February 2010 Volume 3, Issue 4

Inside this issue:

The Guardian A Publication of the International Association of Emergency

Managers Student Chapter at the American Public University System

Toll Free Access Number

1-877-643-6951 Canadian Access Number

1-877-722-6536 International Number

1-302-607-2017

Participant Passcode 21082304#

Message from the President

2, 14

Lessons Learned 3

Crises & the Media 4-5

Suggested Tips 6-8 Relevance 9-10 Cultivating EMs 11

MOD Guest Speaker Profiles

12-13

Books 15 Upcoming Conferences

15

Upcoming Chapter Teleconference Dates:

Date Time

Sat., 20 Mar 1200 ET Sat., 17 Apr 1200 ET Sat., 15 May 1200 ET

Dr. Blanchard on Deck By Dawn Heyse IAEM-USA at APUS Vice President Dr. Wayne Blanchard of FEMA’s Emergency Management Higher Education Pro-gram is our next scheduled speaker in the 2009-2010 Masters of Disaster Distinguished Guest Speaker Program. Dr. Blanchard will be joining us on April 14, 2010 at 5pm EDT. We hope you all join the teleconference, during which Dr. Blanchard will speak on emergency management and higher education. A question and answer session with Dr. Blanchard will follow his remarks. Stay tuned to our OrgSync site for further information on joining the teleconference!

Volunteers Needed at Higher Ed Conference By Dawn Heyse IAEM-USA at APUS Vice President Would you like the opportunity to meet Dr. Wayne Blanchard, our next MOD Distin-guished Guest Speaker, in person? Applications for student volunteers at the 13th An-nual FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Conference are now being ac-cepted! Our advisor, Professor Mike Kemp, is again serving as the Volunteer Coordinator for the conference. He is looking for students currently enrolled in a college/university emergency management program to fulfill the position of student volunteer recorder/reporters. The main function of a recorder/reporter entails taking detailed notes of an assigned session and creating a written summary report (4-5 pages) of the session’s salient de-tails. The secondary function of the student volunteer is to help with various aspects of the conference i.e., passing around microphones, signing up conference attendants, etc. Student volunteers are required to attend 100% of the conference with 20% dedi-cated to volunteering and 80% as a participant/attendee. For the duration of the confer-ence, student volunteers will receive free lodging and meals as provided by EMI. Travel and other forms of compensation are not provided. Prospective volunteers must be at least 18 years of age, have a recommendation from a faculty sponsor, be able to complete the conference application process and be available through the duration of the conference. They must also be in contact with the Volunteer Coordinator 30 days before and after the conference, and be capable of cre-ating a quality report. If you are interested in applying to be a student volunteer, email Prof. Kemp at

Micheal.kemp@i-s-consulting.com with the following information: your name and contact information, your level of study (undergraduate, graduate), and your faculty sponsor’s name and contact information. Put FEMA HiEd Volunteer (Prospect) in the subject line. Completion of the volunteer prospect application does not ensure that you will be selected as a volunteer, but you can’t be selected if you don’t apply! Don’t miss out on an excellent opportunity to meet and learn from eminent academicians in emergency management! Apply to be a student volunteer today!

Message from the President

The Guardian Page 2

The Guardian

A quarterly publication of the American Public University

System Chapter of the International Emergency Management Student

Association

Officers

2009-2010

President

Dorian Young

Vice President

Dawn Heyse

Secretary

Darren Endris

Treasurer

Jeremy Beck

Faculty Advisor

Michael Kemp

Program Director

Dr. Christopher Reynolds

The Guardian

Staff

Interim Editor

Dawn Heyse

Chief Contributors

Judy L. Whidbee

Dorian Young

Scott Preston

Darren Endris

Tracy Hughes

By Dorian Young IAEM-USA at APUS President As this will be my last message in "The Guardian" as this year's President of the Chapter, I thought I would revisit the nine pledges I made when running for election for this office. Each pledge is listed below with a comment in red as to how we made out.

The Nine Election Pledges made by AMU Grad Student Dorian Young

Pledge #1: As the elected President, I would do my level best to lead the AMU/APUS Chapter of the IAEM and work with the Executive to forward its purposes and objec-tives, as well as fulfill, improve & promote its functions and activities. To this end, I will strive for 100% participation in all Chapter meetings. Achieved 100% participation to date. And it has been a real pleasure! Pledge #2: To ensure that all systems are go for each and every Chapter meeting so that anyone who wishes to participate may do so without fail. (Last meeting I was kept ‘on hold’ listening to awful ‘elevator music’ for over 33 minutes and was unable to join – due to a technical fault at the AMU/APUS end. I complained and have yet to learn whether or not the problem has been fixed.) I will personally double-check that each general Chapter meeting: a) is held at a date and time convenient to the expressed majority, b) will be well-publicized beforehand with the agenda being published, and c) will occur without technical glitches. Technol-ogy is meant to help and forward our Chapter; not hinder it! Accomplished without a glitch! Pledge #3: I will help edit, contribute to, and improve the Chapter’s quarterly newslet-ter. The Guardian should include information, news, events, commentary and develop-ments in our fields of study and with some reference to our studies at AMU/APUS. We should continue to encourage submissions from our talented faculty and student body on topics of interest. I edited less but contributed more. Thanks to our Editor VP Dawn Heyse who did such a wonderful job bringing us "The Guardian". And thanks to all those who contributed to each issues. We have produced issues of which we should be proud. The future looks to be very bright for "The Guardian" to continue to flourish as the premier IAEM Student Chapter publication. Pledge #4: The Chapter’s meetings, publications, and other activities should be open, collaborative, informative, and as participatory as possible. Agenda and Minutes of meetings will be uploaded regularly onto the Chapter’s designated website classroom. Accomplished. Chapter meetings were recorded and made available afterward to all members to download and hear. Check out the Repository on the Chapter's new Org-Sync website to hear the Chapter's general meetings plus much, much more. Pledge #5: I will manage and assist in an ongoing effort to increase membership of our Chapter. My objective is to strive for an 100% of EDM and HS students at AMU/APUS to become members of our IEMSA Chapter. It would be in their interests, our interest and IEMSA’s interest for this to happen. Continued on page 14

Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 4

From Lessons Learned to Best Practices By Dorian Young IAEM-USA at APUS President Herein is an idea to help bring lessons learned from disaster research to the attention of emergency and disaster practitioners and ultimately to convert and adopt them into best practices. Disaster Researchers are social science academics employing scientific methodology to study human or organizational behavior concerning disasters. Their studies are published in peer-reviewed journals or books. This growing body of evidence-based knowledge is the product of several decades of ongoing academic research. Many of the findings or lessons learned are relevant to the preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation work of today’s disaster practitioner. This knowledge base, if appropriately tapped, can empower practitioners. Being better informed about how humans react to disaster-related situations significantly benefits their planning and decision-making. It could lead to the saving of lives and the reduction of inju-ries and losses due to disasters.

