A farewell message from your outgoing President

I recently sent this e-mail to our membership:

“Fellow students,

I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to your 2013-2014 officers:

President: Mike Carroll, mwc18@zips.uakron.edu
Vice President: Mike Jones, mrj24@zips.uakron.edu
Treasurer: Jim Donaldson, jwd21@zips.uakron.edu

Today, I met briefly with Mike Carroll and Dr. Schwartz.  Mike expressed some of his ideas for leading this group and I’m confident that he will do a great job as your President.  I’m also pleased that he’ll have some excellent support from Mike Jones (who led the Fire Protection Society this past year) and Jim Donaldson (one of our trusted vets/a conference attendee last year).  Please give these guys your support as they take charge of this chapter.  Their term begins effective immediately.

I’d like to thank Dr. Schwartz for his guidance and support as our advisor over the last couple of years that I’ve worked with him.  He’s been a tremendous asset to the group.  And, finally, I’d like to thank all of you for working with me as I led the chapter.  Getting to know so many EM students from our program has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of leading a group like this.  I’ll still be around campus both as a student and as an employee.  If I can be of any help to any of you, please don’t hesitate to contact me at bgc2@zips.uakron.edu.

Have a great summer!

Regards,

Brian Crisan
President, IAEM, Univ. of Akron Student Chapter”

Election 2013: Cast your vote by May 9th

Elections for next year’s officers are now underway.  Click on the link below to access the election ballot:

Click to access 363551_IAEM%202013-2014%20Ballot%20v3.0.pdf

Your vote is due to Dr. Schwartz by Thursday, May 9th.  Note that this is during exam week.  If you did not previously nominate yourself for a position, but you still wish to do so, you may write your name in your desired position on the ballot linked above.

Any questions, e-mail Brian Crisan, President, at bgc2@zips.uakron.edu.

Want to become an officer next year?

Are you interested in leading IAEM next year?  At the end of this semester, three of our current officers will end their terms due to graduation,which will leave vacancies in our Executive Board.  In accordance with our Constitution, elections are held each Spring and all officer positions are open for nominations.

To submit your nomination to lead IAEM, complete this form by April 17th: https://orgsync.com/36201/forms/70473

Nominations are being accepted starting today in an effort to give students ample time to submit their nominations.  Terms of office for next year begin at the conclusion of this semester.  Information on how to vote will be made available in future e-mails.

Joining IAEM as a member of the Executive Committee is a valuable opportunity.  By joining IAEM, you can work with your fellow students to coordinate events like the chapter’s annual trip to the IAEM conference.  Becoming an officer also gives you a valuable chance to build relationships with our faculty, who use our chapter as a way to communicate job/internship opportunities, training opportunities, and program announcements to EM students.

I hope you’ll consider submitting your nomination.  Any questions, Brian Crisan, President, at bgc2@zips.uakron.edu.

Threat Assessment class attendees: Check your e-mail

If you are registered for the upcoming Threat and Risk Assessment class we’re hosting, you were just sent an e-mail with additional information.  Please note: if you’re a non-UA attendee, this e-mail contains an attachment for a parking permit you should place in your vehicle after you park in one of our commuter lots.

An excerpt from the e-mail:

“Greetings from the University of Akron!

You are receiving this e-mail to remind you that you have registered for a Threat and Risk Assessment course that will be hosted on our campus.  The two-day course begins at 8:00 am on Wednesday, January 9th and will conclude on January 10th.  The course is being hosted in our Student Union, Ballroom A (3rd floor) at 303 Carroll Street, Akron, OH 44325.  If you are unfamiliar with this building, click here for a map of this address.”

I look forward to meeting all of you at this class next week.  Any questions or comments, please e-mail me at bgc2@zips.uakron.edu.

IAEM to host Threat and Risk Assessment class in January

On January 9th and 10th, 2013, IAEM is hosting a Threat and Risk Assessment Course from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in the Student Union, Ballroom A.  This course is being taught by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), which is an organization that delivers training in support of DHS-FEMA’s Homeland Security National Training Program (HSNTP).  This course is DHS-FEMA funded, which means it is free to you.

Interested in attending?  E-mail President Brian Crisan at bgc2@zips.uakron.edu for details.  We are initially limiting registration to our own students, alumni, and invited partners.  This is an excellent training opportunity and I highly recommend that you take advantage of it.  (Please note, this class is scheduled for the week before the Spring 2013 semester starts.  Therefore, you will need to come to campus early if you wish to participate.)

