Cincinnati State is taking a step in the right direction when it comes to diversity and breaking barriers.

This week, Donna Robinson officially became the first Black woman police to lead the police department at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She is also the first Black woman to become a police chief locally.

Robinson, who has been working for the City of Cincinnati Police Department for 33 years, was sworn in as Chief of the Cincinnati State Police Department and Director of Public Safety for Cincinnati State, according to Fox 19 Now.

“For an African American woman to be named chief is a special thing,” Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety for the University of Cincinnati, Elliot Isaac, said.

Donna Robinson will join two other women leading local police departments in the area: Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge and Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey.

Robinson is a Cincinnati native who grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. According to her bio on the Cincinnati State website, she attended Eastern Kentucky University intending to follow on that path but changed her major after being exposed to the college’s training hub for law enforcement and firefighting.

After graduating, Robinson joined the Cincinnati Police Department in 1990 as a Police Recruit. She would later earn a Masters in Criminal Justice from Xavier University and completed the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy.

During her 33-year career with CPD, she served as a patrol officer, special investigator, district shift sergeant, district patrol shift commander, and commander of the Public Relations Unit.

“We were very impressed with Chief Robinson’s education, experience, and commitment to service,” President of Cincinnati State, Dr. Monica Posey, said. “Our college and the community will benefit greatly from her leadership.”

Chief Robinson says she hopes her experience and career journey inspire students at Cincinnati State.

“I like to pour into people, just as so many people poured into me,” she said in an interview with Richard Curtis, Cincinnati State Media Coordinator. “If you take the passion that’s inside of you and merge it with the intellect that’s inside of you, that’s what will give you your success.”

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