The Problem Though a great many disaster research studies explicitly state that the practical implementation of their findings is a desired objec-tive, practitioners are unlikely to make much use of them. Only one of twenty-five disaster research papers recently read by this author actually presented her findings or lessons learned in an easily readable, convenient and comprehensible format suitable for practitio-ners. (Enarson, 1999, p 56.) For all the others, the audience addressed was decidedly “academic”. It was not easy to discern and digest the lessons learned; hindered by such issues as mode of expression, terminologies, organizational layout and method of pres-entation (see below). These hindrances only add to any prior reluctance on the part of practitioners to search out disaster research findings. While disaster practitioners are well-placed to convert and implement research findings into best practices, they have their limits. Emergency Managers are busy people. Sometimes, they are overloaded with work, holding two or more positions such as Emergency Manager, Fire Chief, 9/11 Coordinator, etc. It is therefore unrealistic to expect them to spend a great deal of time wading through aca-demic articles in search of lessons learned. Despite being highly experienced in and professional at their jobs, some may find it quite challenging to comprehend academic research papers in the format in which they are currently being published. What is needed is a means by which disaster researchers can better impart their lessons learned and improve the chances of their being put into practice as intended.

The Solution A template should be devised to allow for optimum presentations of lessons learned to practitioners. Each researcher would volun-tarily follow this template to produce a specific list of strategic directions from lessons learned written specifically for practitioners with a view towards encouraging them to adapt and adopt as best practices. The inclusion of such a list would become a routine procedure in disaster research academia. To devise the template, a high-level conference should be convened by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) involving the foremost disaster academics and practitioners. Once the template is agreed upon, it would be subject to periodic review by a representative Committee established at the conference. The template should set the standard by promoting the following attributes when researchers make their lists of lessons learned for practitioners: • A clear and concise layout consisting of easily readable, strategic directions, each being one sentence in length (Enarson,1999,

pp 55-56); • Each strategic direction to be referenced so that readers can refer back within a study for further information; • Common phraseology and terminology; • Each strategic listing to be submitted to the Committee prior to publication for prompt consideration of conformity; • Strategic directions to encourage practitioners to convert and adopt lessons learned into best practices.

Summary Disaster Practitioners should be aware that utilizing research can be empowering. That is one of the messages of Professor Emeri-tus Drabek’s (2010) new book entitled The Human Side of Disaster; written with the disaster practitioner-audience very much in mind. On the other hand, disaster researchers should be aware that practitioners would be more inclined to make use of their studies, if they knew that each one contained a concise, user-friendly list of lessons learned which would be of practical value to their work. These lists should be compiled into an accessible repository housed by the IAEM. The proposed template and resulting lists of lessons learned provide the means of narrowing the gap between disaster research and practice.

References Drabek, Thomas E. (2010). The Human Side of Disaster. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. Enarson, Elaine. (1999). Women and Housing Issues in Two U.S. Disasters: Hurricane Andrew and the Red River Valley Flood. Inter-national Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters; March 1999, Vol.17, No. 1, pp. 39-63. Retrieved October 4, 2009 from http://www.ijmed.org/viewpdf.php?pdf=mar1999. N.B. For a more comprehensive bibliography (including the twenty-five articles referred to above) on the question of lessons learned concerning disasters, please go to http://www.kador.com/llbiblio.com

The Guardian Page 4

Crises and the Media

By Judy L. Whidbee MA EDM Student This paper was originally written and submitted for EDMG560 in November 2008

Over the past 50 years, the various forms of media have grown exponentially providing critical reporting of a crisis and relaying essential information for the safety of the public threatened by the crisis. Crises occur almost daily around the globe and no one company, country or nation is immune. Some crises are small and while many are not substantial enough to spark the interest of the media, many crises are of a larger magnitude and their consequences affect many people. How the media is involved during a crisis can have either a positive or a negative effect on any company. The media coverage during the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 provides an example of how the media can have a negative effect on the public’s perception of what is actually occurring within the confines of the facility. At the start of an incident, which began during the early morning hours of March 28, a series of inaccurate system signals, mistakes in interpretation of the signals by the workers and ineffective training for workers were at the heart of the system failures. When the workers in the area of reactor #2 discovered the problem or what they thought was the problem, they immedi-ately began taking steps to correct the situation. Procedures taken over the next 24 hours alleviated the pressure buildup in the reactor and redirected the radioactive gases that had formed dangerously in the system. It was not until the engineers, workers, senior leaders of the plant along with state officials, working side by side with experts from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), that the errors revealed themselves and the revelation made that the public had not been in danger. While the employees worked diligently inside the reactor area, one area that received less attention and a large amount of criticism was the decision to not provide essential information to the public as the incident progressed. Metro-politan Edison (Met Ed) officials inflicted much of the damage with their decision to not provide information to the media. Knowing something was going on with the plan, the media began reporting whatever information they could obtain. The longer the officials remained silent the more the media reported with information based on speculation. Instead of in-forming the public of the crisis at hand, Met Ed, state government and NRC officials continued to seek answers to what had actually occurred and determine what action to take next. Pennsylvania Governor Thornburgh, not wanting to cause a panic, took a cautious approach and stated, "I'm not going to do anything until I get the facts" (Schorow, 2007). Was the plant actually prepared for a crisis and if so, why were there no decisions made to notify the public and why were evacuation orders not released? Over the days following March 28, the media picked up the bits and pieces of information of what was happening at the plant and speculations and rumors began to be surface. To add insult to injury, the Met Ed spokespersons provided the media with conflicting reports of the estimated amounts of radioactivity released; one press release stated 1,200 mil-lirems per hour had been measured whereas the company spokesperson reported that only 300 to 350 millirems per hour has been measured (Fink, 2002, p. 110). Fears ran rampant and public confidence rapidly diminished. Philip Cantelon and Robert Williams, authors of "Crisis Contained, The Department of Energy at Three Mile Island", provided insight to the disconnect with the officials at the plant and the media in their book stating