An overview of this course is below:

Overview

This course prepares emergency response managers, community leaders, private sector, non-government organizations, and tribal leaders to conduct a comprehensive, capabilities-based threat and risk assessment for terrorism/all-hazards incidents under the National Response Framework (NRF), National Preparedness Guidelines and Homeland Security Presidential Directives. Participant activities focus on the jurisdictional process for determining ability to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) and natural disaster events.  Participants will identify shortfalls, perform gap analysis, and develop a needs assessment to fill shortfalls/gaps identified within the preparedness cycle. The course delivery combines lecture, small group discussions, participant activities, and multimedia scenarios to improve the multi disciplinary emergency teams’ capability to prevent, protect, respond to, or recover from all-hazards mass casualty events.

Scope

The scope of this course addresses a number of priorities and capabilities that the Department of Homeland Security is encouraging state and local jurisdictions to establish. This course assists with establishing priorities under the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), and the National Response Framework to include the National Planning Scenarios, National Preparedness Guidelines, the Universal Task List, and the Target Capabilities List. This course meets the criteria for Capabilities Based-Planning for Emergency Responder Agencies in the four Mission Areas (Prevention, Protection, Response, and Recovery).

November General Meeting

IAEM’s November General Meeting will be held this Thursday, November 8th, at 5 pm in the Student Union, Room 314.

Please join us as fellow members discuss their experiences from the IAEM Annual Conference that was held in Orlando, October 26th-31st. This will be very beneficial if you are interested in attending next years conference.

We will be voting on changes to the amendments discussed at the last general meeting. We will also consider the possiblity of making a monetary donation to another organization for their recovery efforts in response to Hurricane Sandy.

 

Akron chapter wins Chapter of the Year Award

Student Council President Michael Kelley and members of the UA chapter were awarded the 2012 Chapter of the Year award in Orlando.

We’re proud to announce that our chapter has been named the 2012 Chapter of the Year by the IAEM Student Council Awards Committee. A designee accepted the award this morning at the IAEM-USA 60th Annual Conference & EMEX at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The Chapter of the Year Award recognizes a chapter within IAEM’s Student Council that has made significant contributions in promoting IAEM, the Student Council, and the field of emergency management through public awareness, increasing membership, showing leadership and initiative in education, and increasing the professionalism of emergency and disaster management.

“Our chapter has provided our students with invaluable opportunities to learn about emergency management, to participate in disaster exercises, and to develop leadership skills,” the nomination reads. Among our accomplishments, the nomination cites a number of items as evidence that our chapter has worked hard to earn the award, including: an increase in membership, increased outreach to the campus community, our annual trip to the Ohio EMA/DHS headquarters in Columbus, our participation in exercises both with the University and with the Cleveland Clinic, and our summer training session on the ACAMS Critical Infrastructure Database.

ABIA seeks volunteers to simulate victims for class

The following announcement was passed on to me by our advisor, Dr. Robert M. Schwartz:

“The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) is conducting Hospital Emergency Response Team (HERT) Training and will need 15 volunteers to act as victims for their exercise. Students are needed on Wednesday, October 24 from 10:30-3:30.  ABIA is located at 47 Main Street.  It is useful to experience various types of exercises and your participation can be listed on your resume.

If you are interested in participating, please sign up by e-mailing Dr. Schwartz at rms73@uakron.edu.

An invitation to our October general meeting

From an e-mail just sent to our students regarding our next general meeting:

Fellow IAEM members,

Just a reminder that our next general meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 11th, 2012 at 5:00 pm in Polsky 550L, which is in the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing on the 5th floor of the Polsky Building.

A meeting agenda is available online, here: https://orgsync.com/36201/files/283800/download.  If you wish to add something to this agenda, please complete the following form by Wedneday, October 10th, 2012: https://orgsync.com/36201/forms/50602.

A second meeting will likely be scheduled by our Treasurer, Ara Post (akp18@zips.uakron.edu), and our Public Relations Representative, Amanda Giovenco (ajg17@zips.uakron.edu) – to accommodate students who cannot attend Thursday meetings due to their class schedule.  Contact one of them for further information on this meeting.

Although RSVPs are not required, it generally is helpful if members RSVP via OrgSync.  If you’re not familiar with OrgSync, read this.  (Think Facebook for student organizations.)  I highly recommend that you register with the website (using your UANet ID and password) and that you join IAEM after registration.

Akron chapter wins Chapter Development Grant

The following is an e-mail that was sent to our students on September 24th:

“Fellow students,

I’m pleased to announce that our parent organization, the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), has awarded our chapter a Chapter Development Grant in the amount of $300.00.  We submitted a proposal to the parent organization requesting the funds in order to facilitate a zombie apocalypse-themed preparedness event for our campus community.

We now have a great opportunity to coordinate a fun and informative event.  We’ll need your help!  If you’re interested in helping plan and execute this event, please contact me and let me know.”

The inspiration for this proposal was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) successful public service advertising (PSA) campaign featuring a zombie apocalypse theme.  It is our chapter’s hope that utilizing this theme, we can reach a broader audience on our campus and spread the message of preparedness to those who may not normally encounter it.