Photo: Hill, center, was joined in the celebration by his family (from left) his aunts, Mary Knox and Francine Sparrow; his cousin, Texas Ranger James Wilkins; his wife, Eva Lanczos Hill; his parents, Clarence and Edna Hill and his sister, Catherine Hill. Photo courtesy of Jim Townsend. — Hill, center, was joined in the celebration by his family (from left) his aunts, Mary Knox and Francine Sparrow; his cousin, Texas Ranger James Wilkins; his wife, Eva Lanczos Hill; his parents, Clarence and Edna Hill and his sister, Catherine Hill. Photo courtesy of Jim Townsend.

UHCL interim police chief sworn in as permanent chief

By The Signal Last updated Jan 27, 2017 419 0

University of Houston-Clear Lake interim Police Chief Allen Hill was sworn in as its permanent police chief during a special ceremony in late January. Hill joined the department in 2008 as a corporal and was tapped as interim chief in 2015.

UHCL staff, faculty and dozens of peace officers from surrounding jurisdictions attended the ceremony. He was given the oath of office by Michelle Dotter, vice president for administration and finance. In 2015, Dotter appointed Hill interim chief after longtime Chief Paul Willingham stepped down. After a nationwide employment search in 2016, Hill emerged as the UHCL search committee’s top choice.

Photo: Hill, center, was joined by his family (from left) his aunts, Mary Knox and Francine Sparrow; his cousin, Texas Ranger James Wilkins; his wife, Eva Lanczos Hill; his parents, Clarence and Edna Hill and his sister, Catherine Hill. Photo courtesy of Jim Townsend. — Hill, center, was joined by his family (from left) his aunts, Mary Knox and Francine Sparrow; his cousin, Texas Ranger James Wilkins; his wife, Eva Lanczos Hill; his parents, Clarence and Edna Hill and his sister, Catherine Hill. Photo courtesy of Office of University Communications.

“We chose him and he chose us,” Dotter said.

Hill thanked Dotter “for the opportunity to lead one of the finest police departments in the country,” he said.

“Every day that I come to work I can’t help but think of the hard work the men and women of this department do and I can’t thank them enough. I look forward to maintaining the relationships already established between the police department and the UHCL community, and I’m excited about creating new ones.”

After serving five years in the U.S. Army, Hill served four years as a firefighter and paramedic in Killeen, Texas, four years as a state trooper for the Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Division, and four years as senior security coordinator for Kellogg Brown & Root in Iraq.

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University of Houston-Clear Lake offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and three doctoral programs, from its four colleges, formerly known as schools, which include the College of Business, College of Education, College of Human Sciences and Humanities, and College of Science and Engineering. In 2011, the university gained approval from the state to add freshman- and sophomore-level courses to its roster and welcomed its first freshman class in fall 2014. For more information about the university, visit http://www.uhcl.edu.

To find more UH-Clear Lake news, visit UH-Clear Lake’s newsroom, http://www.uhcl.edu/news, or follow UH-Clear Lake on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/UHClearLake, and Twitter, http://twitter.com/UHClearLake.

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