“Garbled communications reported by the media generated a debate over evacuation. Whether or not there were evacuation plans soon became academic. What happened on Friday was not a planned evacuation but a weekend exodus based not on what was actually happening at Three Mile Island but on what government offi-cials and the media imagined might happen. On Friday confused communications created the politics of fear." (World Nuclear Association, 1982)

Regardless of the actual problem and the measures conducted inside the plant, the absence of skilled spokespersons to ward off the hostile attacks from the media and calmly relay the information to the media was apparent. It was not until March 30, three days after the actual incident, that the decision was made to establish a new system of briefing the media. Mr. Harry Denton from the NRC would handle all of the technical statements, the governor’s office would provide information on protective actions and possible evacuation procedures and the White House would coordinate any federal emergency relief efforts. (Fink, 2002, p. 110). Met Ed’s crisis plan had resulted in ineffective interaction with the media and radical measures that had to be taken in order to calm the fears of the residents of the area and the nation as well. Had the media been employed more effectively, the crisis might have been perceived differently by the public and the trust of the company would have remained in tack. A few years later, in 1982, another major U.S. company faced a different crisis, this one resulting in a positive percep-tion of the company. The company of Johnson and Johnson dealt with the media completely different compared to how Met Ed had reacted with their crisis. One of Johnson and Johnson’s leading product, Extra Strength Tylenol was found laced with cyanide. The effective pain reliever in capsule, consumed by millions around the world was believed to have caused the deaths of seven Chicago residents. The victims had purchased bottles of Tylenol from several Chicago

Continued on page 5

Page 5 Volume 3, Issue 4

Crises and the Media

stores and the remaining capsules in the bottles purchased by the victims were found laced with 65 milligrams of cya-nide. The tampering had not occurred inside the manufacturing plant; evidence proved the bottles had been tampered with outside of the Johnson and Johnson facility. (The Tylenol Crisis, 1982) Millions of lives were believed to be in jeopardy and millions of dollars in profit would be lost if a product recall was made. Even though the managers of Johnson and Johnson knew their employees had not done anything wrong, they took a proactive stand and made the decision to recall the product. Leaders knew that it was their responsibility to pro-tect not only the public but the reputation of the company as well, without regard to the consequences that the company would face and the recall of 31 million bottles of Tylenol, an estimated loss of over 100 million dollars (The Tylenol Crisis, 1982). The leaders knew that assistance from the media was needed to assist with the immediate recall. As a result, the media provided nationwide coverage of the incident as it unfolded and gave direction for the public detailing what they needed to do in order to receive a rebate for their unused capsules. The company remained true to the company’s credo written by Robert Wood Johnson in the mid-1940’s stating “that the company‘s responsibilities were to the consumers and medical professionals using its products, employees, the com-munities where its people work and live, and its stockholders. Therefore, it was essential to maintain the safety and the trust of the public to keep the company alive.” (The Tylenol Crisis, 1982) Johnson & Johnson had remained true to the words of their founders and accepted their responsibility to respect the public and produce a worthy product. Unlike the Three Mile Island incident, the leaders of Johnson and Johnson admitted a problem existed, did not attempt to cover it up or wait until more facts were available before reacting and took immediate action to remove the product from the hands of the consumers. They also took advantage of the media and their ability to reach millions of people in a short period, providing lifesaving information and relieving any mistrust of the company. As a result, the media provided the necessary information quickly resulting in positive reports of the company’s actions and maintaining the integrity of the company. Many times when a company faces a crisis, whether it affects people internal or external to the company, how leader-ship handles the situation and their subsequent actions required to overcome the situation will require the employment of the media. Failure to react quickly and honestly during a crisis can destroy the reputation of the company especially since its reaction affects not only the safety and health of the public but the reputation of the company as well. If a com-pany exhibits integrity throughout the entire crisis utilizing the media in a positive manner as demonstrated with the Tyle-nol crisis, then the public’s perception of the company and the crisis itself will be on ground that is more positive. If the media is kept at a distant and uninformed, similar to what transpired with the Three Mile Island crisis, the negative criti-cism will damage the company and quite possibly cause more harm to the company than the crisis itself. Therefore, it is important for managers within a company to understand the role of the media and its involvement in a crisis, all for the overall well-being of the company. References Fink, S. (2002). Crisis Management, Planning for the Inevitable. Lincoln: iUniverse, Inc. Schorow, S. (2007, Jan 26). Three Mile Island--failure of science or spin? An IAP session reviews the 1979 crisis. Re-

trieved Nov 18, 2008, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/threemile.html

The Tylenol Crisis, 1982. (n.d.). Retrieved Nov 19, 2008, from Effective Crisis Management: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/

projects/Fall02/Susi/tylenol.htm World Nuclear Association. (1982, 2001 March). Three Mile Island: 1979. Retrieved Nov 18, 2008, from World Nuclear

Association: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf36.html

Continued from page 4

Join the APUS IAEM Chapter on OrgSync!

