That’s where alum Joshua Holder ’19 has found his purpose.

A public relations outreach specialist for Osceola County Fire Rescue and EMS (Emergency Medical Services), Holder serves as the communication bridge between the community and those who work to protect them every day.

“You never go to bed wondering what you’re doing it for,” says Holder. “There’s always a tangible, significant impact you can turn back to and say, ‘This is why.’”

Finding His Calling

Holder grew up in Central Florida surrounded by public servants. His father spent a career in the fire service with Seminole County Fire Department. His mother worked in healthcare and education. His grandfather served in the military.

The pull toward serving others was something Holder felt called from a young age, and his time at �鶹ӳ����ý helped solidify what that would eventually look like for him.

It’s where he found the bachelor’s in public administration with a minor in emergency management and homeland security. Housed in the College of Community Innovation and Education (CCIE), the program’s emphasis on public budgeting, intergovernmental relations and the mechanics of how government functions — especially during major emergencies — gave him a foundation that has served him at every stage of his career since.

“The public administration degree provided me with a comfortable understanding of what it would be like working in the public sector, no matter where I ended up,” he says. “The knowledge of public budgeting, public processes, intergovernmental relations — all of that has been extremely helpful in allowing me to navigate and be successful in my role.”

Gaining Valuable Experience as a Student

As a �鶹ӳ����ý student, Holder interned with the Seminole County Office of Emergency Management, which revealed his passion for public affairs and communications work in government. When he expressed that interest openly during the internship, doors opened. He connected with people working in community relations and public affairs for the county, which ultimately led to a full-time job offer that launched the career he has today.

“Without that internship, I would not have been able to pivot into the career I have now,” says Holder.

As part of the roughly 85% of �鶹ӳ����ý graduates who stay in the state to build their careers and contribute to Florida’s economy, Holder continues to find community through his beloved alma mater through his leadership roles on both �鶹ӳ����ý’s Young Alumni board and CCIE’s College Alumni Council.

“I knew when I graduated that I wanted to connect more with the university,” says Holder, who was recognized as a �鶹ӳ����ý Alumni 30 Under 30 recipient in 2024. “By being actively involved with �鶹ӳ����ý Alumni, you get an opportunity to see and support the incredible work that’s being done across so many different disciplines and meet people who feel the same. You can make professional connections through �鶹ӳ����ý Alumni — I’ve also made some of the best friends that I have through [these experiences].”

Outreach in Public Service

As one of the largest fire rescue and EMS department in Central Florida, Osceola County Fire Rescue serves nearly 500,000 residents and millions of visitors across more than 1,500 square miles of unincorporated county.

Holder’s role sits at the center of all of it in shaping how the public learns, understands and interacts with the department before emergencies even occur.

From media relations to social media, community events and internal communications, his job is to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between the department and community — whether they are here to stay or just passing through.

“As a public service, we are always striving to demonstrate to the community that we are here, we are ready and we are capable,” Holder says. “When we showcase the amazing people that we have in our organization, or the incredible training that we do on a wide variety of different response disciplines, all of those things hopefully create a sense of comfort and security among folks in the community so that they know they can call us.”

They’re already renowned researchers and experts in emergency management. Now, professors and are expanding their impact to the federal level after being hand-selected for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Vanguard Executive Crisis Leaders Fellowship.

The fellowship, housed within FEMA’s National Disaster and Emergency Management University (NDEMU), brings together top crisis leaders from across the nation to strengthen the future of emergency and crisis management. Emrich was selected for the 11th cohort in New Orleans (May 11-15) and Washington D.C. (June 22-26), and Knox will join the 12th in Washington D.C. (July 20-24) and Houston (Aug. 17-21).

Researchers Sought Out by FEMA

Prior to joining the s Emergency Management and Homeland Security program, Emrich and Knox each worked with FEMA in separate capacities.

Emrich spent years working in the organization, from mapping hurricane impacts in Florida in 2004 to helping rebuild trust in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Knox has worked with FEMA through its Higher Education Program, which she has participated in since 2011, lead focus group initiatives, established an annual award, and aided in training curriculum development.

When assembling these new cohorts, FEMA sought out and hand-selected each of them. Typically, it is rare to include multiple academics in these groups, let alone two from one university in consecutive cohorts.

