Western Carolina University announced Thursday that it has hired a new director of emergency services for the 2015-2016 school year. Stephen “Shane” Stovall, former coordinator of emergency management programs for True North Emergency Management in Fort Worth, Texas, will take over at the position ahead of this Fall’s semester, according to a press release from WCU.
Stovall brings nearly 20 years of experience in emergency management and disaster recovery services to the job, having worked with a variety of public and private sector firms. In addition to his work in Fort Worth, Stovall has also served as the director of emergency management for the city of Plano, TX and an emergency coordinator for the county of Charlotte in Florida.
He succeeds former WCU Emergency Services Director Tammi Hudson, who was the first person to hold the position at the college. In addition to his responsibilities developing emergency response personnel, plans and systems at the college’s several locations around the western part of the state, Stovall will oversee WCU’s recently opened Emergency Communications Center and WCU Alerts system. He will also work in tandem with emergency response personnel in Jackson County and across Western North Carolina to conduct safety drills and exercises.
“In today’s climate, the safety of all members of our university community – students, faculty, staff, visitors and neighbors in surrounding communities – is paramount,” says Mike Byers, vice chancellor for administration and finance for the college. “Shane has the skill set and experience necessary to build upon the solid emergency management foundation put into place by Tammi Hudson and to identify the new tools, systems and processes needed to ensure that our campus is as prepared as it can possibly be for an emergency or disaster.”
Stovall’s previous body of work includes projects related to Hurricane Sandy disaster relief in New Jersey as well as several hurricane an wildfire disaster relief projects throughout Florida. He was hired after a national search conducted by a WCU committee.
For more information on Stephen Stovall’s background, duties and Western Carolina University’s emergency response and management systems, see the press release below or visit news-prod.wcu.edu/.
Press Release:
WCU appoints new director of emergency services
CULLOWHEE – Stephen “Shane” Stovall, a certified emergency manager with nearly 20 years of experience leading private and public sector emergency management and disaster recovery efforts, is the new director of emergency services at Western Carolina University.
Stovall, who most recently was coordinator of emergency management programs for the True North Emergency Management firm in Fort Worth, Texas, has served as director of emergency management for the city of Plano in Texas and emergency management coordinator and emergency planner for Charlotte County in Florida.
He succeeds Tammi Hudson, WCU’s first full-time emergency manager, who recently left the university to accept a position in the private sector. His appointment, which follows a national search conducted by a campus committee, is effective Aug. 10.
In announcing the appointment, Mike Byers, WCU’s vice chancellor for administration and finance, said the search committee was impressed by Stovall’s experience in successfully building teams and completing projects with a variety of stakeholders at the local, state, regional and national levels and with partners in the private and public sectors.
“Throughout the search process, members of the committee kept asking themselves this question: ‘Of our candidates, who would you want taking that call in the middle of the night when some sort of emergency situation or disaster arose?’ Shane Stovall is the right person to be on the other end of the phone in the middle of the night,” Byers said.
“In today’s climate, the safety of all members of our university community – students, faculty, staff, visitors and neighbors in surrounding communities – is paramount,” he said. “Shane has the skill set and experience necessary to build upon the solid emergency management foundation put into place by Tammi Hudson and to identify the new tools, systems and processes needed to ensure that our campus is as prepared as it can possibly be for an emergency or disaster.”
Stovall earned his bachelor’s degree in emergency administration and planning from the University of North Texas. He has professional certifications from the International Association of Emergency Managers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including National Incident Management System training.
He has extensive disaster planning and recovery experience, including projects related to Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey; hurricanes Charley and Georges in Florida; and an outbreak of wildfires in Florida.
In his new role, Stovall is responsible for the development of personnel, plans, processes and systems to provide for the safety, protection and preparedness of people and property at WCU, including the main campus in Cullowhee, instructional sites in Cherokee and at Biltmore Park in Asheville, and at Highlands Biological Station. He will be in charge of developing and coordinating university-wide emergency preparedness and continuity of operations plans.
Stovall will oversee the university’s Emergency Communications Center, which receives and processes more than 20,000 calls for service annually, and manage WCU Alerts, a system that allows students, faculty, staff and parents to receive messages in case of emergency via email, cell phone or home phone.
He also will work closely with emergency management and response personnel in Jackson County and across Western North Carolina to maintain strong working relationships, including regular drills and exercises.
“Emergency management on a university campus is different from emergency management at the state and local level, and I am excited at the opportunity to take on this new challenge,” Stovall said. “My predecessor has built a strong base, and I am eager to see how I can use the experience that I bring to the table to maintain a high quality emergency management program and, going forward, to make improvements and add additional activities as needed.”
I agree with the class party comment. My boy was in a cointmmuy center daycare for 5 years going to many parties and playdates for 5 years. Now he attends summer camp with many of the kids and sees them at activities (like Karate) but never gets invited to parties anymore. Also happened with Kindergarten (a constructivist based private school) last year. Waldorf school has been a great fit for him. I guess it depends on kids though: my son has learned a ton of Russian, a bit of Spanish, way way improved drawing, but he was reading above Waldorf’ level first grade already at entry and seems to have lost the sounding out bit now, he shows no interest in reading but can retell stories with amazing details. Math seems OK but probably not on par with where his public school siblings are and both my kids in public and youngest in Waldorf are way way behind the kids in all academic areas compared to the constructivist school (which is one of those academic prep types lots of gifted kids, mine not so much). What I found was that my special needs children with borderline IQ’ did better than expected in public school. My eldest son (adopted when he was was able to read despite having been diagnosed as Moderately mental retardation. He would not have done well in Waldorf. Daughter, also adopted at age 8 could not read, learned to read only after great support of the constructivist school (at age 13 can read simple chapter books like Charolette’s Web). My biokids all did fine in public school. Typical kids, nothing great or struggling about them.My son in Waldorf school needs a gentle touch but tested spot on average at end of Kindergarten. The kindergarten, constructivist school, insisted he was severely delayed and should repeat kindergarten due solely to academics (not social or emotional or age in fact he was oldest in that class). They would only let him move on if I got neuropsychological testing done (particularly IQ, dsylexia/pre-reading as too young to diagnose, memory, and ADHD). IQ was 103 (average score is 100), reading was 1.3 (first grade 3rd trimester), no ADHD, memory 183 or very superior range, but working memory was prekindergarten. Sorry this got really long. The point was if you can afford it most of us would individualize education by each child. Some do great in public school, some in private, some maybe even boarding, and some in Waldorf or Montosseri or Constructivist.I have to admit I am scared that my son won’t learn to read, he really has no interest and seems to be relying on memory to get by so far. He can retell stories word for word, is praised to me as best in class at this, memorize poems, songs, is a beast at the 2 languages, so very oral learning. BUT, at 7.5 years old he still struggles to sound out cat or dog correctly.