Emergency Exercise to Pilot New DHS Campus Resilience Initiative

The university is one of four institutions of higher learning supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by participating in a new initiative through its Campus Resilience Program.

DHS’ Office of Academic Engagement (OAE), in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has developed a new Exercise Starter Kit to assist colleges and universities build and refine response training and exercises to enhance their emergency plans and capabilities. The purpose of the Exercise Starter Kit Initiative is to provide colleges and universities with a pre-developed package of templates that can be used to facilitate self-conducted emergency exercises. As a pilot school, UMass Amherst will provide feedback on the Exercise Start Kit before it is launched nationwide.

As a pilot for the Exercise Starter Kit, the UMass Amherst Emergency Operations Center team, comprised of personnel representing leaders from functional areas throughout campus who are responsible for carrying out response and recovery actions of the university during an emergency, will participate in a facilitated emergency exercise focused on an active shooter threat scenario impacting the campus community.

“Our work to prepare our campus community to respond to incidents and emergencies is an ever-evolving goal,” said Jeffrey Hescock, director of university emergency management and business continuity. “Being part of this initiative is one more opportunity to review, train and refine our plans for response and recovery at UMass Amherst. The work that the OAE has done on this program will help more than just our campus when it is rolled out to other campuses across the country.”