http://www.orgsync.com/

The Guardian Page 6

Suggested Career Tips for Emergency Management Reprinted with permission from the University of Washington Emergency Management website at https://www.washington.edu/emergency/suggested-career-tips-emergency-management Emergency Management is a fantastically diverse career-field with a favorably projected future job growth. There are a variety of opportunities in public service at all levels of government and in a variety of sectors, including education, healthcare and private business. Unlike other emergency professions that may have formal academies or licensing re-quirements, there is no clearly defined pathway for becoming an emergency manager. Like any profession, to be competitive, you’ll need a combination of education, specific training and experience. There are some generalities that seem to be true across emergency management though: 1. A clean criminal record is a must. Emergency managers frequently work side-by-side with law enforcement and with sensitive information. More and more positions require the successful completion of at least a basic background check. Any criminal incidents on your record may disqualify you for an emergency management position. 2. Excellent English writing and presentation skills are a must. All emergency management centers on communica-tion, both written and oral and the ability to present information to a variety of audiences. Everyone in emergency man-agement must be able to do this in English at a very high proficiency level. Other languages are a bonus and will help you be competitive, but English is an absolute must. 3. Minimum education of high school graduation. High school graduation is a basic requirement for emergency man-agement, but to be competitive, many emergency management professionals are pursuing bachelor and master’s de-grees. For a listing of available emergency management degree programs in the United States please see http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/collegelist/ Once you have the three above, consider the following steps to set you on the career path: 1. Learn about the Incident Command System (ICS). Any serious emergency management professional will be at least commonly familiar with the principles of the incident command system, which is the basic emergency response co-ordination system mandated by law and used around the United States. There are 4 basic and 2 intermediate ICS classes you should take:

Note: a-d above can be taken online as part of FEMA’s Independent Study program at http://training.fema.gov/IS/NIMS.asp e & f must be taken in a classroom format. For availability of these courses, contact your state, county or local office of emergency management. 2. Take additional independent courses in emergency management to learn about the field. FEMA offers a wide variety of online self-study courses to help with basic emergency management training. The Professional Development Series (PDS) is a free certificate that FEMA awards once specific on-line courses have been successfully completed. 3. Volunteer in emergency management. You’ll need to begin building your field experience. One way to do this is to volunteer time with your state, county or local emergency management. Some jurisdictions have robust volunteer pro-grams that offer opportunities to help on real disasters and may even provide another avenue of training that is not usu-ally available to private citizens. The American Red Cross (ARC) is also active in disasters and may have volunteer and training opportunities available. Contact your local ARC chapter through http://www.redcross.org

a. IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System d. IS-800 National Response Framework, An Introduction

b. IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents e. G-300 (also known as ICS-300) Intermediate ICS

c. IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction

f. G-400 (also known as ICS-400) Advanced ICS

Continued on page 7

Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 4

Suggested Career Tips for Emergency Management

4. Take advantage of free professional magazines and publications. You will want to read up on the current issues of concern for emergency management professionals as part of your own continuing training and education effort. Here are some free sources of information:

5. Join a professional association and get certified. There are a variety of professional associations for emergency management professionals. Joining one can improve your networking, information and access to job openings. Some also offer professional certifications that are recognized by the emergency management community. Two of the larger organizations are: The International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) - The IAEM offers the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and the Associate Emergency Manager (AEM). For specific details, see http://www.iaem.com The Institute for Continuity Management (DRI) - DRI offers a number of professional certifications in business continuity. For specific details on which of their certifications may best meet your goals, see https://www.drii.org/ 6. Build your network of contact within the emergency management field. Look for opportunities to make profes-sional networking contacts within the emergency management field. Meet with them for 15-20 minutes in an informa-tional interview. Learn how they got into the field and who they might recommend you speak with next to learn more about the field. Don’t know where to start? Try your local emergency management director, who will either be in the fire department, police department, public works or some other city department. Some local cities outsource emergency management to a regional coordinating agency. If that is the case in your town, learn who the director of that entity is. You should leave every interview with at least 2 more networking contacts. Don’t forget to thank the interviewer for their time. You might be talking to your future boss! 7. Be creative! Emergency management positions can be tricky to find. They are not always called emergency manage-ment and agencies that have emergency management responsibilities (beyond the obvious) are not always readily ap-parent either. Some few examples: a. Public works almost always has some form of emergency planner b. Public health plays a major role in many emergencies and disasters c. Special Districts such as schools, water and sewer districts and other utilities, etc are likely to have emergency plan-ning and emergency management roles d. Port Authorities and Airports are likely to have some form of emergency planning e. Private Industry often uses a type of emergency management practice called “Business Continuity” or “Disaster Recovery” f. Hospitals are required to have emergency plans, as are long-term care facilities g. Tribal governments within the last few years have been hiring emergency managers or emergency-management- type positions h. Universities and colleges all have some form of emergency management and emergency planning to protect their stu-dents, staff, faculty and visitors

Continued from page 6

Continuity Insights http://www.continuityinsights.com/

Natural Hazards Observer http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/

Homeland Security Today http://www.hstoday.us/

Emergency Management Magazine http://www.emergencymgmt.com/

Disaster Recovery Journal http://www.drj.com/

Disaster Resource Guide http://www.disaster-resource.com/

Continued on page 8

The Guardian Page 8

Suggested Career Tips for Emergency Management

i. Local cities, counties, State and Federal government all have some form of emergency management. Within the Fed-eral government, nearly every department and agency has some position dedicated to emergency planning. Within the Federal government, the largest department for emergency management is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), located within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources have emergency management roles as well. It would be impossible to create an exhaustive list of the various institutions that have emergency management-type po-sitions. Be creative, do your homework and network around learn what’s out there. 8. Getting from here to there. If you are already in a career field and are not quite sure how to make the “leap”, here’s an idea: make the bridge between the two by finding a position that uses your current skills in a new way or news skills in your current industry. For example, Janet has been in the IT industry for several years and wants to move over to a ca-reer in emergency management. She could look for an IT position in an emergency management employer (current skills in a new way) or do emergency management for an IT employer (new skills in the current field). Perhaps you’d rather just “make the leap” all together. In that case, I recommend that you prepare yourself first by get-ting more training, experience and networking prior to leaping to give yourself the greatest chance of success. 9. Industry outlook and average earnings. Emergency management is generally a professional, salaried position. De-pending on what industry you are in, your skills, your experience and the type of employment you have (public or private) you can expect a wide range of salaries from fairly modest to very nice. If you’d like to see specific reports on compensa-tion, the BC Management company has them available at http://www.bcmanagement.net/ 10. Diversity in emergency management. Although not always so, emergency management is becoming an incredibly diverse field in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle orientation, physical ability and age. There are well-respected practitioners in the emergency management field from every possible diversity group. There may be a group that advo-cates for a particular identity of interest to you. You might find it on the web or here: a. Emergency Management Organization for Women (EMPOWER) http://www.empower-women.com/ b. National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities http://www.diversitypreparedness.org/ c. Emergency Management as Job, http://www.govtech.com/gt/689561 - an opinion article from Eric Holdeman, former Director of Emergency Management in King County, WA and owner of a blog at http://www.disaster-zone.com 11. Other job skills to add to improve your marketability:

The information in this article was compiled by UWEM Business, Academic and Research Continuity Manager Scott Preston, CEM. Mr. Preston is a graduate student in the AMU EDM program, as well as a member of our IAEM student chapter.

