[Click here to download a high resolution photo of Marlon C. Lynch.]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Marlon C. Lynch has been named Vanderbilt University‘s chief of police effective Jan. 1.
He takes over the post from Allan Guyet, the university‘s chief of police for the past eight years, who will retire at the end of the year.
“Marlon has already established himself in the Vanderbilt community as a proven leader committed to collaborating with faculty, staff and students. We are fortunate to have him as our next chief of police,” said Nim Chinniah, deputy vice chancellor for administration and academic affairs.
Lynch joined Vanderbilt in August 2005 as assistant chief. He had previously served as chief and director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte‘s Police and Public Safety Department.
As chief, Lynch will oversee one of Tennessee‘s larger law enforcement agencies, which provides comprehensive law enforcement and security services to all components of Vanderbilt including the academic campus, medical center and a variety of university-owned facilities throughout the Davidson County area. The department includes 81 commissioned officers and 33 civilian employees.
Vanderbilt‘s commissioned police officers are empowered to make arrests as “Special Police Officers,” through the authority of the chief of police of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
Vanderbilt officers with Special Police Commissions have the same authority as that of a municipal law enforcement officer while on property owned by Vanderbilt, on adjacent public streets and sidewalks, and nearby neighborhoods.
Lynch, who holds bachelor‘s and master‘s degrees in criminal justice and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, began his law enforcement career as a police officer with the Meridian Township Police Department in Okemos, Mich.
He later served as a lieutenant with the Southern Methodist University Police Department in Dallas, Texas, before moving on to positions as assistant director of the Davidson College Department of Public Safety in Davidson, N.C., major/deputy director with the UNC Charlotte Police and Public Safety Department, and chief/assistant vice chancellor for Public Safety at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C.
He earned a bachelor‘s degree from Michigan State University and a master‘s degree from Boston University.
Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
Princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu