Fall 2014
Novel Conceptual Models in Emergency Management, a Lecture by Dr. Alex Altshuler
Date & Time: Thursday, December 18, 10:00-11:30 AM
Location: Room 226, Suite 200 North, Ash Center, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA
Dr. Alex Altshuler, Fulbright and Program on Crisis Leadership Post-Doctoral Fellow, was recently awarded the annual prize of the Fulbright Alumni Association. In addition, Dr. Altshuler’s PhD dissertation was awarded the certificate of excellence from the inter-university committee in the framework of the Ora Gilbar Prize at the University of Haifa. His dissertation is entitled “Are we protected? The model for predicting perceived secureness in the face of a national emergency in Israel.” It was written at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel under the supervision of Prof. Herman B. (“Dutch”) Leonard from Harvard University and professors from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Jochanan Peiser, Zeev Kaplan and Arkady Bolotin. The dissertation proposes a novel comprehensive framework for analyzing human perceptions of emergencies and their more effective incorporation into public policy in the field of risk and disaster management.
What Can Humanitarians Learn from Incident Command Systems?
Date & Time: November 10, 2014, 2:00 PM
Location: Online Webinar
In a webinar hosted by ALNAP, PCL Faculty Co-Director Arnold Howitt and PCL Senior Fellow Joseph Pfeifer, Chief of Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness for the New York Fire Department (FDNY), presented on Incident Command Systems (ICS) (also known as Incident Management Systems-IMS), which emergency response professionals in the U.S. and other settings use for managing responses to emergencies of various types and scale.
At ALNAP's invitation, Howitt and Pfeifer explored how an improved understanding of ICS/IMS could potentially help humanitarian actors improve their own leadership and organizational effectiveness in emergency response, and also improve their coordination with national authorities.
Seminar Series on Crisis Management: Decision Making, Leadership, and Organization
Graduate students interested in emergency preparedness and response, humanitarian relief, and crisis leadership participated in a seminar series organized by the Program on Crisis Leadership and Crisis Management Student Group at HKS. Each session featured a mix of lecture and group discussion and was led by a leading academic expert or senior practitioner from the field.
Session 1
Organizing a “Fast and Light” Response in the Face of Landscape-Scale Disasters
Thursday, October 23, 4:30 – 6:00 PM, Ash Center Conference Room, Suite 200 North, 124 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge
Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard, PCL Faculty Co-Director and George F. Baker Jr. Professor of Public Management, Harvard Kennedy School
Session 2
The U.S. Military and Humanitarian Relief: Responding to the Haiti Earthquake and Other Recent Disasters
Wednesday, November 5, 4:30 – 6:00 PM, Ash Center Conference Room, Suite 200 North, 124 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge
Ken Keen, Associate Dean, Leader Development Program, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, and Lieutenant General (retired), U.S. Army. In 2010, Gen. Keen served as Commander of Joint Task Force Haiti - Operation Unified Response.
Session 3
The Politics of Destruction: “Managing” Political Relationships and the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Wednesday, December 3, 4:00 – 5:30 PM
Juliette Kayyem, Former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and former Undersecretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Advisor to the Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Sponsored by the Program on Crisis Leadership (Ash and Taubman Centers) and the Crisis Management Student Group, Harvard Kennedy School.
Crises in Cities: What Next?
Date & Time: Friday, November 14, 2014, 12:30 PM
Location: Room 275, Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA
A practitioners' panel on multi-agency emergency and crisis response, featuring:
- Samantha Phillips, Director for Emergency Management, City of Philadelphia
- Steven Sarao, Criminal Justice Program Fellow, NYPD Special Projects Unit
- Thaddeus Pawlowski, Urban Designer, NYC City Planning
Moderated by Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Faculty Co-Director, Program on Crisis Leadership, and George F. Baker Jr. Professor of Public Management, Harvard Kennedy School
Organized and co-sponsored by the Crisis Management; Criminal Justice; and Regional, State, Local & Tribal Government Professional Interest Councils at Harvard Kennedy School.
Crisis Management Exercise
Date & Time: October 10, 2014, 9:30-11:30 AM
Location: Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School
In this workshop, staff from Harvard's Emergency Management program facilitated a crisis exercise in which participants worked in groups of 4 to 6 to develop emergency response and recovery strategies to unfolding crisis scenarios, including a natural disaster, a pandemic, a terrorist attack, and a planned event.
