Former South Bend police officer and criminal justice educator David Chapman was announced as the new security director last week.
"The more I heard about the position, the more interested I became in it," said Chapman. "I missed working with safety and security."
Chapman replaces Rosemarie Harris, who worked at Saint Mary's as the interim director for the past year. Harris replaced Belinda Rathert who worked at the College for three years before she was fired because of missing college transcripts that were not present in her personnel file.
Although Chapman will not start full time until mid-December, he will be on campus in an effort to become more familiar with his new position.
"It is premature to say what my ideas are for the department," said Chapman. "But the more I'm on campus, and the more I get to know the program as it is, the better equipped I'll be to run it well."
Chapman hopes to see more interaction with the officers on campus and students. He also hopes to bring more training to the college.
"Everybody has been so friendly and nice up to this point," said Chapman. "I'm really looking forward to being here, and seeing what I can offer to Saint Mary's."
Chapman graduated from Bethel College in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He received his master's in public affairs with a concentration in criminal justice from Indiana University South Bend. He worked in the Mishawaka and South Bend police departments for 22 years. In 2000, Chapman retired from the police force, and took a position as the Criminal Justice director at Bethel College.
