{"id":116211,"date":"2021-12-01T13:15:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T18:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=116211"},"modified":"2024-06-08T09:50:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T13:50:39","slug":"safety-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2021\/12\/01\/safety-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurt Holden named Wright State\u2019s director of public safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Kurt Holden, a two-time Wright State graduate and 13-year veteran of the university police force, has been named director of public safety.<\/p><\/div>\n

Growing up in inner-city Dayton, Kurt Holden would often talk to police officers patrolling the streets. He saw how they worked to find solutions to problems, and he came to see police work as problem-solving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I want to be a police officer so I can help out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 1, the 35-year-old Holden was named director of public safety at Wright State University, overseeing the Police Department<\/a> and several complementary units in the newly formed Department of Public Safety.<\/p>\n

The department employs 12 patrol officers, several part-time detectives, six dispatchers, and teams of officers for community policing and special events. It also employs an administrative lieutenant, records technician and two parking attendants and a Customer Care Center supervisor. The department has a total of six police cars, enabling the use of two per shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a small team, but it\u2019s a very efficient team,\u201d said Holden. \u201cThey are very, very talented at what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden should know. The two-time Wright State graduate is a 13-year veteran of the university’s police force. He climbed the ladder in the department, earning promotions to sergeant, patrol lieutenant and then interim director of public safety. He also helped start the department\u2019s first K-9 program and later became a departmental trainer.<\/p>\n

Holden said his childhood of living in foster homes has given him a unique perspective as director of public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s taught me empathy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve honestly learned you can do more in the community with a helping hand than you can with handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden was placed in foster care when he was 2 and lived in foster homes until he was emancipated at age 18. During that time, he learned that foster children have a higher high school dropout rate and only about 2-3% earn college degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in my last foster home I had a really great foster father,\u201d he said. \u201cHe brought me in, treated me like his own kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also taught Holden that while Holden can\u2019t control what happened in the past, he can control his future path.<\/p>\n

In 2004, after being emancipated, Holden decided to enroll at Wright State so he would have a place to live. But he struggled academically, skipped classes and flunked out after a year-and-a-half.<\/p>\n

After Holden\u2019s younger brother was emancipated from foster care, the two got an apartment together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first time in my life I thought, \u2018You know, I do not have to leave home,'” Holden said. \u201cThis is the first home that if I choose to leave I have full control.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden worked multiple jobs, everything from restaurant to security work.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I thought that if I\u2019m ever going to get to where I want to be in life, I need to go school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So Holden enrolled at Sinclair Community College, where he carried a 3.4 grade point average and in 2008 graduated with an associate degree in criminal justice.<\/p>\n

He went through the Sinclair Police Academy, was offered several police jobs and accepted the one from Wright State. He also went back to the classroom at Wright State and in 2013 earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in organizational leadership.<\/p>\n

Holden said he felt comfortable at Wright State as a nontraditional student because there were many of them at the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I would walk through the library or through some of the identity centers, I would just start a conversation,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI was shocked to see how similar many of us were once we engaged in conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden later earned his master\u2019s degree in leadership development in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to prove to myself and to other kids who were in my same situation that you can do this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Holden became an adjunct faculty member, teaching a crime and justice studies course called Basics to Criminal Investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI taught for several semesters and enjoyed every single bit of it,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing part of that showed me I\u2019m not going to leave Wright State. I don\u2019t want to leave Wright State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden has received numerous awards during his career at Wright State, including the Mark Losey Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Award, a President’s Award for Excellence in Leadership, Dayton Business Journal Forty Under 40 and a Blue Coat Award for service to emancipated foster students.<\/p>\n

Under Holden\u2019s leadership, the new Department of Public Safety will continue the personal touch in its mission to provide a safe and secure educational environment.<\/p>\n

The officers have made a point to be highly visible on campus. Some students even know them by name. Once a month, officers visit Mini U to have lunch with the children and read books to them.<\/p>\n

Holden himself often strolls the Dayton Campus on foot during his lunch hour, greeting students, faculty and staff along the way. He also has a growing reputation on the basketball court as a deadly three-point shooter.<\/p>\n

He plans to start a student security program in which students will work with the Department of Public Safety and help with such things as writing parking tickets, unlocking car doors for owners and jump-starting vehicles with dead batteries.<\/p>\n

Holden said the most gratifying part of the job is seeing people smile or wave and getting a complimentary email, phone call or text.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be a really good listener and make yourself available to students, staff and faculty,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll be shocked at what kind of difference you can make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kurt Holden, a two-time Wright State graduate, rose up the ranks in the university police force during this 13-year career. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":116207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,2104,744,725,4896,715,4847,2024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-teacher-education","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-leadership-studies-in-education-organizations","category-news","category-public-safety","category-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150914,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116211\/revisions\/150914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}