Continued from page 7

Project Management Event Management

Emergency medical response (EMT, etc) Budgeting/Grants management

IT/computer skills Public administration

Public Information Business administration

Public Education Homeland Security

Radio/Communication (HAM license) Hazardous Materials

Volunteer Management Special Needs management

Logistics and Supply skills, especially with donations management

Emergency shelter operations

Page 9 Volume 3, Issue 4

Relevance of Academic Knowledge to EM Practice

By Darren Endris IAEM-USA at APUS Secretary This paper was originally written and submitted for EDMG502 in December 2009 Background In the United States emergency management is considered the role of the government. The Constitution has given the responsibil-ity of the health and safety of the public to the individual states allowing the federal government only to help in the event that the state or local governing bodies lack the resources and or are overwhelmed by the emergency. At what level and at what time should the federal government assist in an emergency has changed over time as the nation and various political ideals developed. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 2) The first example of the federal government assisting in a local disaster was through the passing of the Congressional Act of 1803. (McNabb, 2007) In passing this Act the federal government provided financial relief to a town in New Hampshire that was devastated by fire. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 2) For a time the federal government dealt with disasters in the same manner. After a disaster would occur congress would debate and then provide what resources that congress decided were needed to help the effected com-munities recover. (Hogue and Bea, 2006, CRS 5) At this time the study of disaster and the human response to both the initial impacts and the long term consequences of disaster were ignored by most social scientists and academia. However following the Halifax har-bor explosion in 1917 Samuel Prince presented a case study of the tragedy that has been used to form details of a single disaster (Drabek, 2007) to become part of the first comparative study whereby model patterns of response became identified. (Drabek, 2007; Fritz and Marks, 1957) In the 1930s the federal government attempted to mitigate some potential disasters. An example of this was the passing of the Flood Control Act of 1934. Here the government tried to reduce the damaging effects of floods on communities throughout the nation. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 2) Additionally in 1942 a treatise by Pitrim Sorokin was one of the first to theo-rize about the impacts and responses of people to a wide variety of socially disruptive events and disasters. (Drabek, 2007) In 1950 the Disaster Relief Act became law. This Act was the first comprehensive disaster relief law and delegated the responsibilities of the federal response to the President. (Hogue and Bea, 2006, CRS 5) In the 1950s came the fear of military invasion and nuclear attack and the government’s emergency management concerns shifted to national civil defense. During this time civil defense and disaster relief were considered different functions of emergency manage-ment. These two functions of the government were realigned into and out of different departments and agencies several times throughout this period. Finally in 1958 they were delegated to the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization whose primary function was emergency preparedness. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 3) During the 1960s policymakers began to understand that disaster research could provide additional insight into managing disas-ters. Various watershed disasters during the 60s and 70s highlighted further the need for the integration of disaster research and emergency management. (Neal, 1993) Even though by the 1970s emergency management philosophy had evolved the federal gov-ernments emergency management had been divided among several departments and agencies. During disaster responses the large number of organizations with parallel relief programs caused confusion and frustration. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 5-7) Then in 1975 geographer Gilbert F. White and sociologist J. Eugene Haas published their Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards that tapped into social sciences to better understand the economic, social, and political dimensions of these disastrous events. This pio-neering report advanced the idea of rather than simply picking up the pieces after disasters the nation could have better planning, land use controls, and other preventive and mitigatory measures to reduce a disasters impact. (Phillips, 2003) Because of this the state directors pressed the National Governors Association and the Congress to consolidate the federal emergency management functions into one agency. Finally in 1978 President Carter issued a Reorganization Plan whose intent was to consolidate the activities of fed-eral emergency management to one agency. This new agency would be called the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA. FEMA was given responsibility under the authority of the President to handle the federal emergency mitigation, preparedness, and response activities. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 5-7) From the beginning FEMA’s future as an effective emergency management agency remained uncertain and by 1992 there were calls for the agency to be abolished. After investigations by the General Accounting Office and other agencies it was determined in order for FEMA to be effective major reform was needed. Under the leadership of Director James Witt FEMA was reorganized and reformed. These reforms allowed FEMA to improve its emergency management capabilities until it was reorganized into the Depart-ment of Homeland Security. (Haddow and Bullock, 2008, p. 9-21)

In 1993 E. L. Quarantelli said that the people involved in the scientific research of disaster and the practical application of managing disaster were both operating in different worlds in competence and goals. The first problem was most research was done within a disciplinary framework, such as within geography, sociology, public administration, and so on. The practical application of disaster research, however, requires a multidisciplinary view of the disaster problem. The second problem was the scientific jargon used in most research disciplines to make communication between the researchers of a discipline precise and clear. This jargon makes communication between the researchers and the disaster research users very difficult because the users are unfamiliar with the jargon. To solve these problems Quarantelli suggested that there be developed some kind of occupational role for a professional who can bridge the gap and operate in both worlds of the researcher and the research users. At that time Quarantelli said that at the Institute of Emergency Administration and Planning at the University of Texas and several other public administration schools they are starting to train such professionals, (Quarantelli, 1993) those whom we now call emergency managers.

