March 13, 2009
St. John’s University’s Study Abroad and Emergency Preparedness
Conference was held yesterday at its Queens Campus before more than
80 local and neighboring college and university professionals. The
one-day seminar, a follow-up to St. John’s successful Urban Hazards
Campus Safety Conference last year, featured eight safety experts
who examined best practices for schools that have students studying
abroad.
View the photo gallery
With more than 200,000 American students currently studying abroad
and that number projected to increase in the next decade to over
500,000, colleges and universities are restructuring their
emergency plans to incorporate their study abroad student populace.
The study abroad safety theme at this year’s conference was
designed to bring in leading experts from local, state and federal
agencies to address these issues and present their strategic
initiatives. The expert panel included:
- Thomas J. Fargione, NY State Emergency
Management Office - Deputy Director for Response - “
Creating a Viable Emergency Management Plan”
- John Rendeiro, International SOS - Vice
President Global Security and Intelligence - “
Reviewing Your Emergency Response Capabilities and
Options”
- Bernard Tolbert, National Basketball
Association- Sr. Vice President, NBA - “
American Athletes Abroad”
- Elena Carrington, United States Department of
State; Overseas Security Advisory Counsel (OSAC) - “How Students
Make Attractive Targets: Crisis Management”
Part I,
Part II
- Yolanda Parra, United States Department of
State, Consulate Affairs - American Citizen’s Services Officer -
“
What if Something Happens?”
- David Dunn, American Red Cross in Greater
NY- Director, Disaster Staffing & Partner Groups - “
The American Red Cross International Disaster Response
Team”
- Rachel Marcus, Research Officer from the
Institute of International Education – “
Trends in Study Abroad Program”
- William Ho, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of
Investigation – “Counter-Intelligence Domain Program: Academic
Alliance, College and Security Efforts”
“The collaborative effort between colleges and universities of
higher education today is essential in managing emergency planning
expectations,” said Gerard A. McEnerney, Assistant Vice President
and Executive Director – Staten Island Campus & University
Emergency Management at St. John’s University. “There’s an
expression, ‘You fight the last war’…and as much as our focus is on
campus safety here in the U.S., we all admittedly are sending more
and more students abroad. We thought it was very important
that we create this format, gather these experts and reach out to
our colleagues to share ideas and engage in dialogue while learning
best practices to ask the important questions.”
Highlights of the conference included integration of Study Abroad
programs and student-athlete travel, and the challenges that
athletic departments, academicians and emergency response
professionals face as they better organize their Emergency
Preparedness planning. The seminar also provided an informative and
educational opportunity to interact and ask questions of the expert
panelists during the day-long presentation format and included a
panel discussion to culminate the day’s activities.
St. John’s is committed to its study abroad programs in providing a
safe academic learning experience to all University students.
Studying abroad can be a life-changing experience opening minds to
new ways of thinking and St. John’s offers a vast network of
overseas sites for its students all across the globe and at campus
locations in Rome, Italy and Paris, France. For more information on
study abroad initiatives visit the St. John’s University web site
at www.stjohns.edu/globalstudies.
Interested media representatives can contact Dominic Scianna,
Assistant Vice President for Media Relations at St. John’s
University by calling (718) 990-6185 or e-mail inquiries to sciannad@stjohns.edu. News
and information regarding St. John’s can be found by visiting the
University web site at www.stjohns.edu/news.