Juli Liebler
Juli Liebler, PhD, MPA, BS
Dr. Juli Liebler is a senior law enforcement executive and educator with more than three decades of experience in policing, criminal justice leadership and higher education. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of Professional Development for the Michigan State Police, where she is a member of the executive leadership team and oversees the MSP training strategy, curriculum development, cultural enrichment and education initiatives, recruiting and selection and behavioral science services. In this role, she leads major organizational initiatives, including development of new training programs, implementation of a department-wide learning management system and the creation of university partnerships that expand educational pathways for public safety professionals.
Dr. Liebler previously served as an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in policing, criminal justice administration, research methods and crime theory. She also directed MSU’s Online Master’s Programs, developing new degree programs in Criminal Justice and Cyber Criminology & Cybersecurity, guiding curriculum planning and supporting student success. Earlier, as Director of Outreach, she collaborated with federal, state and local agencies to build executive-level training programs, including Staff and Command, First Line Supervision and the Police Executive Development Series.
Before entering academia full-time, Dr. Liebler spent more than twenty-five years with the East Lansing, MI, Police Department, and served as Chief of Police from 2010 to 2015. Her policing career included leadership roles at every rank and extensive experience in community engagement, strategic planning, crisis response, grant development and implementation of innovative policing strategies. She began her law enforcement career as a patrol officer and undercover narcotics investigator.
A scholar-practitioner, Dr. Liebler has contributed to research and policy development on policing, officer decision-making, firearm violence, opioid interventions, and criminal justice personnel recruitment and retention. Her work includes multiple funded partnerships with federal, state and local agencies as well as publications in Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Policing and Society, and the Journal of Crime and Justice. She has served on numerous university committees, statewide task forces, and professional associations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Dr. Liebler holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University, an M.P.A. from Western Michigan University and a B.S. from Michigan State University.