Professor John Gonsler came to one Morningside class on Tuesday to speak about his journey to working in higher education.

Gonsler, currently an associate professor of criminal justice at Morningside University, has been teaching for just under a decade. However, this wasn’t his original plan after graduating high school.

A member of law enforcement in Flint, Michigan for two years, Gonsler switched to being a correctional officer because he was not satisfied at the sheriff’s department. His stint as a CO was also brief, working for only six months before resigning. Gonsler spent a considerable amount of time recounting his horror stories from working in a prison.

Gonsler then went to Ferris State University, located in Big Rapids, Michigan. However, after only one year, he transferred because he “fucking hated it” at the university.

After his short stint at Ferris State, Gonsler transferred to Michigan State and was able to complete a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in only one year. In order to accomplish this, he had to take classes throughout the summer months.

Immediately after getting his bachelor’s degree, Gonsler went on to attain his Master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice at Indiana State University. During his time working on his degree, Gonsler became penpals with someone a majority of people might be afraid to receive mail from: Theodore John Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

“I might be the only person in America to happy to receive mail from the Unabomber,” Gonsler said of his communications with Kaczynski. The two exchanged five letters to each other before Kaczynski stopped responding.

After graduating with a Master’s degree, Gonsler went on to become an associate instructor at Indiana University for a couple of years. However, he decided it was time to move on.

Gonsler applied to become a full-time professor at 33 different schools in 2020: Morningside was one of two that was in the process of starting a criminal justice department.

When he came to visit Morningside, Gonsler said he could tell the school wants the new criminal justice to succeed and that “everyone seemed great and onboard. When I started talking to the people here, it made my decision pretty easy.”

Gonsler is now in his second year teaching Morningside. When asked what his favorite part about being a professor was, he stated he really enjoyed teaching the introduction level criminal justice class as he was able to meet and speak with students outside the major.

After he was finished speaking, Elizabeth Obermeier said, “I thought he was interesting and kept your attention, although whether it was because of his colorful language or because of his content is up for debate.”

Gonsler is currently working towards completing his PhD in criminal justice through Indiana University. He hopes to have this completed by the end of the year.