Carol Cwiak, associate professor of emergency management, has been accepted to participate in the 2016 Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency Management Executive Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

The academy's program is designed to enhance strategic leadership for senior executives involved with multi-jurisdictional, national and international homeland security and emergency management policy development.

“I expect to participate in a thoughtful dialogue with others who engaged in, and committed to, advancing the emergency management community's goals and directives,” Cwiak said.

The cohort is limited annually to 40 participants, who will attend four weeks of offerings during the year at the Emergency Management Institute. The courses focus on leadership, emergency management decision-making and policy, scientific findings and societal trends affecting the practice of emergency management. The courses are sponsored by Harvard University, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative; University of Hawaii – National Disaster Preparedness Training Center; U.S. Naval Post Graduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security; and Texas A&M Engineering and Extension Service – National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center.

In a letter of support for Cwiak’s nomination, Daniel Klenow, head of the Department of Emergency Management, wrote, “Professor Cwiak is a leader in emergency management education, practice and research and has provided significant support to emergency management practice through our university’s Disaster Resistant University Initiative, and also, more recently, providing key planning support through her work on the Ready Campus Initiative grant from the Department of Education.”

Cwiak, who holds a law degree and a doctorate in emergency management, has worked with the Emergency Management Institute and the FEMA Higher Education Program with issues such as strategic planning, course development and delivery, higher education research and the Principles of Emergency Management.

Cwiak also served on the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services Advisory Committee and partners on projects with emergency management agencies and public and private sector partners at the local, state, national and international level.

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