“The fact that there’s two of us from �鶹ӳ����ý is a really big deal,” Knox says.

“By bringing together these multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral leaders, it will help us better prepare for uncertainty in future disasters.” — Chris Emrich

FEMA formed the program’s cohort model knowing that the future of disaster response depends not on any single agency or sector but on the strength of connections between them. Each cohort brings together crisis leaders from government, academia, nonprofits and the private sector to build the kind of cross-sectoral networks that are nearly impossible to forge during an actual disaster.

“This program is part of a more recent attempt to try to engage across sectors more efficiently,” Emrich says. “By bringing together these multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral leaders, it will help us better prepare for uncertainty in future disasters.”

Strengthening the Field, Benefiting Students

Emrich and Knox will participate in roundtable seminars, site visits and discussions with fellow experts to examine emerging risks and shifts in the emergency management landscape, explore leadership frameworks for navigating crises, and brainstorm strategies to strengthen the field, all while building this trusted, cross-sector network.

Knox sees the fellowship as a chance to build new partnerships and bring national insights back to �鶹ӳ����ý, ultimately benefiting students.

“Emergency management changes constantly,” she says. “We don’t have the luxury of rinse and repeat. This gives us another avenue to bring the latest thinking directly into our courses. I’m looking forward to exploring these issues through both the lens of researcher and the lens of program director.”

Emrich also sees opportunities for expanding research and collaboration by learning where those in the field are currently struggling.

“I’d love to be a fly on the wall to hear what people’s troubles are,” he says. “In academia, we’re fortunate to have the time to think about these things and reflect on how to better support them. Those insights turn into grant proposals, student support and expanding the knowledge base.”

Enhancing �鶹ӳ����ý’s Cutting-Edge Research

The fellowship also aligns with emerging research areas that �鶹ӳ����ý is already exploring when it comes to cutting-edge innovations in crisis management.

For example, Emrich is currently using AI to build educational games that teach students about social vulnerability. What would once have taken years of programming work can now be produced from existing course materials and exercise content — opening the door to educational tools that weren’t previously feasible.

“What AI has been able to produce from my knowledge is something I could not have produced on my own,” Emrich says. “One of the things emergency managers are grappling with now is how to use AI productively. I look forward to being part of the conversation.”

Knox is interested in real-time digital replicas of communities, called “digital twins,” that can be used to model disaster scenarios, as well as to test recovery and mitigation plans before they’re needed.

“A lot of emergency management boots-on-the-ground work is to help make decisions with the incomplete information in a very timely manner,” Knox says. “We’re looking at how AI can complement critical thinking skills with new capabilities. I’ve seen it take off in engineering and computer sciences disciplines using real-time social media data to understand evacuation patterns.”

Beyond their individual research, both professors see the fellowship as a catalyst for something bigger within �鶹ӳ����ý and beyond. They hope it will help them identify new ways to connect expanded emergency management expertise across disciplines.

“M���Բ� faculty members in different departments are doing research that can actively support emergency management,” Emrich says. “I think it might be incumbent upon us to come back to the university and say, ‘This is where we need to be. This is how we connect all of our different experts, stakeholders and partners to make our program even stronger.”

�鶹ӳ����ý Professor Christopher Emrich, an expert in hazard science, social vulnerability, disaster recovery and community resiliency, has plenty of experience with hurricanes. He’s worked with FEMA and other federal agencies to identify vulnerabilities in communities affected by hurricanes and to develop resiliency strategies.

As part of �鶹ӳ����ý’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, Emrich conducts studies into planning for and responding to disasters.

