The University of Oregon Police Department announced today that interim Police Chief Carolyn McDermed will continue to serve the force as the official chief of police.

The appointment was made public by Vice President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt, who said in a release  that she was confident McDermed would “continue to implement and refine community policing strategies to meet the unique public safety needs of our campus community.”

McDermed was head of the University’s former Department of Public Safety for the last year after joining the department in 2008. She was part of DPS before its institution as a dedicated police force and has also presided over the department in its mission to acquire permission to carry firearms on campus. Prior to joining University security, McDermed served for 17 years with the Eugene Police Department.

“I’m excited and honored,” McDermed said. “Very few of us ever have the opportunity to help build a police department and lead it in the course of our careers. To do so at the University of Oregon is the opportunity of a lifetime. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”

McDermed assumes her duties as executive director and chief of UOPD July 1, pending a background check and the approval of paperwork.