For
immediate release:
June 21, 2005 Mount Holyoke College and Smith College Public Safety
Director Elected to Board of International Organization
 |
| Paul Ominsky |
Paul Ominsky, Director of Public Safety at both Mount Holyoke College
in South Hadley, MA, and Smith College in Northampton, MA., has
been elected to the board of the International Association of Campus
Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) headquartered in Hartford,
CT. He will assume the three-year appointment as North Atlantic
Regional Director on June 29, at the organization’s national
conference in Kansas City, MO. His responsibilities will include
committee assignments, representing the region nationally, and
running the annual regional meeting. “I ran for office because
I wanted to give back to the profession,” he stated. He is
particularly interested in working on education issues and professional
standardization for public safety administrators throughout the
country and the world.
IACLEA was formed in 1958 by 11 college and university security
directors to discuss job challenges and to develop education programs
and standards for public
safety directors across the country. Today membership has grown to more than
1000 college and university members in 20 countries, and it functions as a clearinghouse
for information and issues shared by campus public safety directors around the
world. Chief Staff Officer for IACLEA, Peter J. Berry said, "We are excited
that Paul has been elected and we are looking forward to working with him."
Ominsky has been Director of Public Safety at Mount Holyoke College since 1992,
and at Smith since December 2003, an arrangement that began as a trial and was
made permanent in May 2004. A Holyoke native, he began working in campus security
at the University of Massachusetts in 1974. In his more than 30-year career in
campus public safety, the greatest changes he has seen are in the uses of technology
in public safety administration, and regulatory changes like the Clery Act, which
requires colleges and universities to disclose annual information about campus
crime and security policies. According to Ominsky, the Internet has been extremely
beneficial, and both Mount Holyoke College and Smith have excellent public safety
information on their websites to educate students, and ease the concerns of their
parents.
“I measure our success by the absence of problems,” he stated. “Both
schools have outstanding safety records, and I am fortunate to work for two college
communities that are tremendously supportive, and to have two dedicated and competent
staffs that deserve much of the credit for our success.”
