Garrett Kissner

Garrett Kissner completed his MA in Criminal Justice Leadership at Concordia University, St. Paul in 2014. Since then, he has made a lasting impact on the Woodbury Police Department, where he has worked since he was 14 years old. Today, Kissner holds the position of Police Commander after years of dedication and hard work within his department. 

During Kissner’s time at CSP, he says he learned many valuable skills that he uses in his day to day duties. The most important of these, he says, has been the leadership skills. He quotes specific coursework given during his MA program that focused on developing personal leadership skills and values. “My leadership credo has six statements to define who I am as a leader. It helps keep me focused and tied to my values.” 

One of the biggest draws that led Kissner to CSP was the completely online format of the program he chose. He needed something that would work around his rotating schedule as a police officer. “A program with flexibility and completely online was going to be important. So no matter if I was working a day shift, a night shift, a weekday or weekend I could still be committed and engaged with my cohort.” 

Kissner also appreciated the diversity within his cohort. He notes that the expansive experiences of his peers helped him learn a lot about the field he was in. “There were members in my cohort who had worked in law enforcement for a long time and were successful in their fields. To be able to learn from them, hear their stories, and really be able to relate the content we were learning to real life situations was extremely beneficial.” 

Overall, Kissner says that his time at CSP has helped prepare him for his important role at the Woodbury Police Department. Being in a leadership position requires a certain set of skills that Kissner says CSP helped shape. “CSP helped develop my communication skills to best be able to work in an organization of a 24 hour, 365 day operation.”