O’Dell, an Ann Arbor resident, currently is chief of police and executive director of public safety at Eastern Michigan University. He holds a juris doctorate degree from the University of Toledo College of Law and a bachelor’s degree from EMU. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the EMU school for police staff and command, according to a UM press release.

O’Dell will oversee a department that employs 80 people, including 55 sworn police officers. The campus area faces heightened security in the wake of a half-dozen recent assaults on women in downtown Ann Arbor.

The position of UM police chief had been in limbo since the previous chief of university police, Ken Magee, went on medical leave in October 2010. Magee was hired in 2008. He was the subject of public commentary at the January 2011 board of regents meeting, with questions raised about his departure. The university posted the position in February 2011.