WKU Sociology & Criminology Alumni Profiles

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The Honorable Kori Beck Bumgarner  '08

Kori Beck Bumgarner graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2008 with a major in Sociology and minor in Criminology.

While studying at WKU, she participated in a study abroad program during the winter term to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico where she completed a course on Global Social Problems. While at WKU, Kori also worked as a runner part-time at the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office. After she graduated, she attended Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law, where she received her J.D.  During law school, she worked one summer in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office and one summer with the Court of Appeals (2nd Appellate District, Division 2, Judge Kelly Thompson).  She graduated from NKU in 2011 and passed the bar later that year. Kori worked for one year for Warren Circuit Court Judges John Grise and Steve Wilson before being hired in 2012 by Chris Cohron, the Commonwealth Attorney for Warren County. In January 2023, she was appointed the Commonwealth Attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit by Governor Andy Beshear after previously serving as First Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney and is honored to serve as the first female Commonwealth's Attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit.

When discussing her work in her current position, Kori mentioned that someone once told her that if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life. She says she is lucky to say that has been true for her during her time at the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office.  Kori says, "I have the opportunity of serving our community in a unique way by seeking justice for victims of wide ranging crimes, including homicide, rape, assault, and robbery."

Looking over the countless memories she made at the Sociology & Criminology Department, she recalls having such a great experience during her time as a sociology major.  She felt like her professors made an effort to get to know her as a person and were invested in her succeeding.  She remembers taking Penology with the late Dr. Bohlander and they did a tour of the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville, which houses some of Kentucky’s most dangerous and serious inmates. That visit was her first real experience with the penalty side of the criminal justice system. She managed to see up close the lives that inmates live, sometimes confined to small cells, as they serve out the penalty imposed by the Court.  Kori says, "It is an experience I reflect upon often as I now seek, at times, significant terms of imprisonment for the defendants I prosecute."

As for her advice to current and prospective students, Kori says it's important to find someone in a job that you are interested in and ask them if they would talk to you about it.  In her opinion, the best way to learn how to get somewhere is to ask someone who has been there.  She says, "I’ve had great luck at finding my way doing that, people have always been so generous with their time and knowledge and it makes the road so much easier to navigate."