Marisol Gamboa has been selected as the University Police Department’s next Chief of Police. She will begin her role on Jan. 4.

Gamboa is currently serving as the San Jacinto College Administrative Lieutenant. According to her cover letter, she has over eight years of experience in law enforcement in an institution of higher education and a total of over 20 years in law enforcement as a whole.

She has an Associate Degree of Applied Science in Criminal Justice from Kaplan University and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Midwestern State University. She is currently working on a master’s degree in human resources from Midwestern State University and is expecting to complete the degree in May 2024.

According to Gamboa’s resume, she has a Basic Peace Officer Certificate, a Peace Officer License, a Basic Instructor Proficiency, an Advanced Peace Officer Certificate, an Intermediate Peace Officer Certificate and a Master Peace Officer Certificate.

Gamboa was the third candidate to visit Eastern out of three potential police chiefs, including interim Chief Ryan Risinger and Joseph Przybyla, a police commander at the Northern Illinois University Police Department.

During an open session with students, Gamboa said she felt her experience with diversity would prepare her for the position.

“Anywhere you go, there’s going to be diversity. The skills that I learned from that would definitely benefit me here,” Gamboa said.

Kristal Munoz, a sophomore criminology major who attended the open session, expressed that she wanted to see a police force on campus that reflected the make-up of the student body.

Gamboa shared that while she would not hire someone based on their skin color or gender, she wanted the department to mirror the campus community and would reach out to more places to hire officers.

She also expressed an interest in building personal relationships between UPD and the rest of the campus community is selected for the position.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at deneic@gmail.com.