{"id":5120,"date":"2016-09-27T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=5120"},"modified":"2016-09-20T13:09:36","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T18:09:36","slug":"jeff-green-fbi-agent-criminal-justice-graduate-and-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/jeff-green-fbi-agent-criminal-justice-graduate-and-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Capella Graduate Jeff Green: FBI Agent and Author"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeff Green, PhD, has devoted his life to public service. He spent almost 12 years as a police officer on a large metropolitan force before joining the FBI, where he has worked as an agent for 19 years. After earning several degrees, Green added a PhD in Criminal Justice<\/a> from Capella University to the list in 2006, and was on the faculty of the School of Public Service Leadership from 2007-2016.<\/p>\n

While Green continues work for the FBI, his experience with online education also led him to author a book, Graduate Savvy<\/em><\/a>, intended for online students.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. How did you get into public safety?<\/h4>\n

A. I grew up in a small town. In high school, I worked\u00a0part-time as a police dispatcher\u2014a fun\u00a0weekend job.\u00a0My dad was a car dealer, and the plan was for me to go to college and come home to the family business. So I spent two years\u00a0as a business-school\u00a0undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/p>\n

But then something happened: I took a criminal justice course as an elective and all the pieces fell into place.\u00a0The material was fascinating. The professors\u2019 stories were exciting.\u00a0The idea that\u00a0one person could make a difference in the lives of so many provided the sense of purpose I had\u00a0been missing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. Tell us about your path to the FBI.<\/h4>\n

A. I spent many years as a police detective working in vice and narcotics. I loved the hours and pace as well as\u00a0the rigor of the work.\u00a0I\u00a0also developed a passion for\u00a0the\u00a0Constitution.<\/p>\n

I joined the Bureau in my early 30s not knowing what to expect. When I\u00a0left the FBI Academy,\u00a0I was assigned to a drug squad in Philadelphia\u00a0that focused on international drug cartels.\u00a0I eventually\u00a0created a multi-jurisdictional task force, which brought together the unique\u00a0perspectives and talents of agents and officers across the law enforcement community. From there, I went on to\u00a0supervise several classified projects in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. What traits are important for individuals to hone if they want to work in criminal justice?<\/h4>\n

A. Each of the positions I have held\u00a0as a police officer and agent required critical thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal\u00a0skills. But the single most important skill required of any public service practitioner\u00a0is the ability to lead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. What makes public safety fulfilling?<\/h4>\n

A. Public service folks are driven by a sense of purpose. They\u00a0live to make a difference in the lives of others. Some are healers; some are protectors. We all fulfill our purpose in different ways.<\/p>\n

Even within our specific fields, we\u00a0see different\u00a0rewards. As a police officer, I remember\u00a0encountering a young family\u00a0on the side of the road with\u00a0no food and nowhere to go. My fellow officers\u00a0and I drummed up $50 to feed them and put them in a warm room for\u00a0the night.<\/p>\n

I also won\u2019t forget the night I\u00a0forced entry into a house on a domestic call to find the husband wrapping a telephone cord around his wife\u2019s throat with her feet dangling off the ground. The paramedics said\u00a0she was seconds from death.<\/p>\n

Each public servant has their own sense of what makes a fulfilling career. I\u2019m just grateful mine has had so many meaningful and memorable moments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. How did you end up at Capella?<\/h4>\n

A. I was working on a PhD in Criminal Justice at a school in Philadelphia when the events of 9\/11 occurred. As an FBI agent, my work life changed rapidly and dramatically, and it became very clear that the constraints of a brick-and-mortar university would no longer work for me. I eventually enrolled at Capella because it was more flexible, and I completed my PhD in 2006.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q. What prompted you to write Graduate Savvy<\/em>?<\/h4>\n

A. The idea for the book came from attending Capella residencies.\u00a0I would\u00a0spend hour after hour answering the same questions about the journey to graduation.\u00a0It seemed students gravitated towards me because I had\u00a0the perspective of being both a Capella grad and\u00a0professor.\u00a0During one colloquium,\u00a0a student said, \u201cYou should put your experiences in a book. It would really help a lot of people.\u201d So I did.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s scholarly research behind Graduate Savvy, <\/em>but I wanted to write it in a conversational tone. I envisioned\u00a0a few folks\u00a0sitting around a table drinking coffee and talking about online learning. If you\u2019re looking for an easy read about the\u00a0academic journey, Graduate\u00a0Savvy <\/em>is a good fit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn more about Capella\u2019s online <\/em>criminal justice programs<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at <\/em>Capella Results<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/h6>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe single most important skill required of any public service practitioner is the ability to lead.\u201d Jeff Green, PhD, shares details of his varied criminal justice career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[316],"tags":[67,317],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5139,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5120\/revisions\/5139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}