Police Chief to Speak at Workshop on Safe Learning Environments

Pennsylvania College of Technology Police Chief Chris Miller will be one of the featured presenters at a July 28 workshop in Hartford, Conn., promoting safe, secure, and responsible living and learning environments at colleges and universities.

The workshop, titled "Creating Safe and Responsible Living and Learning Environments: Critical Knowledge for Residential Life and Housing Professionals," is being sponsored by NASPA, student affairs administrators in higher education, and Stetson University College of Law. The event will be held at the University of Hartford. Organizers note that, in light of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, colleges and universities nationwide are re-evaluating their residential-life policies and the safety and security of their residential facilities. Through the interactive program, Miller and the other presenters will guide residential-life staff and other student-affairs professionals in preparing for a new academic year by emphasizing safety, security and risk management.

Among the topics to be discussed are building security and safety, dangerous persons and conduct, community policing, search-and-seizure issues, working with law enforcement and medical personnel, background checks, mental-health issues, alcohol and other drugs, sexual misconduct, disciplinary systems, and general principles of risk and crisis management.

In his five-year tenure with Penn College Police, Miller has reshaped services by adding 24-hour dispatch, improving student rapport and developing the unit into a 23-officer station. His initiation of police patrols into student rental areas has led to significant reductions in major crime while increasing student and community satisfaction.

Previously, Miller was chief of police in Montoursville, serving with the department for 21 years. While there, he was instrumental in managing massive community trauma and the onslaught of national media attention when 16 students and five chaperones from the town perished in the TWA Flight 800 tragedy.

Miller is involved in a variety of regional and state professional activities, most recently serving as chair of the Law Enforcement Committee of the North Central Terrorism Task Force.

NASPA is the largest professional association for student affairs administrators, faculty and graduate students, with more than 11,000 members at 1,400 campuses representing 29 countries.

For more information about Penn College Police, visit online.