Seattle University gave a grateful sendoff to Gil Kerlikowske at a campus ceremony last month. The long-time Seattle police chief and Obama nominee for the nation’s top drug-control post was honored for his ethical leadership and many contributions to the Department of Criminal Justice. Also honored were the 2009-2010 recipients of the Eugene Corr Scholarship, named for the former U.S. Marshal and former assistant police chief who played a major role in ending a police pay-off system in the early 1970s. Corr went on to cofound SU’s criminal justice department.

“It is especially fitting that we are celebrating Chief Kerlikowske and the Corr award recipients in a single event,” said Jackie Helfgott, chair of the criminal justice department. “Chief Kerlikowske models what criminal justice scholars and practitioners have been calling for since the early days in the movement toward ethics and professionalism in policing and the beginnings of criminal justice as an academic discipline in the 1970s when Eugene Corr cofounded the Seattle University criminal justice department.”

Kerlikowske has been actively committed to SU’s criminal justice department. He’s been a member of its advisory committee since its inception in 2004. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the department and teaches “Issues in Contemporary Law Enforcement,” a joint undergraduate and graduate course. His wife, Anna Laszlo, is a former Seattle University adjunct professor and was also recognized at the campus celebration.

The post for which Obama tabbed Kerlikowske is officially known as the director or the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The campus event was attended by university officials and leaders in the law enforcement community.