After six years with the University, Monica Moll, director of public safety and campus police chief, will be resigning at the end of October to take the position of director of public safety at Ohio State University.
Moll’s decision to leave the University came after she learned that OSU’s former director, Vernon Baisden, retired in April 2016 after 15 years of service.
“Ohio State was the next step,” she said. “I knew the prior director of campus safety professionally since I started at the University, and I had heard he was retiring. I talked to him about it and decided that I wanted to apply for the position.”
Although she hates to leave BG, when the opportunity presented itself, she could not turn it down due to the limit of job opportunities in the field of higher education law enforcement in Ohio.
“When a job like this comes up, you really want to consider it because if you pass it up, the next person could fill it for 15 years and it’s not open again,” she said.
During Moll’s appointment at the University, she succeeded in instilling key initiatives such as: forming a Public Safety Advisory Committee to facilitate feedback from the campus community, improving community relations by having officers interact with various student groups and community members, creating a more rigorous selection process for the hiring of new police officers and reorganizing the public safety department to allow for better supervision and accountability.
“I still have some (policies) that I want to finish here, but I know that the interim chief, Captain Mike Campbell, has been on board the whole way (with policies) and he really knows what he is doing,” said Moll.
Capt. Mike Campbell, who has been with the University for five years, will serve as interim chief until the search for a new director of public safety/chief of police begins in the Spring of 2017. Moll and Campbell have initiatives and policies that they have been working on and Campbell will continue with the work after Moll starts her appointment with OSU Oct. 31.
Sheri Stoll, vice president for Finance and Administration, reacted to Moll’s departure in a statement to the University.
“In Monica’s six years with BGSU, she has made a deep and lasting impact” Stoll said. “Under her leadership, the BGSU Police Department has gained recognition as an outstanding law enforcement organization.”
In the mist of leaving the University, Moll recounts what she will miss about the campus and the people she works with.
“I will really miss my boss and mentor Sheri Stoll, she has been very great and supportive… She’s definitely concerned with safety as well as our President (Mazey), she has always had an eye for doing the right thing. Dr. Mazey, and I really appreciate that,” Moll said.
Leadership and ethics is what is important to Moll and upon leaving she acknowledges the work and dedication that the leaders of the University have instilled and hopes to see a resemblance at OSU.
“Knowing that you have ethical leadership above you is so important in this job and I’ll miss that as well and I expect to find all these things in Columbus. It would just be a different environment, but it’s something that makes it hard to leave,” she said.
According to OSU’s Department of Public Safety, Moll is the ninth director of public safety at Ohio State and the second female to hold the position.
A valediction reception will be held for Monica Moll in the Community Room at the Union on Monday, Oct. 24, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The reception is open to the public.
