There are student athletes, and then there are student officers.

The St. Thomas Public Safety and Law Enforcement Leadership program allows professionals to earn a Master of Arts degree in Police Leadership, Administration and Education while working full time as Public Safety officers. St. Thomas is Minnesota’s first higher education institution to offer public safety education, and it began police education as early as the 1960s.

St. Thomas Patrol Lieutenant Dan Iverson spends every Tuesday night in his current class learning about policy making while he works through campus investigations.

“It goes hand in hand with what we do here,” Iverson said.

Students take courses in leadership, decision making and other soft skills while learning about law and policy.

St. Paul Campus Manager Zachary DuBois recently graduated and traveled to Washington, D.C. with the program, where he interacted with agencies like the FBI, the Interpol and the U.S. Capitol Police.

“It’s a time that you kind of break out of the classroom,” DuBois said.

In the program, Public Safety employees sharpen their leadership abilities, which translates to dealing with student incidents on campus. About 10 St. Thomas Public Safety officers have attended; Iverson, the only Public Safety member currently enrolled, wants to lead by example.

“A college campus is an awesome place to work,” Iverson said. “Yeah, you deal with investigations of maybe students who didn’t make the right decision on something, but it’s kind of cool to be able to educate those students.”

With a brand new set of students every four years, the program adapts by teaching current events.

Iverson described the goal: “How can we be better leaders and communicate effectively with stuff that’s going on today?”

DuBois credited the program with helping him become a leader and move up in the organization.

“I like the part of continuing to improve yourself, continuing your education,” DuBois said. “Just because you’ve finished your master’s degree doesn’t mean you’ve stopped learning.”

DuBois echoes the St. Thomas’ mission, All for the Common Good.

“I want to do something where every day, I can make a difference in someone’s life, or make a difference in society,” DuBois said.

Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.