Massachusetts State Police Superintendent Thomas Robbins will replace ex Boston University Police Chief Robert Shea, who retired last year amid a lawsuit alleging unfair hiring practices and discrimination, according to Administrative Services Vice President Peter Fiedler.

Robbins, expected to take over the job on June 12, brings 28 years of law enforcement experience to the BUPD, including two as the superintendent of the State Police.

“It’s obviously going to be a new environment,” Robbins told The Daily Free Press in an interview, “and it’s going to be wonderful to get into the community of Boston University. It’s an exciting atmosphere with the academics and the research … Working with the professional men and women of the police department is just going to be exciting in terms of the community that I’m going to be able to serve.”

Fiedler said the process in choosing a new police chief was assisted by the Police Executive Research Forum, based in Washington, D.C., which works as a “search engine” for police chiefs.

As part of a seven-person committee, Fiedler and other BU administrators received a list of 66 people and consequently narrowed it down to 23 and then to nine, who were then interviewed by the committee. Out of those nine, four finalists were chosen, including BUPD Acting Chief Robert Molloy, Fiedler said.

Molloy took over the temporary position after Shea retired. The case against Shea later ended in a summary judgment in his favor.

Molloy will remain acting chief until Robbins assumes control June 12, at which point Robbins will make decisions as to how to structure the BUPD command staff.

“Colonel Robbins was clearly the guy for the job,” Fiedler said. “He was so highly experienced and so used to running a very large organization that it made perfect sense for him to come to Boston University.”

Fiedler said Robbins’s relationships and knowledge of many law enforcement officials in both Boston and Massachusetts, in addition to statehouse officials, will facilitate communication between the BUPD and these people, who Fiedler said BU interacts with on a “regular basis for all kinds of things.”

After September, Robbins served as Logan International Airport Aviation Security Director. He served two years as the airport’s troop commander, acting as the “principal architect” of security, according to a press release describing the announcement.

“I’ve had a wide range of experiences,” Robbins said. “They have enabled me to work with many partners on the federal, state and local level. That’s one of the big advantages of my experiences coming over to BU.

“The biggest thing in terms of my experience as the colonel in 26 years in the state police is having interaction with a broad sense of community across the state in federal and local levels,” he continued, “so I’m going to bring that experience to BU.”

But Fiedler said Robbins’ qualifications extend beyond mere professional credentials.

“On top of that, he’s a hell of a nice guy,” Fiedler said. “He’s very smart, and he really wanted the job, too. He was so enthusiastic, that was the thing that really kind of inspired me to bring him forward, because I thought he had great chemistry with me. I think we’re going to have a great working relationship.”

Robbins’s accomplishments in a short amount of time also contributed to his being chosen as chief, Fiedler said.

“His experience alone is the outstanding contributor,” Fiedler said. “Here’s a guy who has been in large scale law enforcement for some 28 years. He’s a relatively young guy at 48, so he’s got a lot of time left-he’s not a guy who’s coming to retire here, he’s a guy who’s coming here to work hard.”

Fiedler said although Robbins has expressed no specific changes he intends to make to the BUPD at this time, Fiedler is giving him “full autonomy” in running the large university police organization.

“It should be his privilege to interview individually the people currently within the department,” Fiedler said, “and make sure they are fit or not fit for what he hopes to build the department into.”

Robbins said before he makes any changes to the BUPD, he wants to get involved in the campus environment and hear the concerns of the community.