The Emergency Management Unit, established in 2004 in large part to manage Homeland Security terrorism prevention programs for the UW-Madison campus and several of the UW System schools, has rapidly expanded into other areas of emergency preparedness. The unit coordinates various university and community entities to ensure that the UW-Madison students, faculty, staff, visitors and the community are prepared to respond to emergencies, recover from them, and mitigate against their impacts. Emergency Management also works closely with several of our campus partners to develop and implement UW-Madison’s crisis communication plan.
Crisis and disaster events require campuses to not only prepare for such events, but they also require an understanding of response capabilities and limitations. It is impossible to predict exactly when a crisis or disaster will occur, or the extent to which they might affect the campus. Through deliberate planning, preparing, and training, UW-Madison can greatly minimize losses from such events.
When an emergency occurs, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) would be activated. During the activation, key university leadership would meet together to facilitate sheltering of evacuees, search and rescue, law enforcement, debris removal, and to provide needed resources.
The Emergency Management Unit is also responsible for developing and maintaining the campus-wide Crisis Response Plan (CRP), facilitating the completion of Occupant Emergency Plans (OEP) for each facility on campus, and coordinating Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) for all UW System schools. The unit provides training and information on all 4 phases of emergency management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.
We encourage everyone to familiarize themselves with the information, tips and resources on this site to help you plan and prepare yourself and your family for any type of emergency. Think about how you would respond to different critical incidents and have game plans in mind; every second may count. Awareness and prevention is everyone’s responsibility.
