The Assistant Chief of Public Safety at the University of Hartford, Michael Kaselouskas, has been promoted to the Chief of Public Safety for the University. He will be replacing John Schmaltz in this position, who has had more than 10 years of service to the University.

Known across campus as “Kaz”, Kaselouskas has been with the Department of Public Safety for 25 years, beginning as a patrol officer in June of 1993. Since then, Kaselouskas has been promoted repeatedly in the department, serving as a patrol sergeant, sergeant for training and administration, lieutenant, assistant chief, and finally, chief.

In addition to his service at the University, Kaselouskas has received numerous awards and is a member of several professional law-enforcement organizations. Most recently, he was awarded the Judge Philip E. Mancini Jr. Award. This award is presented to someone who is invested to the cause of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and works to stop drunk driving and help the victims of these crimes. Kaselouskas’ actions on campus to fight drunk driving are the reason he was chosen to receive this award. Kaselouskas was also presented with an important award from the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services in 2007.

In addition to these awards, Kaselouskas is the president of the Connecticut chapter of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, and is a member of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, New England State Police Network, Rape Aggression Defense Systems, Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association, Empower the Girls Instructor Team and many other associations. These associations are extremely beneficial to the professional development of law enforcement individuals across the country.

Since Kaselouskas has been at the University of Hartford, one of his main goals has been in law enforcement training. He is a certified law enforcement trainer in a number of areas and has written and instructs an 80-hour police curriculum that is held annually to train Public Safety officers at the University of Hartford and outside departments and agencies.

In addition to his interest in training law enforcement, Kaselouskas has also developed numerous programs for the University of Hartford community including self-defense classes, personal safety, and threat trainings. All of these programs are extremely beneficial to the safety and well-being of students, faculty, and staff on the University of Hartford campus.

When asked about the new leadership in the Department of Public Safety, Arosha Jayawickrema, vice President of finance and administration at the University of Hartford said that he is “thrilled that Kaz agreed to lead the department of Public Safety with the departure of John Schmaltz”. He thanked John Schmaltz for his dedicated service to the University and the departmental improvements he was responsible for including the increased level of professionalism, training, and emergency preparedness. Jayawickremea went on to say that he believes Kaselouskas will work to “build on that strong platform to make this campus an even safer environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors”.

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