Title: Director of Campus Safety
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Position Purpose:
Bates is looking for a Director who can combine strong operational leadership with genuine community engagement. The successful candidate will be prepared to lead a complex 24/7 operation, develop and support employees, strengthen policies and systems, manage resources responsibly, and make sound decisions during emergencies and sensitive situations. Just as importantly, the next Director must be comfortable being a visible member of the campus community.
Bates Campus Safety operates as a non-sworn department whose officers do not possess arrest authority. The successful candidate will understand how to lead effectively within this model while ensuring strong operational practices, appropriate accountability, effective emergency response, and productive relationships with external public safety partners.
D. Stafford & Associates is conducting this search on behalf of Bates College. Candidates should submit application materials through the D. Stafford & Associates search portal: Apply Here
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Job Duties:
Reporting to the Associate Vice President & Dean of Students, the Director provides strategic and operational leadership for a multidisciplinary department responsible for:
- leading a multidisciplinary department of approximately 30 employees across patrol, communications, access control, transportation, and operations.
- serving as a trusted adviser to College leadership and work closely with partners throughout Student Affairs and across Bates, including Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance, Community Standards, Residence Life, Human Resources, Facilities, Environmental Health and Safety, Communications, and Athletics.
- 24/7 campus safety operations and incident response
- Communications and dispatch
- Emergency management and crisis preparedness
- Access control and campus security systems
- Parking, transportation, and shuttle services
- Crime prevention and safety education
- Clery Act compliance and related reporting responsibilities
- Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) responsibilities
- CALEA accreditation and continuous improvement
- Administrative and campus-policy investigations
- Coordination with law enforcement, fire, EMS, and other public agencies
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Minimum Qualifications:
Education
- Bachelor's degree in criminal justice, public administration, emergency management, higher education, student affairs, or a related field rquired.
- Masters's degree in similar fields preferred.
Experience
- At least seven years of progressively responsible experience in campus safety, law enforcement, emergency management, public safety, or a closely related field.
- Demonstrated supervisory and leadership experience, including responsibility for personnel, performance management, training, policy implementation, and complex operations.
- Experience supporting or leading operations that require 24/7 staffing, on-call response, or crisis decision-making.
- Working knowledge of the Clery Act and current higher education safety and emergency management practices, with the ability to apply other relevant federal and state requirements.
- Demonstrated experience with budgets, operational planning, public safety technology, policy and procedure development, performance measures, and continuous improvement.
- Progressively responsible leadership experience in a college or university setting, particularly within a non-sworn or community-centered campus safety model preferred.
- Experience with CALEA or another recognized professional accreditation program preferred.
- Training or substantial experience with NIMS/ICS, emergency operations centers, exercises, continuity planning, and after-action improvement preferred.
Skills and Knowledge
- Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of a culturally and educationally diverse community.
- Ability to lead a community-focused, non-sworn safety program and coordinate effectively with law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, and other public agencies.
- Demonstrated competence in de-escalation, trauma-informed response, conflict management, and relationship-centered problem solving.
- Excellent written, oral, interpersonal, facilitation, and public communication skills, together with sound judgment, discretion, emotional intelligence, and crisis composure.
- Strong leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills.
- Strategic thinker with strong operational execution skills.
- Experience developing training programs and organizational initiatives.
D. Stafford & Associates is conducting this search on behalf of Bates College. Candidates should submit application materials through the D. Stafford & Associates search portal: Apply Here
Review of applications will begin September 18 and close on November 13, 2026
To discuss specifics about the position, contact Darryl Madden at searches@dstaffordandassociates.net
For assistance with the application process, contact Kim Braun at kbraun@dstaffordandassociates.com
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Benefits: Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits (health, dental, 9% retirement contribution with potential for an additional 3% match, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personal days, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking, access to library and athletic facilities & more), and a supportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-free workplace.
Hiring Range: The anticipated salary range is $110,000–$130,000, accompanied by a comprehensive Bates College benefits package. Placement within the range depends on experience and other factors.
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Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:
Bates College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity and providing an educational and work environment free from discrimination. The college prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. Bates College adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. All college faculty, staff, students, contractors, visitors, and volunteers are responsible for understanding and complying with the Non-Discrimination Policy.
Inquiries concerning the college’s policies, compliance with applicable laws, statutes, and regulations (such as Title VII, Title IX, and ADA/Section 504), and complaints may be directed to Gwen Lexow, Title IX Officer, 207-786-6445 or via email at glexow@bates.edu.
About Bates:
Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world.
Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion, or national origin.
Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world. Bates engages the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate.
Bates has highly competitive admissions, graduates over 90 percent of its entering students, and more than half of its alumni earn graduate degrees. Bates employs 200 faculty members and 550 staff.
The college is proud of deep roots in the Lewiston/Auburn community, Maine’s second-largest urban area with a population of approximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 133-acre, traditional New England campus in Lewiston, an emerging city with an entrepreneurial climate, a lively arts scene, and a dynamic business community. Bates is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 miles north of Boston, and 350 miles north of New York City.