Trevecca welcomes new chief of security

By Mia Agee and Ethan Rice

Contributors

After seeing the need for security personnel assessments and a new security plan of action, Trevecca has hired James Hambrick as the campus’s new chief security officer.

Hambrick, a former dispatcher and chief of police for Mt. Juliet Police Department (MJPD), became acquainted with Trevecca through a leadership program involving both the university and the police department. Once the university’s administration discovered Hambrick was retiring from the MJPD, they set up a meeting with him to talk about the available chief security officer position.

Though Greg Dawson, the director of campus security, remains in the same position, he will be working closely with Hambrick to continue creating the safest campus environment possible. Specifically, this means focusing on adding more personnel to the security team, adding more security cameras and ID scanners, improving campus lighting at night, and enhancing relationships with the Trevecca Towers.

“He’s been a great guy. We’re very much on the same page with a lot of things, so I think he’s going to be a great addition,” said Dawson.

The goal to improve the relationship between Trevecca and the Towers leadership arose in the wake of a stabbing that occurred near the community last September.

“I was like this in Mt. Juliet, and I’m like this now: I’m big on relationships. How do we foster even better relationships even with people that are at the Towers? They have to know what we’re about, and we have to have some type of relationship with them,” Hambrick said.

Since Hambrick’s first day back in November of 2023, he has made significant changes to campus security, like requiring students to scan their IDs to access the library after 5 p.m. This change was implemented following several incidents in and around the library as well as the surrounding community.

“It’s an inconvenience, but it’s just another way to try to have a little bit of a barrier between, unfortunately, the outside world and the library,” said Andrea Fowler, director of library services.

According to Fowler, scanning with a student ID to get into the building is a very normal thing at academic libraries, so she is pleased with the decision.

As Hambrick continues in the chief security officer role at Trevecca, he hopes to make the campus security team as uniform as possible.

“I like what the school stands for and the mission and vision Trevecca has set forth,” he said. “I’m excited about being here.”