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Duke Names Aaron Graves Head of Campus Safety and Security

Graves' appointment to begin January 9

When Aaron Graves arrives at Duke University in January, he plans to first learn his way around campus and meet as many people as he can while becoming more familiar with police operations, the university and health system.

Graves, chief of public safety at the University of Southern California, was named Duke's associate vice president for campus safety and security on Wednesday. He was selected from more than 50 candidates after a national search. He begins his new job Jan. 9.

In the newly created position at Duke, Graves will oversee strategic and tactical initiatives to ensure an enhanced and integrated approach to safety and security at the university and medical campuses, said Kemel Dawkins, vice president for campus services, to whom Graves will report.

"We are pleased Aaron Graves is joining Duke," Dawkins said. "He impressed everyone who met him with his understanding of the role safety must play at our university. Aaron has a great deal of experience, and he will help us craft a vision for security at Duke."

Graves, a 52-year-old North Carolina native, is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served in Germany and Thailand before retiring as a captain in 1992. Shortly after retiring from the Air Force, Graves joined Southern Methodist University in Texas, where he worked 10 years as police chief. He left SMU to become the executive director and chief of public safety at USC, where he manages 220 full-time employees and an $18-million operating budget.

"I am excited about this opportunity to join the leadership team at Duke," Graves said. "Providing a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and the many visitors to campus is essential if the university is to achieve its educational missions. I look forward to making a contribution to the university and to working with the members of the Duke police and security departments, and with Duke's administrative leaders and the faculty, students and employees."

Graves' appointment comes seven months after former Duke Police Director/Chief Clarence Birkhead announced that he had accepted the position of police chief in Hillsborough.

Retired Duke Police Maj. Robert H. "Bob" Dean Jr., who served the Duke community for 41 years, has been acting director of the police department since July. Dean will remain in that position on an interim basis to assist Graves with a smooth transition.

Graves is the latest addition to a leadership team for campus services at Duke. He will fill one of three associate vice president positions under Dawkins to bring additional experience and specialized talent to the university. In June, John Noonan was recruited from BrownUniversity to be associate vice president for facilities management. A search is now underway for an associate vice president of auxiliary services.

Dawkins said Graves comes to Duke with a vision for public safety and security. Graves will help develop a strategic security plan for the university, one that involves traditional policing but also includes components such as increased use of technology, Dawkins said. Graves will also study staffing levels of police and security officers and recommend how best to deploy them and other resources as the campus grows, particularly with the development of Central Campus.

"I expect he will be a vocal spokesperson and accessible to the community ” a leader," Dawkins said.

Graves said he is happy to return to his roots in North Carolina, where his mother, sisters and brothers live. He was born in Burlington and raised in Greensboro, where he attended high school and played offensive center on the football team.

"Being able to come back home is important to me and my family," said Graves, who is married with two adult children. "I'm excited about that."

An avid college football fan, Graves did not keep secret his favorite team, the USC Trojans. In fact, before joining Duke, he will cheer on the Trojans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Jan. 4. However, he added with a smile, "the Duke Blue Devils are my favorite basketball team."

After high school, Graves enlisted in the Air Force, where he was an operations officer and deputy chief of police in charge of several hundred people. While serving in the Air Force, Graves received a bachelor's of science degree in criminal justice from North CarolinaWesleyanCollege in Rocky Mount.

He also earned a master of liberal arts degree from TexasChristianUniversity in Fort Worth.

After the Air Force, Graves went to work at a community college in Texas as a director of a police training academy and later landed a job at SMU.

"I discovered I enjoyed that line of work, and I stayed in it and excelled in it," Graves said. "It's the service ” helping others and making a contribution in the community in which you live."

At USC, Graves directed a public safety department responsible for overseeing the safety of 32,000 students, 7,900 employees and 3,000 faculty in the heart of Los Angeles. Similar to Duke, USC public safety officers assist with off-campus patrols, and the university employs security officers to supplement its public safety force.

Graves is credited with leading USC's public safety department and the local community in crime prevention efforts that reduced crime in the urban environment in which the USC campus is located.

"I am particularly impressed by the role Aaron played in leading a number of initiatives at USC to improve relations between students and neighbors," Dawkins said.

Graves said he especially enjoys working with students and others on campus. "A large part of the population is young men and women, learning and growing in that environment. You're able to help them become productive citizens who contribute back to society. I find that to be a very positive and rewarding environment."