Over the summer, Public Safety fulfilled a new position that is intended to increase engagement between the agency and the campus community. 

Jamie Grobes was hired as the assistant director of Public Safety, Community Engagement and Partnerships — a new position that Chief Anthony Morgan created. 

Grobes was born and raised here in Lewisburg and lived here until she left to join the AirForce. She worked at Verizon Wireless after her time in the military, which is where she learned that she really enjoyed engaging with the public. During this time she also earned a BA in Administration of Justice and AAs in Criminal Justice and Logistics. 

After earning these degrees, Grobes went to law school for two years. She eventually took a leave of absence and moved back to Lewisburg, where started working at Transitions of PA, a crisis center built to help victim-survivors and their communities. 

Here she worked as a legal advocate and realized she didn’t have to be a lawyer to be a victim advocate. Grobes stayed with Transitions for nine years working as an advocate and eventually as the Legal Advocacy Coordinator. During her time at Transitions of PA, she also helped open the Transitions Legal Center. Grobes became interested in this new position within Public Safety because she wanted to help students create formative relationships.

“Growing up here, I always thought Bucknell was really special,” Grobes said. “Growing up in my formative years here I had influences from a lot of adults at the time that were from Bucknell. I was really excited to be able to potentially get to come up here and engage in students and help give everyone the opportunity to have those special relationships and formative experiences that I got to have.”

The goal of this new position is two build relations and trust between the student body and Public Safety, according to Grobes. She wants to do this first by listening to students and speaking to all the communities on campus to get a better understanding of their needs. 

“I know that I don’t know all of the things and I know that there are some things that I will never know or not be able to relate to. So, I want to make sure that I speak to the people that are able to speak those things so I can understand the concerns,” Grobes said. 

Grobes said she wants the student body to know that she is looking for input from any and all students and is available to meet and learn about student experiences.