Over time more social scientists and others in the academic community presented their case studies and treatises adding to the study of disaster. Collectively these studies provided the intellectual foundation on which the new profession of emergency man-agement could be built. (Drabek, 2007)

Continued on page 10

The Guardian Page 10

Relevance of Academic Knowledge to EM Practice

Academic Knowledge and Professionalism Professionalization is the primary way to which an occupation can be made more effective, efficient, and more accountable to the public. A profession monitors and controls their professional standing by setting standards as a process of imposing controls over the trade to encourage acceptable behavior and prevent unacceptable performance. This ability of a profession to identify with a set of standards only enhances the professions credibility. (Oyola-Yemaiel & Wilson, 2005) Emergency management as a trade has of yet reached the point at which it can be considered a profession. (Drabek, 2007; Oyola-Yemaiel & Wilson, 2005) Oyola-Yemaiel and Wil-son have said that one method of establishing emergency management as a profession is with accreditation and certification. “Accreditation is a rigorous, comprehensive evaluation process to assess an institution or program against a set of standards.” Certifi-cation standards ensure that all emergency managers have mastered a common set of competencies. With education and training an emergency manager closes the loop to become an autonomous self-regulator of their trade. (Oyola-Yemaiel & Wilson, 2005) In 1993 David Neal said that the professionalization of emergency management should help to legitimatize the emergency man-agement field similar to the legitimatization of the field of public administration. Neal believes that part of this professionalization proc-ess involves making local emergency managers aware and capable of understanding and applying disaster research. Some of the ways he suggest in doing this is by requiring emergency managers to have 100 hours of class room training in emergency manage-ment and 100 hours of management training every five years in addition to a four-year collage degree. Neal says that the next genera-tion of emergency managers should have bachelors and masters degrees and be exposed to research methodology and research methods. (Neal, 1993) Recently Drabek noted there has been the explosive growth in higher education programs at universities designed to provide the fundamental knowledge and skills required of emergency managers. (Drabek, 2007) In 2003 during a workshop in Washington D.C. about the future of emergency management several participants provided insight into the higher education needs of future emergency management profession. One of the participants, John Harrald of George Washington University, explained that the emergency man-agement profession involves a relationship between domain expertise and the application of disaster theory. Whereas academics need to include domain and application into a professional degree program given the high interest in emergency management since 9/11. Dr. Wayne Blanchard from the Emergency Management Institute added that the goals for helping emergency manager profes-sionals is to assist them in learning management principles and skills, mastering the tools of their trade, drawing from experts in study-ing the legal, political, economic, social, ethical, planning, geographical, and administrative aspects of emergency management, and advancing their own ability to pursue research in their field. (Hite, 2003)

Conclusion Through much of the 20th century there has been a transformation in the field of disaster research and how the United States man-ages disasters that affect its communities. As disaster research and the managing of disasters progressed they at times comple-mented each other’s progression revealing aspects of disasters that deserved further study and disaster research findings that helped the disaster management better manage disaster incidents. This progress over the decades has led to the formation of a relatively new occupation known as the emergency manager. The emergency manager has many responsibilities and are accountable to the communities they serve. These responsibilities include the duties of a practitioner, planning for and mitigating against disasters, as well as possessing the ability to translate and use research from different disaster research disciplines. In many aspects emergency management has come a along way to becoming a profession. The goal finally being, among other things, its accreditation and its certification determined by a professional set of standards. Both researchers and practitioners strongly agree that the standards for emergency management should include a higher education at universities and continual training adding relevance of academic knowl-edge to the emergency management practice.

Bibliography

Drabek, T. (2007). Emergency Management and Homeland Security Curricula: Contexts, Cultures and Constraints. University of Denver, Denver.

Fritz, Charles E. and Eli S. Marks. 1957. “The Human Being in Disasters: A Research Perspective;” American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 309, No. 1, 42-51

Haddow, George and Bullock, Jane (2008). Introduction to Emergency Management (3rd Ed). Elsevier Publishing. Oxford, UK.

Hite C. M. (2003). The Emergency Manager of the Future. National Research Council. The National Academies Press. Retrieved September 12, 2009 from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/downloads/HiteMoniquesummary.pdf

Hogue, Henry B and Bea Keith. (2006). Federal Emergency Management and Homeland Security Organization: Historical Developments and Legisla-tive Options. CRS Report for Congress. Congressional Research Service: The Library if Congress.

McNabb, James P. (2007). History of Emergency Management. City of Columbia. Retrieved January 8, 2009 from http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/EM/history.php

Neal, D. (1993). Integrating Disaster Research and Practice: An Overview of Issue. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Vol. 11, No. 1

Oyola-Yemaiel, A. & Wilson, J. (2005). Three Essential Strategies for Emergency Management Professionalization in the US. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. 23(1) 77-84. Retrieved September 12, 2009 from http://www.ijmed.org/detailed_issue.php?id=23

Phillips P.D. (2003). Disaster by Discipline: Necessary Dialogue for Emergency Management Education. Jacksonville State University. Retrieved September 16, 2009 from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/highpapers.asp

Quarantelli E. L. (1993). Converting Disaster Scholarship into Effective Disaster Planning and Managing: Possibilities and limitations. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Vol. 11, No. 1

Continued from page 9

Page 11 Volume 3, Issue 4

Cultivating Emergency Managers By Eric Holdeman This article originally appeared in Emergency Management Reprinted with permission As I survey the nation’s emergency management landscape, I see an aging population of emergency managers in leadership positions at all levels of government and industry. It’s time to begin cultivating the next generation of emer-gency managers who will be taking your places. It isn’t unique that Washington state’s current leaders in key positions have been there for almost 20 years. About a generation ago there was a transition in leadership and an expansion of the discipline due to an increased recognition of hazards. The 9/11 terrorist attacks created another surge in emergency management with the creation of homeland se-curity and another expansion of emergency management and homeland security jobs. The impact of 9/11 also created a network of colleges and universities that now offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in emergency management and homeland security. The challenge is getting these newly minted graduates into the governmental system so they can get experience before the old guard retires. I’ve heard from numerous graduates from these programs who are frustrated about not being able to get hired in government positions, especially at the state and local levels. Individually there aren’t a huge number of emergency management jobs in single jurisdictions, but on a national scale we collectively number in the tens of thousands of people serving in one capacity or another as emergency managers. For us to grow the next generation of emergency managers we will need to have entry-level positions that allow these younger people to successfully compete for and have a career path within the discipline. Larger private-sector consulting firms are much better at this than government. It’s common to have a series of progressive positions in emergency man-agement consulting. It may start with research analyst and then progress with associate, senior associate, program man-ager, senior program manager, principal, vice president and end with senior vice president of a division. Here are some steps that you might take to help develop the next generation of emergency managers: • If you have multiple positions within your emergency management organization, when one becomes vacant, reallo-

cate it to a more junior-level position. • As the economy picks up, revenues improve and you have the opportunity to hire someone new, don’t make the po-

sition an “expert” in emergency management. Create an entry-level position that perhaps requires a degree in emer-gency management.

