Ferris’ Director of Public Safety (DPS) Bruce Borkovich will be celebrating four years of service at Ferris this May. Looking back, Borkovich’s favorite part of working at Ferris has been interacting with the students.
“[The students] are respectful, they’re courteous and they’re just a joy to be around,” Borkovich said. “Ferris students are very unique. I think it would be hard to find students that are more focused on their careers. They know why they’re here.”
After attending Michigan State University, Borkovich worked as an educator at several schools before realizing his passion for law enforcement and joining the state police.
“I always liked [police work],” Borkovich said. “It’s the thrill of matching wits with people breaking the law and catching them at what they do. It’s exciting and challenging and I always enjoyed it.”
Borkovich moved to the Big Rapids area with his wife and daughter upon accepting the FSU DPS director position. During his time at Ferris, Borkovich has focused on student safety.
“We’ve headed in a direction where we are continually trying to be a service organization,” Borkovich said. “We are continually trying to find ways to make this campus safer and at the same time continue to offer service. That is the balance. Ferris is a safe place but we all know that terrible things can happen anywhere. So we are constantly trying to be better prepared to deal with a terrible thing and to prevent a terrible crime.”
Ferris’ DPS is made up of 13 officers, and Borkovich prides himself in his officers’ candor.
“The mindset isn’t ‘how many people can I get today?’ The mindset is ‘how many people can I protect today?’,” Borkovich said. “We don’t want people who look at police work like they are going into battle.”
Borkovich offered some advice for Ferris students to encourage their success.
“Working hard will always pay off,” Borkovich said. “Hard work will beat talent any day unless talent works hard.”