Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales to speak at Commencement

Author: Carroll University

Published Date: 4/16/2019

Categories: Alumni University News


Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales
Alfonso Morales '92

Carroll alumnus Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales '92 will provide the keynote address at Carroll University’s Commencement on Saturday, May 11. During the event, the university will honor Morales with an honorary doctorate.

“I very much enjoyed my time at Carroll as a student-athlete,” Morales said. “I thrived in the small-class environment and was motivated by the individual attention given by instructors to each student. It was at Carroll that I discovered psychology and met David Simpson, a psychology professor who not only became a mentor, but influenced my choice of career. It’s an honor to return to campus to address the Class of 2019.”

Morales has steadily worked in the Milwaukee Police Department since being appointed in 1993. In 1999, he was promoted to detective and worked in the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). From 2003 until 2009, he served as lieutenant in the CIB. In 2010, he joined the Patrol Bureau, where he managed the detective decentralization project in District Three. Morales later worked in Internal Affairs, the Police Academy and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas). In 2013, he was promoted to commanding officer of District Two, which is comprised of more than 87,000 residents. He also ran MPD’s Project Safe Neighborhood-High Value Target program, a department-wide initiative designed to reduce violent crime by focusing enforcement efforts on some of the worst gun offenders in the community. On Feb. 15, 2018, Morales became interim chief of police, and on April 5, 2018, he was named chief of police. 

“We are extremely proud to claim Chief Morales as one of our graduates,” said Dr. Cindy Gnadinger, president of Carroll University. “Our campus-wide theme this academic year revolves around our ethos, which highlights respect, integrity and stewardship. We looked for someone to serve as our commencement speaker who embodies those tenets, and Chief Morales was an obvious choice.”

More than 740 students will receive diplomas at Carroll University’s Commencement ceremony, including 550 expected to earn bachelor’s degrees, 125 expected to earn master’s degrees and 74 expected to earn doctor of physical therapy degrees. They will be joined by thousands of parents and guests at the traditional outdoor ceremony marked by bagpipers and carillon music, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. on the lawn in front of Main Hall on East Avenue.

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