,200 similar programs that were to follow, and the MSU school consistently
still ranks among the nation's top three programs.
As times and society's needs changed, so did the curriculum. The initial
focus was on law enforcement. Today, the curriculum ranges from juvenile
justice, industrial security and crime in the community, to criminology,
forensics, the study of corrections and numerous opportunities for research.
The school's highly successful foot patrol study in Flint attracted
worldwide attention and resulted in the establishment of the National Foot
Patrol Center on campus. The National Polygraph Center also is located
at MSU.
More than 6,000 MSU graduates have gone into law enforcement or related
fields since the program was established in 1935. Today, the schools' enrollment
numbers 600 undergraduates, 115 graduate students and about two dozen doctoral
students.
"While a college education is no guarantee of effective job performance,"
says Robert Trojanowicz, the school's director, "it is an advantage in
the complex world of modern police practice."
Practitioners once felt that training "by the book" and on-the-street
experience were adequate, he points out. He says there is nothing wrong
with responding to certain situations "by the book," but that it is impossible
to formulate a "book" that will be adequate in all instances. And that
is where advanced education comes in.
The graduates have reached the highest positions in government agency
service, business and industry. There are Spartans in almost every major
police department in the nation.
The corporate directors of security for three of the largest automobile
companies are Spartans. The deputy directors of the State of Michigan's
departments of corrections, social services, mental health, state police,
commerce and the attorney general's office are all graduates of the MSU
school.
Also, the first woman to command a major U.S. police department received
her education at MSU. She is Penny Herringbone, who recently became police
chief in Portland, Ore., the nation's 35th largest city.
Today, 40 percent of the students in the school are women and 10 percent
are minorities, another indication of Ms.’s leadership in a field that
has become more and more vital to all of society.
(This article was taken from the November 16, 1985
MSU vs. Northewestern Spartan Program Book.)
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