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St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud State University

Sociology ProgramDepartment of Sociaology and Anthropology
Sociology Program

Sociology Alumni

Daniel Storkamp

Degrees: B.S., 1989
Majors: Applied Sociology, Major in Marketing

Organization: Minnesota Department of Corrections
Title: Interagency Management Unit Director
Web Site: www.corr.state.mn.us
E-mail Address: dstorkamp@co.doc.state.mn.us

Job History and Responsibilities:

As the Director of the Interagency Management Unit, I am responsible for representing the management team on projects, work group and policy decisions. This recently created unit focuses on two primary projects. The first is developing Minnesota's prison population projections for the next 10 years. Secondly, the unit is developing and maintaining a Statewide Supervision System containing information from hundreds of probation, jails and prison entities into one central system, which is accessible to law enforcement through the internet.

In addition, other responsibilities include participating in the decision process of the agency's $600 million biennial budget; tracking legislative actions on Department issues; establishing agency wide policies and procedures; problem-solving agency wide issues; developing adult bed capacity plans that respond to the projected population and reduce per diems; and monitoring overall agency activities.

I have been with Corrections for over four years and had directed the Research Unit for the majority of the time. Prior to Corrections, I had been the Director of the Criminal Justice Center for Minnesota Planning. My responsibilities at the Center included participating in management decisions; designing, coordinating and implementing statewide justice research; and acting as the agency liaison with criminal justice entities.

How Sociology is used in my job:

Marketing and Applied Sociology degrees provided the research skills, which became the foundation of my positions. The sociological way of looking at the world set me a part from other researchers. Instead of just looking at and reporting numbers, Applied Sociology focused the results on making a difference.

My research training in Marketing and Applied Sociology helped me move quickly from being an entry level researcher to the top level researcher to the state. But it was the Applied Sociology's training in the broad view and understanding of how the numbers can impact on policy and organizational structure, which landed me the Director of the Criminal Justice Center position. This edge is what I also contribute to my successful jump from a researcher in a policy organization (Minnesota Planning) to an Executive Management Team for an operation agency (Department of Corrections).