Here he offers some do’s and don’t’s to help you get ready for hurricane season

The Do’s

1. Get flood insurance. If you do not live in a flood zone the average cost is $660 a year for $250,000 worth of coverage. One inch of flood water can cause more than $25,000 in damage.
2. Make sure you have enough supplies for seven days.
3. Start preparing as early as possible. Pick up an extra gallon of water every time you go to the grocery store until you have 7 gallons per person — 1 gallon per day for seven days. Or buy a WaterBob or similar product that will turn your bathtub into a storage tank.
4. Buy non-perishable foods that are full of protein, like peanut butter. Two tablespoons provide enough energy to get through a meal time during an emergency.
5. Get 5-gallon buckets with fitted lids from Home Depot, Walmart or similar stores. These are great for storing electronics, batteries, chargers, important documents, medicines and food. Properly closing the lids on these buckets also allows them to float.
6. Establish a designated shelter area where you’ll keep emergency supplies in your home so you’re not scrambling around to find them. Do not raid your supplies once you have them ready. You can use them and replenish after hurricane season.
7. Make an evacuation plan. Make sure you and everyone in your family knows where to meet in case anyone gets separated. Talk through the plan often so everyone is on the same page. DO NOT wait until an evacuation order is issued to create a plan. Failure to plan = planned failure.
8. Turn on emergency notifications on your mobile devices. Based on your location, new warning systems can send messages with weather updates, alerts and other useful information. These alerts can be more up-to-date than newscasts, so you should trust them for the most accurate information. Take shelter when instructed.
9. Keep an emergency escape tool in each of your vehicles. This may come in handy for cutting seatbelts or breaking glass in an emergency.
10. Check on neighbors, especially those who are elderly or need extra help before, during and after emergencies.

�ٴDz�’t’��

1. Don’t let your car’s gas tank get below half-full at any point during the summer.
2. Don’t think you know more than weather experts. Instead, listen to trained emergency management officials, meteorologists and other leaders whose job it is to keep you informed and safe.
3.  Don’t bother taping up your windows because it doesn’t reduce the risk of them blowing out. This is especially true for people living apartments. Plus, it will only cause problems when removing the tape.
4.  Don’t drive through flooded streets, even if you’re very familiar with the street. A few inches of water can move a vehicle. Sinkholes may also develop on flooded roads and you won’t be able to see them.

Resources

In the event of a storm, �鶹ӳ����ý will provide communication with instructions on closures, depending on the weather conditions pre-and post-hurricanes. Our priority it to keep you safe. All students and employees automatically are signed up to receive these messages, and settings can be updated via . A parent, spouse or other secondary contact’s email address also can be added, allowing them to receive the updates.

In the meantime, here’s some information we hope you find useful to help you prepare at home.

Florida Hurricane Preparedness Tax Free Holiday: June 1-14

Floridians can purchase qualified hurricane preparedness related items such as batteries and generators and will not be required to pay sales tax. This year the holiday is earlier to encourage people to plan early. Click for a list of qualified items.

Families with special needs are encouraged to sign up with the , which is a part of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, to get information about resources in preparation and during a storm emergency.

Personalized disaster plans are critical and .

Communicating with children about disasters can help alleviate stress. This website offers tips, games and age specific information for families.

Planning for pets is also important. Floridadisaster.org offers advice for pet and livestock management.

Emergency kits can make all the difference for riding out a storm. Do you have all the ?

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is estimated to be highly active. Projections suggest 24 named storms, with 11 anticipated to become hurricanes, according to The Weather Channel and Atmospheric G2. Six hurricanes are forecasted to become Category 3 or higher, presenting substantial threats to coastal and inland regions.

University and Personal Planning

At �鶹ӳ����ý, teams plan and train for hurricane season year-round. �鶹ӳ����ý’s Emergency Management team works hard to prevent, prepare for, manage and recover from a variety of threats to �鶹ӳ����ý, including severe weather.

�鶹ӳ����ý is a designated StormReady university through the National Weather Service.

In addition to the work being done at the central level, led by the Department of Emergency Management, we encourage all departments to evaluate their own hurricane procedures and staffing plans at this time, in advance of an imminent storm.

When tropical weather systems are threatening, Emergency Management is in communication with our local National Weather Service office in Melbourne, NOAA and the National Hurricane Center. If a serious storm or hurricane threatens our region, Governor Ron DeSantis and �鶹ӳ����ý President Alexander N. Cartwright have the authority to cancel classes or close campuses. �鶹ӳ����ý often does so in consultation with other area colleges, school districts and government officials.

We encourage students and �鶹ӳ����ý employees to put together their own hurricane safety kits and to create a plan with their families and loved ones should a storm impact Central Florida.

Prepping a Hurricane Kit

Knights should assemble a hurricane kit, which should provide enough essentials to survive at least three days. Kits should include:

• Water
• Nonperishable food
• Weather radio
• Flashlight
• First aid kit
• Batteries
• Can opener
• Cash
• Cell phone charge
• Identification cards
• Any necessary prescription medications

This year’s Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday extends June 1-14. This two-week tax holiday allows Floridians to prepare for hurricane season while saving money on essential disaster preparedness items.

