**May 26, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) BOOKS RECEIVED:

Bergen, Peter. Holy War: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden Inc.
London: Phoenix Paperback, 2002, 303 pages.

Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge - Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans,
and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. New York: William Morrow, 2006, 716
pages.

\(2\) EMER.MGMT. & HOMELAND SECURITY/DEFENSE HIGHER EDUCATION
CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-8, 2006:

Received several abstracts of papers/presentations to be delivered
during the Distance Learning Breakout Session, as well as a paper and
power point presentation on \"Catastrophe Readiness & Response
Perspectives,\" by FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer, Scott Wells. All
were forwarded to the EMI Webmaster for upload to the Pre Conference
Papers section within the Conference box on the EM HiEd homepage, and to
Admin Support for incorporation into the Conference Participant
Notebooks.

\(3\) FEMA:

United Press International. \"Labor Union Says FEMA Not Ready.\" May 25,
2006. Accessed at:

<http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060525-023935-9627r>

\(4\) FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY, TALLAHASSEE \-- EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

CONCENTRATION:

Talked with Dr. David Jackson, Chair of the History and Political
Science Department at Florida A&M, who notes that a new
Concentration/Minor in Emergency Management has been approved for his
department and incorporated into the Fall 2006 Catalog. Several
emergency management courses have been taught at Florida A&M for several
years. Now these, and other new courses, will officially comprise a
Bachelor\'s level concentration or minor. The Project Assistant will
soon (after the conference) be developing a description of this program
for incorporation into the College List on the Project website. In the
meantime, for additional information, Dr. Jackson can be reached at:
850-561-2162.

\(5\) HURRICANE \"SEASON\"

Pickoff-White, Lisa. \"Active 2006 Hurricane Season Predicted.\"

Washington, DC: The National Academies, Science in the Headlines, May
25, 2006.

Note: At the end of this short article are tabs for additional material,
such as:

Lessons Learned Between Hurricanes\... (Disaster Roundtable Workshop
Summary, March 8, 2005)

Communicating Uncertainties in Weather and Climate Information

Improving Effectiveness of US\> Climate Modeling

Making Climate Forecasts Matter.

\(6\) MITIGATION:

Sacramento Bee (CA). \"Editorial: A Life Jacket - Two Flood Bills, Still
Afloat, Come Up Today.\" May 25, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14260003p-15074029c.html]{.underline}](http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14260003p-15074029c.html)

\(7\) NATIONAL DISASTER MEDICAL SYSTEM:

Evans, Ben. \"Panel Votes to Shift Medical Disaster System From DHS.\"

CongressDaily, May 25, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34181&dcn=e_gvet]{.underline}](http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34181&dcn=e_gvet)

\(8\) NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM:

Gruenwald, Juliana. \"Senate Banking Panel Approves Flood Insurance
Bill.\" CongressDaily, May 25, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34191&dcn=e_gvet]{.underline}](http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34191&dcn=e_gvet)

\(9\) PREPAREDNESS:

Avilla, Jennifer. \"Companies Can Teach All Officials How to Plan for
Hurricane Season.\" The Enterprise (Beaumont, TX), May 26, 2006.

Accessed at:

<http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16696864&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512589&rfi=6>

Centers For Disease Control. \"Fact Sheet: CDC Makes Preparedness a
Priority.\" May 19, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs060519.htm]{.underline}](http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs060519.htm)

Department of Homeland Security. \"Fact Sheet: Strengthening
Preparedness for Hurricane Season.\" Washington, DC: DHS, May 23, 2006.

Accessed at:
[[http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5647]{.underline}](http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5647)

Marino, Jonathan. \"Pentagon Seeks Earlier Emergency Declarations.\"

Government Executive - Daily Brief, May 25, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34187&dcn=e_gvet]{.underline}](http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34187&dcn=e_gvet)

Mohr, Holbrook. \"FEMA Can\'t Build From the Top Down, MEMA Director
Says.\" Associated Press, May 26, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/14671182.htm]{.underline}](http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/14671182.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"If the federal government continues to prepare for natural
disasters from Washington while neglecting local and state agencies,
\"we will fail,\" outgoing Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
Director Robert Latham warned Thursday. Latham\'s comments came after he
testified Wednesday before Congress. \"I think the most important thing
to understand\... is that we can\'t build our emergency preparedness
capability from the top down,\" Latham said.\" Note: I strongly agree
and would argue that colleges and universities with hazard, disaster,
emergency management, and homeland security courses seek to focus on
local community capacity building \-- for, of course, the full range of
hazards facing the community. A national emergency management system
needs to be a melding of bottom-up and top-down approaches and
programs.\]

\(10\) TERRORISM AND CHEMICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:

National Research Council, Committee on Assessing Vulnerabilities
Relating to the Nation\'s Chemical Infrastructure. Terrorism and the
Chemical Infrastructure: Protecting People and Reducing Vulnerabilities.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, May 2006, 110 pages (pdf
download version). Accessed at:

[[http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20060525.html]{.underline}](http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20060525.html)

\(11\) UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON, PA \-- MANDATORY EM COURSE; INVESTIGATING
EM CONCENTRATION:

Barbara Johnson, the EM HiEd Project Assistant spoke today with John
Sanko, EdD, University of Scranton, Chair, Department of Physical
Therapy. Dr. Sanko noted that at a recent meeting of the deans in the
College of Professional Studies decided an emergency management course
should be introduced and made mandatory for all departments of the
college. The College of Professional Studies houses degree programs in
Human Services, Education, Counseling, Human Resources, Health
Administration, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and
Exercise Science. The College of Professional Studies is, in addition to
the development of an emergency management survey course, seriously
exploring the possibility of a concentration in emergency management.
Dr. Sanko is the chair of the committee tasked with the responsibility
of introducing emergency management to the University of Scranton. John
Sanko can be reached at <sankoj1@scranton.edu>

B. Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, N-430

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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