• Use a homeland security grant to hire at the junior level. With a little bit of supervision and mentoring, you can take enthusiastic hires and make them into the positive program people you would like them to be.

Leave a legacy by mentoring a junior emergency manager. This doesn’t have to be someone in your organization. If you know junior emergency managers who have potential, offer to be available to them to talk about their ongoing pro-jects and the challenges they face. Also be approachable and available to people doing informational interviews on an emergency management career. If we’re going to be really successful in our careers, we must prepare the next genera-tion for theirs.

Meet your fellow members at OrgSync!

The Guardian Page 12

MOD Guest Speaker Profile: Thomas E. Drabek

By Tracy Hughes MA EDM Student Thomas E. Drabek is the John Evans Professor Emeritus at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. He became a faculty member there in 1965 upon completing his graduate training at the Ohio State University, Disaster Research Center. When he re-tired in 2004, he was awarded Emeritus status. Dr. Drabek is perhaps best known for his research which encompasses group and organizational responses to large scale disasters. His research in emergency and disas-ter management has made him a highly sought lecturer at conferences and workshops worldwide as a subject matter expert on human and social behavior during a disaster. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Drabek has authored numerous books, chapters

Joseph Scanlon is the Emeritus Professor and Director of the Emergency Communica-tions Research Unit at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He received his bachelor's de-gree from Carleton and his master's degree from Queen's University. He also has a Diploma in Public Administration. He worked as a journalist in Toronto, Washington and Ottawa for Canada's largest news-paper, the Toronto Daily Star, and for CBC TV News. He also spent a year as executive as-sistant to the late Hon. Judy LaMarsh, Minister of National Health and Welfare. In 1965, he joined the faculty of the Carleton School of Journalism, serving as director from 1966 to 1973. In 1970, he founded the Emergency Communications Research Unit and began studying human behavior in crisis and disaster. For many years, he was an instructor of the Hostage Commanders Barricaded Persons course at the Canadian Police College. During his career, Professor Scanlon has studied first-hand, scores of emergency crises, contributed to more than 20 books in the field of emergency management, and lectured in countries including Hungary, Israel, England, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and the United States. He has published well over 300 book chapters, monographs and arti-cles in academic and professional journals on various aspects of disasters and disaster response. His research during the past few years includes a study of the overseas response -- including the UK response -- to the handling of the dead from the Indian Ocean tsunami. He has most recently been leading a government – funded study of Canadian mass death incidents such as that which occurred as a result of the pandemic flu virus of 1918. Professor Scanlon has attended and contributed to numerous conventions, conferences and other speaking engage-ments worldwide about his work on disasters. He is a former President of the Research Committee on Disasters, Inter-national Sociological Assn. In 2002, he received the Charles Fritz Award from the said Committee for his lifetime contri-bution to the field. He is also undoubtedly, Canada's foremost expert in the field of disaster research.

MOD Guest Speaker Profile: Joseph Scanlon

Continued on page 13

Page 13 Volume 3, Issue 4

By Judy Whidbee MA EDM Student George D. Haddow served as White House liaison for FEMA from 1993 to 2001, going on to continue his career as an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management, George Washington University, Washington D.C. Mr. Haddow is also one of two principals in the Washington-based disaster management-consulting firm, Bul-lock & Haddow, “a consortium of professionals with expertise and experience working in risk management and communications at the local, State and Federal government levels and the private sector”

http://www.bullockandhaddow.com

Mr. Haddow has co-authored three books in the Butterworth-Heineman Homeland Security Series, essential resources for students of the EDM and HS disciplines. These books include Introduction to Emergency Management, Second Edition (2005) and Third Edition (2007) both of which were co-authored with Jane A. Bullock and Damon P. Coppola, and Disaster Communica-tions in a Changing Media World (2007), co-authored with Kim S. Haddow. According to his webpage, Haddow is a Director of RedR Canada and a founding member of Bullock & Haddow LLC. Mr. Haddow is the former Deputy Chief of Staff to James Lee Witt during his tenure as Director of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). At FEMA, Mr. Haddow was responsible for policy formulation in the areas of disaster response and recovery, public/private partnerships, public information, environmental protection and disaster mitigation. He was one of the principal architects of FEMA's national disaster mitigation initiative entitled Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities. Mr. Haddow designed and established a domestic emergency response capa-bility for Save the Children that included a community-based hazard mitigation component and served as its first Direc-tor. He has worked on homeland security and emergency management projects with the Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency (FEMA), the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Hu-mane Society of the United States, The World Bank, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Global Partner-ship for Preparedness. Mr. Haddow serves as a Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Crisis, Dis-aster and Risk Management at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Mr. Haddow was the fourth speaker in the 2009-2010 Masters of Disaster Distinguished Guest Speaker Series.

and articles that are valuable resources for emergency and disaster management professionals. In 2007, Dr. Drabek received the E. L. Quarantelli Theory Award for “outstanding contributions to social science dis-aster theory” from the International Research Committee on Disasters, International Sociological Association. After re-ceiving this award, Dr. Drabek presented a lecture to the American Sociological Association in New York City. A written version of his lecture can be found on the Emergency Management Institute’s website

http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/highpapers.asp

His most recent book is titled, The Human Side of Disaster. According to the cover notes, the book, based on his years of research and teaching, “scientifically evaluates human response in the face of disaster.” By utilizing Dr. Dra-bek’s experience and research, emergency managers and response teams can learn how to anticipate how citizens may react and learn to plan for those reactions. The book also discusses combining “traditional warning methods and high-tech systems” to improve public information before, during and after a disaster. Dr. Drabek discussed his latest book as the third speaker in the 2009-2010 Masters of Disaster Distinguished Speaker Series.

