New CJ professor has had many experiences

Zimmerman said he’s glad to be back in Nebraska. He was born in Lexington and grew up in Axtell, a small town south of Kearney.

When he was 17, he dropped out of high school and joined the Marines. He was in Cuba during the missile crises in the early 1960s, spent a year in Vietnam in the mid-‘60s and was involved in skirmishes in places such as Lebanon and Thailand during his eight-year hitch.

Following his discharge, he was a policeman in Des Moines for nine years. During that time he earned an associate of arts degree from Des Moines Area Community College.

He then spent 19 years as a Los Angeles policeman, much of it trying to solve murder cases. “I worked in the Watts area where the Crips and Bloods were bitter rivals. We averaged at least one homicide a day. I ‘felt’ every one of them. It always bothered me, no matter who was involved.”

Zimmerman earned his bachelor’s degree from UCLA in 1983. He also holds a master’s degree in forensics science from National University, based in San Diego. He has done additional graduate work there. During the past two years, he taught forensic science courses for National in Orange County in the Los Angeles area.

Prior to that, he taught two years at the State University of New York at Canton.

One of the major reasons for accepting the job at Chadron State, Zimmerman said, is his son Giovani, a sixth grader. “I wanted to get him out of California. I know Nebraska has good schools.”

Zimmerman replaces Dr. Dana DeWitt, who had taught criminal justice courses at CSC for 12 years before joining the faculty at Mount Marty College at Yankton, S.D., this fall. DeWitt’s wife, Barb, is a nurse at the Chadron Community Hospital. Mrs. DeWitt, their son David, a senior at Chadron High School, and their daughter Julie, a third grader, will remain in Chadron until David graduates next May. An older son, John, has transferred from CSC to Mount Marty, where he is a junior.