USU Restructures USU Department of Public Safety and Announces New Leadership

Utah State University has created a new position and reporting structure for the university’s Department of Public Safety to strengthen leadership and oversight.

Moving forward, the three main areas of USU Public Safety — police, emergency management and fire — will directly report to a new executive director. The executive director for public safety will oversee a new police chief, the director of emergency management and the fire marshal. A search for a new police chief will be announced soon. In the past, the executive director and police chief were combined into one position.

“This is a critical restructuring that will help us ensure USU campuses are safe and welcoming environments for learning and working,” USU President Noelle E. Cockett said.

USU has also announced it will bring back two former employees with this change. Former leader of USU Public Safety Michael Kuehn will serve as the department’s executive director, effective Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. Ellis Bruch, former director of emergency management, will also return to his previous position in mid-February.

Michael Kuehn served as the police chief and executive director for USU Public Safety from February 2017 to April 2019. Before his time at the university, Kuehn served for 25 years in the Utah Department of Public Safety. Kuehn worked in several divisions and positions within the department, including deputy commissioner of Public Safety and in nearly all levels with the Utah Highway Patrol, as a trooper, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major. He also served as deputy director over the state’s Emergency Management division and as deputy commander over the Peace Officer Standards and Training division. He started his career in 1988 as a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Bringing back a known and trusted collaborative leader will make this transition smoother,” Cockett said. The university president also said Kuehn will be essential in the hiring of a new police chief and in addressing sexual violence in the campus community.

Cockett is also pleased to welcome back Bruch, who was part of a key team of university leaders during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bruch worked at USU from August 2019 to November 2021.

Kuehn will build upon the work done to enhance campus safety over the last few years, including implementing a university system-wide campus safety app and alert system in October 2019, creating an investigator/advocate team to respond to sex crimes and relationship violence in June 2020 (this team was originally funded by a grant secured by the Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information office), opening a new security center in the Taggart Student Center in October 2020, and the accreditation of the university police department in September 2021.