Professor Dr. Theodore Darden never wanted to become a policeman. Accounting was his chosen path at Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville, Wisconsin until one day everything changed. What followed was an illustrious 17-year career in law enforcement before embarking upon a career in higher education.
In conjunction with the Coalition for a Safe Community and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, Atlantic Cape Community College continued its month-long celebration of Black History Month by presenting Multiculturalism and Police: Understanding the Fragile Relationship with Communities of Color with Dr. Darden at Atlantic Cape’s Cape May County campus on February 22.
Atlantic Cape Board of Trustees member Rev. Dr. Thomas Dawson introduced Dr. Darden, who did a Zoom presentation for the college during the pandemic. The overwhelming positive feedback from that event led Dr. Dawson and the college to ask Dr. Darden to return for an in-person presentation.
Before a large audience in the campus’ lecture hall, Dr. Darden, who is currently a professor of Justice Studies at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, discussed growing up on the southside of Chicago as the 14th of 16 children. He was the only one in his immediate family to complete high school conventionally and the only one to earn a college degree, or several in Dr. Darden’s case.
He holds an Associate’s Degree in Police Science from Blackhawk Technical College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from Upper Iowa University, a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, a Master’s Degree in Higher Education from Kaplan University (Purdue University Global) and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies with a Criminal Justice emphasis from the University of the Cumberlands.
Originally from Chicago, Dr. Darden was raised in an environment thinking that he was too poor to attend college and thus was resigned to that fate with the knowledge that nobody in his family had graduated high school up to that point.
“To escape the rough streets and neighborhoods of the City of Chicago, I enlisted in the military straight out of high school,” said Dr. Darden, who after completing his military service, enrolled in community college.
After completing his first semester of community college as an Accounting major he suddenly, and inexplicably, altered course and became a Police Science major. His life and career path shifted in ways he never imagined.
