Tammie Steward, Public Safety

What is your role?

I train the employees of Public Safety. As a licensed Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Instructor, I conduct classes for our security staff on New York State-mandated and Columbia-specific topics. As an American Heart Association (AHA) CPR/AED Instructor, I am also able to give our staff CPR/AED training. 

There is an administrative component to my position as well which includes preparing training modules, updating older models, and preparing lesson plans. I am incredibly proud to be a part of the Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee, as well as the Inclusive Public Safety Working Group. It is an honor to work with such an amazing group of individuals! 

My favorite part of my role is instructing classes. I always feel that if I can teach someone something they did not know before they walked in, I did well that day. We have an amazing department which includes diverse and hard working people who come together to keep the University and the surrounding community safe. Not only do I look forward to instructing them on something new, or how to look at things in a different way, I also love to learn from them as well. I walk out of the classroom each time smiling because not only do I love what I do, but I love working with the team we have here at Public Safety. They are exceptional!

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment at Columbia?

I believe my greatest accomplishment was being recognized by the students at the Morningside Campus for an incident I responded to a few years ago. I truly believe there is no better reward than to be acknowledged by the student body!

They are an important part of our job. They come here for an education and an amazing experience and it is our job to keep them safe so that they can do so without concern on our campuses. I am proud to have been in uniform and have met so many awesome students along the way. Being recognized by them for the job I did was very special to me.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their career here?

The advice I would give would be to work hard, enjoy the work that you do and appreciate the amazing opportunity you have! I have not, nor will I ever take for granted the amazing opportunities working at Columbia offers. I enjoy my position and the training partners I work with.

What is something that others would be surprised to learn about your role?

Many people do not know that we work closely with other departments within the University to train our staff. It is amazing that many departments within the University take the time out to personally speak with our incoming employees. The information they provide is not only helpful, but coming directly from the departments within the University is important!

For example, Residential Life (Morningside) instructs our employees on how to interact with undergraduate students. It is a training that is interactive and informative. Staff are able to go through scenarios and walk through how to handle various situations that may occur while on duty.