(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) –The University of Central Missouri’s police chief has a new job.

has been named the inaugural director of the National Center for Campus Public Safety in Burlington, Vt.

Vansell begins her new duties on May 1. She will continue working with the university throughout May to make the transition.

“Kim’s long tenure with the University of Central Missouri made her a leading candidate during our search,” said Gary Margolis, a former University of Vermont police chief who serves as managing partner for Margolis Healy & Associates, the consulting firm selected to start the new center.

As the founding director of National Center, Vansell said she is looking forward to using skills she developed over the years at UCM to help address public safety needs at colleges and universities.

“I look forward to engaging with campus public safety leaders and advocacy organizations across the nation to improve and expand resources to those charged with providing a a safe environment for students, employees, and visitors at our nation’s schools,” she said.

Vansell began her work at UCM as a part-time dispatcher in 1983, and became a full-time police officer in September 1984. After she was promoted to shift sergeant in April 1987, she was selected as police/community services sergeant in 1999, then became chief and director of public safety in March 2011.

The center works closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to provide a “one-stop shop for campus public safety.” It also serves as a think tank for identifying existing and emerging campus safety risks, developing resources and research, and information about best practices to benefit those who work to keep campuses safe, according to its website, nccpsafety.org.

Vansell said she is grateful for the time she spent at Central Missouri.

“My education and career at UCM has been very rewarding,” she said. “I can’t imagine having done anything else, anywhere else, that would have been a more perfect life experience.”