How to Stay Informed

The �鶹ӳ����ý Alert text and email message system will be used to keep the university community notified of severe weather threats. All students and employees automatically are signed up to receive these messages, and settings can be updated via . A parent, spouse or other secondary contact’s email address also can be added, allowing them to receive the updates.

In addition to �鶹ӳ����ý Alert messages, details about any class cancelations, impact to services or campus closures will be shared on the �鶹ӳ����ý homepage, and @�鶹ӳ����ý and @�鶹ӳ����ýPolice on social media. Faculty members also are encouraged to post any changes to class assignments due to campus closures on Webcourses.

�鶹ӳ����ý has been impacted by hurricanes before, and we have been able to weather those storms while maintaining our strong commitment to academic excellence and student success.

While we hope for a hurricane-free season, it is always best to prepare and educate yourself in advance of a storm, especially in time such as now that requires extra considerations and flexibility.

Let’s each do our part by staying aware and prepared, and together, we’ll make �鶹ӳ����ý a safer place for all of us.

As he pursues his second master’s degree from �鶹ӳ����ý, Leslie has pledged $25,000 over the next five years to help grow the emergency management master’s program  through the Travis M. Leslie Emergency Management Endowment. It is the program’s first official scholarship, which will go to one student in the program each year starting in Fall 2025. The program is ranked No. 2 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report, and is in the College of Community Innovation and Education.

 Support students in �鶹ӳ����ý’s emergency management program and join the �鶹ӳ����ý Day of Giving celebration.

Along with his aspiration to see the program grow, Leslie says he was inspired to give by the welcoming community he feels the program has fostered.

“All the professors either directly or indirectly promote an atmosphere of thought diversity by the way they talk and present their classes,” Leslie says. “People come from different walks of life, beliefs and ideologies. We’re not always going to agree, but it’s always been a very open … environment. The faculty and the students respect other people’s ideas.”

Leslie’s �鶹ӳ����ý journey started in the criminal justice master’s  program. He has worked as an Orange County deputy sheriff for about 20 years and decided to return to school for a second master’s degree. Leslie says he chose the emergency management program to diversify his knowledge base so he can work in the field once he retires from law enforcement. He expects to graduate from the program in Spring 2025.

Leslie says his interest in emergency management in the context of socially vulnerable or minority communities was piqued after learning about the issue from faculty. In fact, two faculty members in the program who had a marked impact on him were professors Claire Connolly Knox and Christopher Emrich, whose research and classes inspired him to want to pursue a similar path.

One of Leslie’s first classes in the program was Hazard Analysis and Planning with Emrich. That class, he says, opened his eyes to the issues that impact socially vulnerable communities that are often glossed over.

“Individuals within these communities have additional challenges as it relates to disaster preparedness, response and recovery,” he says.

Leslie says he knows he wants to continue doing research in this area and hopes to eventually use that research to ideate solutions to mitigate these challenges in his own community through consulting work or in the private sector.

At the end of the day, Leslie says he hopes this scholarship fund can help others who may not be able to attend college otherwise, specifically undergraduate students.

“It’s a pay-it-forward situation,” Leslie says. “I’ve been very blessed as far as paying for my schooling because I had the financial means and assistance to do so, but I would like to pay it forward because some people may really want to do this but can’t because of the cost. If I can act as a bridge between someone not being able to go to college and going to college, that is what inspired me to create this fund.”

���Ǿ�����Travis Leslie ’16MS in supporting students in �鶹ӳ����ý’s emergency management program. Make a gift April 11 on �鶹ӳ����ý Day of Giving.

Often, it also means giving people a way to find closure. After the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people in Haiti, �鶹ӳ����ý Associate Professor Abdul-Akeem Sadiq worked with a team to figure out how to manage all the unidentified bodies recovered from the rubble.

“My colleagues and I developed a new strategy that involves taking photographs of the deceased, burying the deceased in shallow graves, and creating a numbering system that matches pictures of the deceased to their respective graves where they were temporarily buried,” he says. “When a deceased individual is identified by their loved ones through the picture, his or her body can be exhumed from the corresponding grave and properly buried or cremated. This strategy helps to prevent burying unidentified bodies in mass graves and making it difficult for victims’ families to have closure.”

