Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne has appointed the co-chairs of the Community Board on Public Safety, which is charged with assessing the needs and concerns of the community related to policing, as well as fostering communication and trust between Stanford’s Department of Public Safety and the broader university community.

Patrick H. Dunkley, deputy athletic director in Stanford Athletics, and Claude M. Steele, the Lucie Stern Professor Emeritus of Psychology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, are co-chairs of the new board.

The board will identify issues of safety, make recommendations and provide an avenue for regular community feedback.

“I am delighted that our Community Board on Public Safety will benefit from the deep experience and thoughtful leadership of Claude Steele and Patrick Dunkley, and I am grateful to each of them for extending this important service to our community,” Tessier-Lavigne said.

“This board will provide an important new avenue for feedback and engagement on public safety issues at Stanford. We look forward to it being a place where concerns that are important to members of our community can be aired, and where recommendations can be made to university leadership. We are fortunate to have a Department of Public Safety and a chief – and Stanford alum – Laura Wilson, who are committed to providing trusted and professional service to our community, and who are eager to be in continued conversation with our community about these issues.”

Steele is an internationally recognized expert on the subject of stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance and intergroup relations. His former roles include chair of the Department of Psychology, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and provost at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Dunkley has served Stanford for more than 18 years in a variety of leadership roles working with faculty, staff and students, and brings broad expertise in human resources, legal affairs, compliance and risk management, among other subjects.

In addition to co-chairs Dunkley and Steele, the board will include three faculty members, two undergraduate students and two graduate students, three staff members, three community members, and three members of Stanford’s Department of Public Safety.