Former assistant vice president and deputy chief of police Gloria Graham has left Northwestern for the University of Virginia’s police department.

Graham, who filled the UP role from September 2015 until May 2, joined the University of Virginia on Monday as the associate vice president for safety and security.

She is the first person at Virginia to fill the new leadership position following recommendations for its creation from consulting firm Margolis Healy, according to a news release from UVAToday.

The firm was “charged with assessing the University’s public safety and security infrastructure” following the Charlottesville rally last August. According to the release, the firm found that Virginia would “benefit from consolidating safety and security functions into one division.”

Prior to her role at Northwestern, Graham worked as assistant vice president for police services and assistant chief of police at the University of Chicago. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from North Carolina Wesleyan College and a master of arts degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Bruce Lewis, chief of police and associate vice president of safety and security, told The Daily in a statement that he was appreciative of Graham’s service at NU.

“I am grateful to Gloria for her dedicated service and accomplishments and wish her success as she begins this new challenge,” Lewis said in the statement.

Graham said she’s “looking forward” to the newly created role at Virginia. In the new position, Graham will manage the comprehensive law enforcement, general security, workforce safety and emergency preparedness services for all components of the university.

She said she hopes to bring these different teams closer together. And though Graham said the decision to leave NU was “difficult,” she said she hopes to transfer the progress she made in her role with UP — like increasing transparency and accessibility — to Virginia.

“I’m proud of making people more aware of safety and security … and letting students, faculty and staff have a place where they knew that they could come and talk with us about their safety concerns,” Graham said. “Really just helping to build that culture of safety is something I feel our team really moved the needle forward on while I was at Northwestern.”

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