Twice a year, Penn safety personnel who act on behalf of students, faculty and staff with outstanding bravery and dedication are publicly recognized by colleagues and student organizations, illustrating a campus-wide appreciation.
Leading the way, University President Amy Gutmann welcomed the nearly 100 uniformed officers and student heroes to receive awards at the Division of Public Safety Commendations ceremony and the Penn Police Department Oath of Office ceremony last night.
Gutmann gave thanks to everyone for their continued hard work to keep the campus a safe place to live, work and learn.
The ceremony included several congratulatory presentations by DPS in conjunction with the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.
Along with the many awards presented were surprising stories of spectacular car chases, missing children found, thieves caught and thefts avoided - and other personal stories of heroism by lieutenants, detectives, police officers, dispatchers, patrol and security officers and students of the Medical Emergency Response Team.
For a bit of humor, the audience was treated to a music video of Officer Lloyd Johnson, the well-know "dancing cop" in front of the Penn Bookstore who recently retired. Rush announced that Johnson will now be joining Allied Barton Security. "He'll still be a fixture here at Penn," she said.
UA chairman and College senior Jason Karsh and GAPSA chairman Dan Grabell presented Johnson with a Safety Recognition award alongside fellow security officers Lisa Barber, Maxie Diggs, Charles Johnson, Charles Moore, Lance Brown, Renee Duckett, Deidre McBride, Jamal Reed and Thomas Robinson, who were all described as people who make sure students are safe and treat students like family.
Rising in Penn's DPS family, Al Citino was sworn in as the new sergeant of Penn Police Department and Eugene Janda was promoted to chief of Fire and Emergency Services. Additionally, David Callis, Linda McCairns, Gabrielle Howard, Michael Ricciardi and Anthony Walton were all sworn in as DPS police officers.
Rush concluded the ceremony and said to the members of the UA, GAPSA and MERT, "We couldn't be prouder to partner with you fine students. We can't do this alone because we're all a part of this community. To our seniors, thanks for a job well done!"
