{"id":112180,"date":"2016-05-03T09:10:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T13:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=112180"},"modified":"2016-05-03T14:53:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T18:53:35","slug":"how-uconn-stays-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/05\/how-uconn-stays-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"How UConn Stays Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

If everything goes according to plan, you may not even notice UConn\u2019s Office of Emergency Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s not always the giant, front page news-type events we deal with. — Chris Renshaw<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The office, part of the Division of Public Safety and fully staffed since January, is responsible for planning and coordinating the University\u2019s preparedness and response to a dizzying array of situations, ranging from the annual rite of move-in weekend to routine disruptions like winter storms, all the way to potentially deadly hazards. It\u2019s a huge undertaking that requires speed, efficiency, and flexibility \u2013 and mostly happens behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not always the giant, front page news-type events we deal with,\u201d UConn Fire Captain Chris Renshaw, the Fire Department\u2019s liaison to the office, says. \u201cEmergency management is a way of coordinating the University\u2019s response to everything from power outages to the spring concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although emergency preparedness had long been a part of the Division of Public Safety\u2019s mandate, it was relatively recently that the University realized that to effectively carry out that charge, a separate office was needed. Any given incident can require action from a huge range of diverse units at UConn, from Facilities to Transportation to Athletics to the Police Department. Bringing them all together, and coordinating an effective response to an incident that could last hours or even days, is something that can\u2019t be handled on a catch-as-catch-can basis.<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/a>
Crowd events, such as welcoming back the returning national championship women’s basketball team (shown at Storrs Center in 2014), require a coordinated response. (Bret Eckhardt\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s where the new office \u2013 in which Renshaw works with UConn Police Lt. Christopher Casa and emergency management specialists Blaize Levitan and Mary Rose Duberek \u2013 comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve become the central collaborative point for operations, administration, and academics to be on the same page for preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery of a significant event that affects not only UConn but the communities that surround us,\u201d Renshaw says.<\/p>\n

While most of OEM\u2019s work happens in the background of daily events, the office has embraced the opportunity to help the broader public prepare for emergencies \u2013 whether that means students, faculty, or neighbors in the surrounding town.<\/p>\n

The division\u2019s web page, http:\/\/publicsafety.uconn.edu\/emergency\/<\/a>, is a recently launched resource packed with information on responding to specific hazards, making plans for general preparedness, a glossary for some of the common emergency operations terminology that may sound strange to the uninitiated, and more.<\/p>\n

Particularly important to the office\u2019s approach, Renshaw says, are the individual parts of the site intended for specific audiences: students, parents, faculty and staff, and community partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cA critical incident doesn\u2019t affect everyone in the exact same way, so we wanted to take a more holistic approach to preparedness, and really consider all the different stakeholders,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As a result, there are guides specifically for \u2013 for example \u2013 businesses, places of worship, and neighbors, while other information is tailored for the needs of students.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Facilities truck plows snow on the Storrs campus. Winter storms are just one of the disruptions the Office of Emergency Management anticipates and prepares for. (Bret Eckhardt\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The office has also launched a safety and awareness campaign \u2013 called UConnREADY \u2013 that incorporates everything from social media to posters in residence halls and public spaces, all to promote a greater understanding of the importance of being ready for the unexpected.<\/p>\n

So far, the office has been active in events ranging from winter weather to the victory celebration that followed the women\u2019s basketball team\u2019s record-breaking 11th national championship, and Renshaw says the dividends of the new approach are already apparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t develop plans at a snail\u2019s pace if they need to be used in an emergency tomorrow,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve built an office based on the understanding that, because of the nature of the work, it\u2019s important to do things right the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new Office of Emergency Management prepares for everything from move-in to tornadoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":112178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2225,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-112180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 01:42:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112180"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112250,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112180\/revisions\/112250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/112178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112180"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=112180"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=112180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}