CU-Lock Haven women and crime course welcomes guest alumnae speakers

Over the fall 2025 semester, Dr. Katie Ely, Commonwealth University-Lock Haven criminal justice faculty member, welcomed several CU alumnae back to the classroom – in-person and virtually – to talk to students in her women and crime course.

Ely began teaching the course at Lock Haven in 2013 when she created it to fill a void in the criminal justice curriculum. Specifically, most of the courses did not have ample time to discuss issues relating to women in criminal justice.

Over the fall 2025 semester, the class was offered in multiple modalities. Students attended in person at the Lock Haven campus and other students attended via Zoom during the same time. A separate completely online (asynchronous) course was also offered. When the alumnae visited the course either in person or virtually, Ely asked permission to record the session to post to her online course.

“Guest speakers have become such an integral part of this course that I wanted to make sure the online students had the same experience,” Ely said.

A total of nine CU alumnae spoke to the 40 students in Ely’s in person/Zoom course as well as the 40 students in the online section. The speakers hold various positions in criminal justice and related agencies throughout Pennsylvania including: Centre County Public Defender’s Office, PSU Police, Lycoming County Coroner’s Office, PA Attorney General, Tri County Drug and Alcohol, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Columbia County District Attorney’s Office and Children’s House Child Advocacy Center.

One of Ely’s favorite parts of this experience is having former students connect with current students. “It is at the point now that some of the guest speakers have supervised our student interns at their agencies, and in some cases, hired CU students upon graduation,” Ely said.

Students in the class had a chance to ask questions and learn more about the career paths of each speaker. Guest speakers included:
•    Suzanne Mitchell (Bloomsburg – social work – 1996)
•    Kristin Lindsey (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2012)
•    Victoria Trembone (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2012)
•    Lora Rupert (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2012)
•    Rachel Rockey (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2012)
•    Janelle Neidig (Bloomsburg – social work – 2014)
•    Brittney Mink (Mansfield – criminal justice – 2015)
•    Kassandra Houseknecht (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2021)
•    Kaliegh Cunningham (Lock Haven – criminal justice – 2023)