It’s remembering that human beings are at the heart of disasters that motivates Sadiq, an emergency management expert who specializes in mass fatality incidents and in helping governments, companies, and nonprofits prepare for emergencies.

“I’m fueled by wanting to make a difference in people’s lives,” he says. “Most of my publications provide practical recommendations to public, nonprofit, and private organizations with the hope that if those recommendations are implemented, they will lead to a better society.”

Sadiq recently published a study that looks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS) program and why less than 5% of eligible communities participate. The voluntary program is aimed at reducing flood impacts.

“We found that a major obstacle to participating in the CRS is a lack of resources, like the staff needed to fill out the paperwork and apply to join the CRS,” Sadiq says. “So, we recommended that FEMA should provide free staff support to communities that are not participating to help them with their paperwork and application process. In doing so, we may be able to increase participation and reduce disaster impacts on communities.”

Sadiq’s career in emergency management almost didn’t happen.

“I actually stumbled onto the field of emergency management,” Sadiq says. “Initially, my interest as a Ph.D. student was in environmental policy and health policy. Unfortunately, I could not find an assistantship in either area. One of my professors, who received a (U.S.) National Science Foundation grant to study earthquake preparedness among organizations in Memphis, Tennessee, interviewed me and offered me a graduate research assistantship. This was how I fell in love with emergency management.

Today, he and a team of students are working on research related to COVID-19. The researchers are looking at managing mass fatalities during COVID-19 and how to promote community resilience during these kinds of global pandemics.

Sadiq, of Nigeria, joined �鶹ӳ����ý in 2017. Previously he worked at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (a partnership between Indiana University and Purdue University) and as a research and policy analyst for various universities. He holds a doctorate in public policy from a program run jointly by Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. He also has master’s degrees in economics and business administration in addition to a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and farm management. He has more than 40 published journal articles, is a reviewer for several academic journals and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. In 2021 he was elected Chair of American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Section on Crisis and Emergency Management. ASPA is the main professional association for the discipline.

Each year, the National Weather Service (NWS) WeatherReady Nation (WRN) requests each branch across the country to nominate a partner who has “shown exemplary efforts toward helping build a WeatherReady Nation.”

This year, NWS Melbourne chose to recognize �鶹ӳ����ý’s Emergency Management team for their efforts in promoting hazardous weather safety on campus, holding several weather-related exercises and participating and hosting several SKYWARN training classes annually.

“�鶹ӳ����ý Emergency Management is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with the NWS Melbourne,” says �鶹ӳ����ý Emergency Management Director Joe Thalheimer. “The �鶹ӳ����ý Community and all of Central Florida are better prepared, safer and more resilient as a result of the collaboration between our emergency mangers and their meteorologists. Our team is really honored to be selected as this year’s Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence.”

The recognition includes being featured on the National Weather Service’s website and shoutouts on NWS Melbourne’s social media pages.

The Emergency Management team has a long, successful partnership with NWS Melbourne, including renewing its designation as a StormReady university in 2019. The recognition will remain in effect until May 28, 2022.

The Department of Emergency Management prepares �鶹ӳ����ý by enhancing partnerships and coordinating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the university’s ability to mitigate, protect, and prevent against; respond to; and recover from natural, technological, and human-caused threats and hazards.

Hurricane Isaias is forecast to move northward along or near the East Central Florida coastline Saturday and Sunday, bringing heavy rain and inland wind gusts of 35-55 miles per hour.

The Emergency Management team is in communication with our local National Weather Service office in Melbourne, NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to ensure the university has the latest information.

It’s always a good idea to have a hurricane kit ready for the season, which lasts through November. Include enough food and water for three days, and don’t forget medications, identification and a weather radio.

The #�鶹ӳ����ýAlert text and email message system will be used to keep the university community notified of severe weather threats. All students and employees automatically are signed up to receive these messages, and settings can be updated via .

Additionally, updates will be shared on �鶹ӳ����ý’s official social media channels, primarily Facebook (�����Ի���) and Twitter ( and ), and at ucf.edu

Let’s each do our part by staying aware and prepared, and together, we’ll make �鶹ӳ����ý a safer place for all of us.

