After years of leading Alfred State’s veterinary technology
program, Dr. Melvin Chambliss is excited to begin a new role with the college
as the chief diversity officer of its police academy.
Chambliss began his new job on Aug. 17. In this position, he
will interact with the police academy’s cadets, law enforcement instructors,
and advisory board, and review the academy’s curriculum. Most importantly, he
will work in tandem with the academy to recruit a more diverse group of cadets.
Police Academy Session Director and Chief of the University
Police Department at Alfred State Scott Richardson said, “Dr. Chambliss is
going to be a tremendous asset to the Alfred State Police Academy. The goal of
our academy is to graduate the best-qualified, well-rounded police officer that
is ready to go out and serve their community. Having Dr. Chambliss on board is
going to help us do just that.”
Speaking about his new role, Chambliss said, “It is an honor
to be even considered for chief diversity officer of the police academy. I was
given an opportunity in 1999 to establish and build a successful veterinary
technology program here at Alfred State. In doing so, I developed a friendship
with an extremely dynamic and persuasive person by the name of Wendy
Dresser-Recktenwald. In many ways, the vet tech program's success is in part
due to her support. I now have the opportunity to help her build a great police
academy here at Alfred State and develop academy graduates who represent and
respect everyone in the neighborhoods they will serve and protect.”
Dresser-Recktenwald, who is Alfred State’s chief of staff of
Human Resources and the Center for Community Education and Training (CCET),
said, “As a police academy and a college, we have a duty to teach our cadets to
understand cultural diversity among different populations. More importantly
they need to acquire cultural competency skills to interact with people of
diverse cultures, especially in conflict management. We hope to go beyond a traditional approach
of lecture topics of diversity, equity, and bias, and establish a priority for
the cadets to actually learn those skills while in our program. If we can do this the right way, then our
cadets will understand, learn, and act by treating all people with dignity and
respect.”
Dresser-Recktenwald noted that the Alfred State Police
Academy expects its cadets “to learn from the onset that people are people, and
everyone should be treated the same whether conducting an arrest based upon
probable cause, a detention based on reasonable suspicion, or a consensual
encounter with a local community member.”
“We don’t want to throw a few slides at them and expect them
to understand. We expect them to establish a comfort level and learn the art of
treating people with dignity and respect regardless of their skin color or the
way they look,” Dresser-Recktenwald said. “Dr. Chambliss will help us build
this program so that we are teaching them the skills they need to excel on the
job and not just providing them with lecture material and hope for the best.”
Chambliss, she added, will also be helping with recruitment.
“If you speak with any law enforcement organization locally,
they will tell you they struggle to recruit a diverse workforce,”
Dresser-Recktenwald said. “We will be placing special emphasis on our academy
recruitment marketing, and also, we are starting a scholarship program to help
fund recruits who meet the criteria to get into the academy but are falling
short when trying to pay for it.”
Upon joining the Alfred State faculty in 1999, Chambliss
helped to create and develop the college’s veterinary technology program, which
received accreditation in the early 2000s. Under Chambliss’ leadership, the
program grew immensely and formed valuable partnerships with animal care
organizations in the area to provide hands-on education experiences for vet
tech students.
Chambliss has made an impact on his community, as well,
through serving as director of shelter veterinarian care at the Hornell Area
Humane Society and through providing vaccination and triage treatment for the
Southern Tier chapter of Guiding Eyes for the Blind. In recognition of his
efforts both inside and outside of the classroom, Chambliss has received the
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Alfred State’s Pioneer Award.
He retired from Alfred State in 2018.
Chambliss and his wife, Kathi, are the parents of four
children: Mekalea, Kameron, Kalem, and Makenzie.
