By Don Jacobs
Knoxville News-Sentinel
For the first time in its history, the University of Tennessee Police Department has appointed a female chief.
Gloria S. Graham, who currently is the assistant police chief at Duke University, will take the reins of UTPD on Aug. 23, according to UT spokeswoman Amy Blakely.
Graham was selected from a pool of 81 applicants from 28 states, according to records. Two people from UTPD applied for the chief’s position.
Graham will oversee a $4.1 million budget that includes more than 100 law enforcement and security personnel at the UT Knoxville campus.
She replaces August Washington, who left UTPD in July 2009 to become chief of police and assistant vice chancellor at Vanderbilt University. Washington served four years at UTPD and was instrumental in obtaining accreditation of the department from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
When Washington left, UT officials appointed Assistant Police Chief Debbie Perry to serve as interim chief. Perry also served as interim chief during the search that resulted in Washington getting the top post. Perry has been with UT for 30 years. She started as a complaint processor with UTPD and worked her way up as a patrol offi - cer and investigator before becoming assistant chief in 1997.
The nationwide search for a new chief got under way in March using national publications on higher education. The job was advertised with a top salary of $116,000 annually.
Graham’s agreed salary was not released Thursday.
A search committee whittled the pool of applicants to five. Those fi ve applicants were invited to UT last month where they met university officials and ranking members of UTPD.
Graham’s resume touts her 15 years of campus law enforcement experience.
She has been with Duke University since 2007, and she oversees 51 sworn police officers, 69 security offi cersand a $1.2 million private security contract. During her tenure, Graham said she “developed programs designed to promote a positive relationship between the police community and local law enforcement agencies.”
Graham said she developed a crime analysis program that resulted in a decrease in crime. She also is “a founding member of the Duke University Behavioral Assessment Team,” which responds to student behaviors to prevent violence.
Prior to the 2009 football season, Graham brought Duke staff members to UT to observe football operations.
“Your program was exemplary, and we adopted practices being utilized by UTPD as they related to game management,” Graham wrote in her cover letter for the job.
“My philosophy is one of inclusion and service to community stakeholders with an overall goal of maximizing campus safety,” she wrote.
Graham’s campus law enforcement career began in 1995 at Indiana State University-Terre Haute, Ind., where she served five years as a police officer. From 2000-04 she obtained the rank of lieutenant and served as Jupiter campus commander at Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton, Fla.
From 2004-07, Graham served as captain and operations commander at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Copyright 2010 Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.