Fall Semester Networking Hour
Date & Time: September 16, 6:00 PM
Location: Taubman Rotunda, Harvard Kennedy School
Students interested in issues relating to crisis leadership, emergency management, and humanitarian assistance attended this start-of-semester networking event. Faculty and staff affiliated with the Ash and Taubman Center’s Program on Crisis Leadership and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative were on hand to discuss their research and teaching activities.
Ebola: Can We Avoid A Global Pandemic? a JFK Jr. Forum Panel
Date & Time: September 9, 2014, 6:00 PM
Location: Harvard Kennedy School Forum
A panel discussion with:
- Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (via Skype), President, Republic of Liberia
- Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, FACEP, Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health
- Dyann Wirth, Ph.D., Richard Pearson Strong Professor and Chair, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health; Co-chair of the Infectious Diseases Initiative, The Broad Institute
- Sheila Burke (moderator), Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy; Faculty Research Fellow, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Organized by the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Harvard University Institute of Politics; and co-sponsored by Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Crisis Leadership, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 12:30-2:00 PM
Location: Bowie-Vernon Conference Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street
A panel discussion with:
- Gregory Jaczko. Former Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2009-12).
- Kenji Tateiwa. Manager of Nuclear Power Programs, Washington D.C. Office, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
- Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard. George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Management, HKS, and Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration, HBS
- Moderator: Susan Pharr. Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
Sponsored and organized by the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; and co-sponsored by the Program on Crisis Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
Spring 2014
Boston Marathon Bombing: One Year Later, a JFK Jr. Forum Panel
Date & Time: April 16, 2014, 6:00 PM
Location: Harvard Kennedy School Forum
Moderated by PCL Faculty Co-Director Dutch Leonard, this forum featured senior public safety and Boston Marathon officials. Panelists included:
- Andrea J. Cabral, Executive Secretary of Public Safety, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Edward F. Davis, Police Commissioner, City of Boston (2006-2013)
- Thomas Grilk, Executive Director, Boston Athletic Association
- Major General Scott Rice, The Adjutant General, Massachusetts National Guard
Organized by the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Harvard University Institute of Politics; and co-sponsored by Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Crisis Leadership, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.
New Orleans Nine Years Later: Reflections on Inequality in Post-Katrina Disaster Recovery
Date: March 6 and 7, 2014
Following a screening of Oscar-nominated documentary "Trouble the Water" on Thursday, March 6, Harvard's Center for Public Leadership hosted a conversation with Kimberly Rivers Roberts on Friday, March 7. Roberts, a Ninth Ward resident, stars in the film and shot much of its footage. She discussed the arduous journey that she and other New Orleanians have taken as they rebuild their lives and their city. The conversation focused in particular on inequality in the New Orleans recovery.
The screening took place at 7:30 PM on Thursday, March 6 at the Harvard Hall Room 104 in Harvard Yard.
The discussion took place from 10:45 AM to noon on Friday, March 7 in the Darman Seminar Room at the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School.
Roberts' appearance was sponsored by the Center for Public Leadership and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. It was also supported by the Program on Crisis Leadership at the Taubman Center and the Ash Center, The Black Student Union, The Black Policy Conference, The Social and Urban Policy PIC, and The Crisis Management PIC, Harvard Kennedy School.
From HKS to FEMA: A Conversation with Ashley Zohn
Date & Time: Monday, March 3, 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: Hauser Conference Room, Room B-L-4, Belfer Building
In this career brownbag, Ashley Zohn (HKS 2011), discussed her experience working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s FEMAStat program and – more broadly – provided insight on building a career in the emergency management field.
Co-sponsored by the Crisis Management Student Group at Harvard Kennedy School; and the Program on Crisis Leadership, Ash and Taubman Centers, Harvard Kennedy School, with generous support from the Office of Career Advancement.
Emergency Operations at Harvard: An Overview of Systems, Partnerships & Recent Incidents
Date & Time: Tuesday, February 11, 4:15 - 6:00 PM
Location: Suite 100/Room 106, 124 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, MA
In this seminar, senior emergency management officials from Harvard University and the City of Cambridge discussed how they work with one another in preparing for and responding to emergencies and crisis events affecting the Harvard community. Speakers included:
- Nick Hambridge, Associate Director of Emergency Management, Harvard University
- Steven Catalano, Special Advisor to the Chief, Harvard University Police Department
- Assistant Chief Gerard Mahoney, Cambridge Emergency Management, Cambridge Fire Department
Co-sponsored by the Program on Crisis Leadership, Ash and Taubman Centers, Harvard Kennedy School; and the Crisis Management Student Group at Harvard Kennedy School.