Crystal Bohlander, Faculty

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Background:

Name: Crystal Bohlander 

Contact Information: 270-996-7102, Grise Hall 123, crystal.bohlander@wku.edu   

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 10:00 to 3:00 pm and by appointment.  

 

Education and Career 

I retired from my career with the Kentucky Court of Justice Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in 2017. Prior to my work for the courts, I worked for the Home Incarceration Program and for LifeSkills, as well as acting as an intern, and later director, of Community Service of Warren County. Over my career in the Kentucky Courts, I worked in several capacities: frontline worker in the CDW Program, Supervisor & Coordinator for the Court Improvement Program, Training & Program Development Coordinator for the Training and Development Team, and Training and Program Coordinator for the Center for Civic Education.  

I am proud of my career and experience in the justice system. I love the path I chose. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration, and I earned a master’s level certificate in Instructional Design to go with the standard issue undergrad work in Soc, Psych, and Crim here at WKU. My official duties included professional training of attorneys, judges, court staff, and foster care volunteers, so teaching is not new to me. I enjoy sharing examples and stories from families, prosecutors, law enforcement, and courts across the state. I have been in on the whacky, messy process of public policy making. I have been responsible for tackling tangible, practical government problems, like overseeing budgets, grants, and professional development, while the drugs on the street were shifting and law enforcement practices were changing. It is personally meaningful to discuss and deconstruct the topics surrounding this with the next generation of professionals who will be continuing the work.  

In my administrative capacities, I developed policy, implemented change, and trained court professionals and community partners, such as those in education and social services. In addition, I had the honor to work face-to-face with juvenile victims of dependency, neglect, and abuse, troubled youth who were charged with a criminal offense, and the families in which these groups are enmeshed. Working with experts in domestic violence, substance abuse, victim advocacy, and re-entry was a common, and highly rewarding, part of my career. It is my hope that those experiences inform and advise my teaching style and content.  

Since retirement, I have continued to support those in the helping professions through private consulting and programming for the Department for Community Based Services and AmeriCorps. I enjoy serving on the Advisory Council for the Warren County Regional Detention Center and working with WKU students on soft skill building with youth through the Warren County Court Designated Worker's Office. 

Personal Life 

When I am not on campus you are likely to find me with my own children, Will and Elizabeth Ann, or travelling. My kids are exceptionally talented humans. My favorite musician is Tom Petty and I aspire to own two tiny goats. I share my time between Bowling Green and a location in northern Tennessee I hope will become a small farm in the coming years.  

Influences and Teaching Style 

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed his work and found it to inform my work as a professional. He has a podcast called “Revisionist History” that is well worth a listen.  

My professional hero is Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. from Temple University who is one of the world's leading experts on adolescence. I met him at a conference in 2006 and I have followed his work since. His efforts to better understand the adolescent brain have significantly enhanced the way we understand brain development, and thus, treatment and legal culpability.  

I really enjoyed working directly with teens and found it to be rewarding beyond words. There is no replacement for being in the room with offenders, victims, law enforcement, social workers, judges, and prosecutors. Each person you meet has a unique perspective on the relative successes and limitations of our formal systems.  

For these reasons and more, I enthusiastically support interviews, internships, field trips, use of documentaries and other media through Kanopy, class discussion, court observations, readings from journal articles and government reports as mechanisms for learning and engagement. Students can expect to use the textbook as only one component of the class material. While I utilize exams for assessment purposes, I also allow students to make some important choices on assignment types. Like Charlie Appelstein, another professional favorite, has taught me over the years, giving students choices is a powerful tool in fostering engagement. Each semester students choose how to best highlight the work they have done to learn more about a course topic. The facilitation of peer-to-peer learning is one important part of this position. 

Quotes 

I am fond of saying: “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” but I have seen it attributed to several sources, so I am not sure who first said it. It is excellent advice for those working with vulnerable populations. 

My late husband was a huge fan of Albert Camus. These are a few of his quotes I have come to treasure.  

• “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” This reminds me of Ed. 
• “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” This reminds me of my children and myself. 
• “We all carry within us places of exile, our crimes, our ravages. Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves and others.” This reminds me of the work to be done.