Stevenson has a reputation for hiring professors who teach courses in their career industry, especially if they are currently a working professional in that field. Morgan Hassler has been teaching criminal justice at the university level since 2008 and began his teaching career at Stevenson in 2011 as an adjunct professor in criminal justice.

Hassler has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Catonsville Community College and a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Phoenix. He graduated from the Police Executive Leadership Program at Johns Hopkins University with a master’s degree in management.

Hassler is a member of the Baltimore County Police Department and has worked there for the past 24 years. In 2016, he was promoted from the rank of corporal to sergeant. During his years on the force, some of the positions he held include supervisor of finance, fraud, sex crimes and the narcotics units.

Currently, Hassler is the Assistant Commander of Hostage and Negotiations, which gives him the firsthand experience and knowledge that he then extends to his classroom curriculum. He teaches only two days a week, in the evenings, because he still works full time at the police department. Some of the courses he teaches at Stevenson are White Collar Crime, Criminal Investigation and Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice.

Hassler was awarded for his work in crime reduction, always with an eye toward the victims and the emotional costs of crime, according to the Baltimore County Police Foundation.

Hassler always emphasizes to his students the importance and relevance of law enforcement. He encourages his students to discuss any encounters they may have had with police, whether good or bad.

“They should join [the force] to help make a difference,”  he said, adding that there’s a constant need for good people to make a change in the community.

During his classes, Hassler discusses small but active cases and uses them to teach real-time techniques, giving his students a professional perspective. Once, he brought in a former colleague to discuss an active federal case, and she had brought in her whole case file. He said students gained a lot of insider knowledge from that experience.

Hassler said he has had many students return to tell him that what he taught them applied on site during situations while on the job. One of his students, JT Arias, a senior criminal justice major, said, “He makes it fun, but at the same time, he doesn’t make anybody in the class lose interest.”

Hassler’s technique of teaching and his love for the community makes him an exemplary individual for other professors to strive to follow.