Named by Gov. Hogan, executive director of emergency management becomes first from a university to serve on this statewide council.
In a significant advancement for emergency management in higher education, Jonathan Bratt, MS, executive director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Office of Emergency Management, has been appointed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to serve on the Governor’s Emergency Management Advisory Council (GEMAC). Bratt will be the first-ever representative from a university to serve on the council.
“It’s a huge honor to serve and to add the higher education perspective to the GEMAC,” Bratt says. “I want to ensure our partners in the emergency management community are aware of the unique issues colleges and universities face as well as the resources we can provide the greater community.”
One of those issues is that many colleges and universities do not have a formal emergency management program. Bratt hopes to grow and expand emergency management’s mission statewide across colleges and universities. Over the past year, Bratt has made a point of meeting partners from other institutions of higher education who handle emergency management responsibilities. Often, the task of building and maintaining an emergency management program is a collateral duty of existing campus departments.
“Everyone is doing good work,” Bratt says, “but we are often adding emergency management responsibilities to departments with already limited resources. Building an emergency management program and designating officials will enable better collaboration, resource sharing, and a reduction in duplication of efforts across the institutions.”
By joining GEMAC, Bratt will champion the expansion of emergency management to all institutions of higher learning and looks to ensure coordination among these programs. As these programs expand, he hopes to also grow the network among university, local, and state emergency management officials.
“We all have the ability to add value to each other’s programs,” Bratt says. “As our emergency management program continues to grow at UMB, we will look to reach beyond our campus and share our knowledge and resources with other emergency management programs and, now, with the GEMAC as well.”
To learn more about UMB’s Office of Emergency Management, visit www.umaryland.edu/emergency