Public Safety next campus department to experience shift in leadership

Feb 25

Feb 25 Public Safety next campus department to experience shift in leadership

By Mia Timlin

As we’ve learned lately on campus, positions of leadership are subject to change. The latest turnover we’re seeing is taking place in the Department of Public Safety, as Victor Juran, former director of Public Safety, had his last day at St. Kate’s last week. Stepping into his place as interim director is Anthony Miller, who has served as a manager in the department for the past four years.

Miller first and foremost wants students to know that even with the change, they’re still safe on campus. “It’s always gonna be our top priority,” he says. “DPS is still here to assist everybody.”

Miller came into the role after Juran’s recent departure. According to Miller, the position opened up due to Juran “starting to feel like the old guy” in the department — referring to the nine-year stretch of Juran’s St. Kate’s career — and finding “better opportunities for his pay, advancement, stuff like that.”

The search for a new director of Public Safety is an ongoing one, and one that, according to Miller, is being put off until generalist positions within HR are filled. Once they’ve filled those, Miller says, the posting for a new DPS director will officially be up and the search for both internal and external candidates will begin.

Miller doesn’t think that this turnover will have much effect on how Public Safety functions on campus.

“Since I’ve been a manager here, pretty much everything that we have in place and we’ve been working on — I don’t foresee any changes being done,” Miller says. “It’s why I’m the interim. If I’m the director, I don’t see any changes happening there either. I feel like what we have in place is really good, it’s been working. I think the students reach out to us a lot and I think we have a good relationship with the student body and also faculty here and I don’t want to change any of that. I feel like everything is running smoothly. Granted you always look at things from the side of, ‘How can I make things better here or make things better there?’ But overall yes, everything would stay status quo, as long as I’m here anyways.”

While the DPS is in director-limbo, it hasn’t just been Miller stepping up to make sure things within the department are on track. With Miller’s position being an interim one, and no new manager currently being brought in, he’s in a position of “wearing two hats” in the Public Safety space. To offset this shift, Miller applauded the supervisors in the department stepping up and taking on more responsibility.

For students with questions surrounding the transition of director positions, Miller encourages reaching out through the DPS email dps@stkate.edu, stopping by the Public Safety office or even reaching out to him directly. His card is out on the Public Safety desk, and Miller says students are always welcome to grab one.

“Just be confident in us and be patient with us through this transition,” Miller says. “But we’re here — we’re here to help people with their issues or anything that might happen. Keep people safe.”