FEMA Administrator to speak at SSU

Craig Fugate Savannah State University (SSU) will host Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. in the Jordan Building auditorium on the campus.

Fugate will join campus and community officials to talk about preparedness issues, both on college campuses and in coastal Georgia. The Homeland Security and Emergency Management Student Organization (HSEMSO), a student chapter of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), is organizing the program on personal preparedness, which is free and open to the public.

Fugate was nominated by President Barack Obama in March and confirmed by the Senate in May 2009 to lead FEMA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

As administrator of FEMA, Fugate oversees federal emergency preparedness, response and recovery policies and activities.

Launched at Savannah State in 2007, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) program was the first bachelor’s degree of its kind in Georgia and the first in the nation at a historically black college or university. The degree program prepares students for public and private sector positions in the growing field of emergency management and homeland security to improve disaster outcomes.

In 2008, DHS awarded the university a $300,000 scientific leadership grant to explore and improve emergency policy and planning for underserved and socially vulnerable populations, including those in Chatham County, over a three-year period.