Criminal Justice

Oct. 1 – 2 p.m. – Bensen Hall 115 – Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Hagensen, assistant professor of criminal justice

Megan Bader ’06 earned her bachelor of science in criminal justice and minored in psychology. While at BSU, she worked for Advocates for Family Peace in Grand Rapids and completed an internship with the Minnesota Department of Corrections in Bemidji. After graduation, she contracted as a pre-sentence investigation writer for the Department of Corrections in Walker. In 2007, Bader returned to Bemidji to supervise a specialized caseload of adult felony-level sexual offenders. In 2010, she transferred to the Department of Corrections office in Grand Rapids. There, she supervises an adult felony-level high-risk caseload as a senior corrections agent.

John Konopek ’88 graduated from BSU with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and worked for the Juvenile Division of the Illinois Department of Corrections until 1994. During the next two-plus decades, he held several different positions in the City of Plainfield Police Department until being named chief in 2011. In addition, he served as an arson investigator and directed the city’s Emergency Management Agency. He also works on law enforcement teams that respond to local, regional and national natural disasters and large-scale events. He has been on response teams for tornadoes, floods, protests and hurricanes, and has been involved in security for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, the 2009 G20 Summit in Pittsburgh and the 2012 NATO Summit in.

John Littlewolf ’06, a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, worked at the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center in Bemidji while earning his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He continued in juvenile corrections for Ramsey County in 2007. He also worked in the domestic violence advocacy field with Women of Nations in St. Paul before beginning his law enforcement career with the White Earth Tribal Police in 2009. In 2011, Littlewolf returned home and served with the Leech Lake Tribal Police. He returned to the metro in 2014, joining the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community as a conservation officer.

Tara Martire ’07 Is a senior corrections agent for the Minnesota Department of Corrections. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice, and worked at the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center while attending school. She completed a practicum and an internship with the Department of Corrections, and afterward she wrote pre-sentence investigation reports as a contractor until she was hired as an agent in 2007. Martire currently works in Walker supervising a caseload of high-risk offenders on the Leech Lake Reservation.