The announcement comes after an exhaustive search. Metzger is confident in Thalheimer, who has led the department in an interim role since July 2019.

“Joe has done an incredible job since stepping into the role of interim director,” says Metzger. “Since then, he’s been handling his old job duties, along with leading the Emergency Management team during Hurricane Dorian, the coronavirus pandemic and preparing for the 2020 hurricane season. I’m extremely impressed by what he’s accomplished so far and can’t wait to see what ideas he has for the future.”

Thalheimer, who graduated from �鶹ӳ����ý with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, has been a part of �鶹ӳ����ý’s Emergency Management team since 2014, where he was hired as the first warning and communication coordinator. He was later promoted to the manager of Operations and Technology before assuming the role of interim director of Emergency Management.

He was a founding staff member and senior operations coordinator at �鶹ӳ����ý’s College of Medicine prior to joining the Emergency Management team.

From 2005 to 2012, he also served as the assistant security supervisor for the Orange County Convention Center, where he was responsible for physical security, transportation planning and emergency preparedness. While in this role, he represented the convention center at the Orange County Emergency Operations Center, which is where his love of Emergency Management started.

“I’m very excited and honored to be chosen for this role,” says Thalheimer. “Working at �鶹ӳ����ý has been enjoyable, thanks in large part to the people I work with. They make what can be a very stressful job fun, and there’s no where else I’d rather be.”

Thalheimer is the first in his family to graduate from college, and his oldest daughter is a second-generation Knight. When he’s not in the Emergency Operations Center, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids in their RV, watching any �鶹ӳ����ý sport, and cheering on the New York Mets.

“Emergency management is essential in the aviation world,” says Keila Walker-Denis ’07, assistant director of airport operations in emergency management for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which oversees Orlando International Airport and Orlando Executive Airport. “We demonstrated that we have a sound foundation for an emergency-management program.”

Walker-Denis, whose background is in emergency management, says the process was an opportunity to take the airport where it needed to be, especially now in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This event has further highlighted the importance of communication, cooperation, coordination and collaboration,” she says. The accreditation program used 64 industry standards to determine the top rating.

Her industry contacts — such as Osceola County Emergency Management, Orlando Health, Florida’s State Medical Response Team, the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, and the Incident Management Team for Central Florida — have proven valuable in her current role.

‘We may not be the experts in any one area, but we know a lot about everything and where to get resources.’ — Keila Walker-Denis

“We may not be the experts in any one area, but we know a lot about everything and where to get resources,” Walker-Denis says.

The airport authority’s emergency management team has been assigned with tasks such as collecting and analyzing information related to COVID-19; ensuring personal protective equipment is provided to necessary employees; supporting local, state and federal executive orders; and a host of other responsibilities to maintain the safety, health and wellbeing of employees and passengers, Walker-Denis says.

Beyond the coronavirus, her role always includes a lot of planning and preparing, ensuring all teams and decision-makers at the airports work together effectively and communicate the same message.

“Once we identify what hazards we are prone to, the goal first is to try and prevent them. And if we can’t prevent them, the next step is to identify how to mitigate or lessen the impact to our operations,” Walker-Denis says. “Of course, our ultimate goal is to keep flying.”

Before her career in emergency management, Walker-Denis started at �鶹ӳ����ý in the business program but switched to major in public administration because she was intrigued by the process that went into decision making during emergencies, such as for hurricanes when she was a child in Miami.

During an internship with the Osceola County Emergency Management Department, she participated in emergency operations during tropical storm Ernesto in 2006. Witnessing the controlled chaos of agencies, community stakeholders and departments coming together “ignited that passion, that flame,” she says.

“It all opened my eyes and ignited the fire I had back then to do what I do today. It’s truly a passion. It’s the best thing. It’s a very rewarding career field, mentally and emotionally, knowing that you’re able to make a change.”

Walker-Denis also serves on �鶹ӳ����ý’s emergency-management advisory board, which helps ensure �鶹ӳ����ý courses teach up-to-date content and expose students to the realities of the emergency management world beyond the classroom.

“Someone did it for me when I was in college, as far as that internship,” says Walker-Denis. “It opened my eyes, and I want to do the same. It feels right to do the same, to pay that forward.”