MOD Guest Speaker Profile: Thomas E. Drabek

Continued from page 12

MOD Guest Speaker Profile: George Haddow

The Guardian Page 14

The purpose of the 'Masters of Disasters'-- AMU/APU 2009-2010 Guest Speaker Series is to expose AMU/APU students to the teachings and experiences of eminent members from the field of emergency and disaster management and provide an interactive opportunity. The Chapter is honored to have Dr.

Wayne Blanchard speak to us.

April 14, 2010, 5pm EDT

AMU/APU IAEM Student Chapter Presents:

Page 15 Volume 3, Issue 4

The Human Side of Disaster, by Thomas Drabek. CRC Press, 2010. 308p. From back cover: Based on the author’s years of research and teaching experience, The Human Side of Disaster scientifically evaluates human re-sponse in the face of disaster. This examination informs emergency managers and response teams and teaches them how to anticipate human reactions. It demonstrates how traditional warning methods and high-tech systems can work together to improve communication, evacuation, and reconstruction efforts. The author highlights the role of the human element in any disaster situation and demonstrates how to use that element as part of a planned disaster response.

Books of Interest

Upcoming Conferences • March 28 to April 1, 2010, 2010 Wildland Urban Interface, Reno, NV http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/iafc/wui10/public/MainHall.aspx?ID=259&sortMenu=101000 • March 31-April 2, 2010, 2010 Virginia Emergency Management Symposium, Hampton, VA http://www.vemaweb.org/content/conference/ • April 7-9, 2010, Fifth Annual Emergency Preparedness and Service Restoration for Utilities Summit, New Orleans, LA, http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/prep10 • April 23-25, 2010, Fourth Annual Wildland Fire Litigation Conference, Reno, NV http://www.wildlandfirelitigation.com/index.html • May 3-4, 2010, BioDefense 2010, Washington, DC (AMU students receive a discount!) http://biodefenseconference.com/index.html • May 11-13, 2010, 18th Annual Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Conference, Lake Buena Vista, FL http://www.nvoad.org/ • May 16-19, 2010, Eighth UCLA Conference on Public Health and Disasters, Torrance, CA http://www.cphd.ucla.edu/ • May 23-28, 2010, 24th Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference, Fort Lauderdale, FL http://www.flghc.org/ • May 26, 2010, 2010 Coastal Resilience Symposium, Houston, TX http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/CoastalResilience/index.html • June 6-9, 2010, World Conference on Disaster Management, Toronto, Canada http://www.wcdm.org/ • June 7-10, 2010, 13th Annual Emergency Management Higher Education Conference, Emmitsburg, MD http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/educonference10.asp • October 30-November 4, 2010, IAEM 58th Annual Conference & EMEX 2010, San Antonio, TX http://www.iaem.com/events/annual/intro.htm

The Unthinkable, Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why, by Amanda Ripley. Three Rivers Press, 2008. 266p. From back cover: Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earth-quakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? In her quest to answer these questions, award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley traces human responses to some of recent history’s epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917—one of the biggest explo-sions before the invention of the atomic bomb—to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. To understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts. She even has her own brain examined by military researchers and experiences, through realistic simulations, what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire. Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better—with just a little help.

The Guardian Page 16

President’s Message Continued from page 2

Failed on the 100% pledge....that was admittedly too ambitious. Though we did increase the Chapter's member ship by a remarkable 45.7%! Well done everyone. We really do need to convince the university to allow us conveniently and rea-sonably to email all students in the EDM, HS, and FM programs and invite them to join our Chapter. The larger we be-come the more influence we shall have and be better able to represent student's concerns in the IAEM and in our uni-versity. Join the Chapter! Pledge #6: I will help organize and assist in devising a smooth, efficient and prompt method to admit new members into our Chapter. Accomplished. The greatest effort re: admitting new members has come from Secretary Darren Endris. Darren has done a super job. Thanks Darren! Pledge #7: I will direct and assist in creating a monthly WEBINAR – featuring AMU/APUS students and/or faculty and/or guest speakers-- speaking and presenting on topics of interest to our field of study. These webinars would of course be open for participation to all Chapter members This has morphed into the "Masters of Disaster Distinguished Guest Speaker Series". The purpose of this series is to expose our students to the teachings of experience of eminent members from the field of emergency and disaster man-agement and allow for an interactive opportunity. The first guest speaker in the series was FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate (Nov. 2009). This was followed by Professor Emeritus Joe Scanlon (Jan. 2010), Professor Emeritus Thomas Drabek (Feb. 2010) and George Haddow (Mar. 2010). Dr. Wayne Blanchard will be our fifth guest speaker, scheduled for 5 PM EST on April 14, 2010. Each speaker was recorded with permission. All the excellent recordings are available for members to hear any time in the repository located within the Chapter's new OrgSync website. Pledge #8: I will encourage representatives of our Chapter to attend and report on conferences (for inclusion in The Guardian) or other events in EDM or HS throughout the USA and Canada (and elsewhere if feasible). Accomplished. We could perhaps expand on this approach in future issues. Pledge #9: I will be available to speak with any Chapter member about any Chapter-related matter (or other topic/issues as required) by email at dorian@kador.com or by telephone toll free on 1-800-841-9877 EST business hours). I will respond promptly to any contacts received. Accomplished. I have enjoyed speaking with fellow-students. I will maintain this offer of open contact whether I am in office or out of it. My door is always open to fellow APUS people. Of course our accomplishments have gone beyond this but you all know that so I will end by saying the following: And so my friends and fellow-students, please allow me to thank you for the privilege of serving as your President during this term of office. It has been quite a ride. Thanks so much to our fantastic Executive: VP Dawn Heyse, Secretary Darren Endris and Treasurer Jeremy Beck, to our Faculty Advisors Professor Chris Reynolds and Mike Kemp, to those student-members who came forward to help out above and beyond, such as Gail Davis, Tracy Hughes, Josh Nebelsiek, Randy Nelson, Kevin Schaller, Judy Whidbee and Chris Schwartz, to name but a few… and of course to the entire Chapter Member-ship. With such a great team, it is no wonder we are the chosen IAEM Student Chapter of the Year!

10-4,