The U.S. Department of Education announced on Sept. 27 that Tufts is a grant recipient of its Emergency Management for Higher Education (EMHE) program.
The Department of Education awarded over $9.2 million in EMHE grants to 17 institutions of higher education nationwide. Tufts will receive $503,138 to help implement new initiatives to enhance its emergency planning and preparedness.
Less than 6 percent of the 323 applicants received EMHE grants, according to an announcement from Vice President for Operations Dick Reynolds, the acting director of public and environmental safety.
Tufts and Emmanuel College were the only two Boston−area schools awarded EMHE grants. Emmanuel applied on behalf of the Colleges of the Fenway, a consortium of six Boston colleges.
The grant is expected to provide Tufts with 70 percent of the final emergency preparedness program costs, and existing university operating funds will fund the difference. The proposed programs will incorporate a mix of different types of activities to increase preparedness and cooperation, according to Reynolds.
These include increased incident management training, department continuity plans and joint training and exercises with local first responders, Reynolds said in a Sept. 12 announcement to faculty and staff.
"By being more proactive in creating the plan, we won't have to be as reactive if and when emergencies really do occur," he said.
Jo Ann Webb, a Department of Education spokesperson, said the grant application process was competitive.
"Applicants include a budget narrative and a proposed budget with their applications," Webb told the Daily in an e−mail. "Those applicants that score the highest during the competitive peer review process are then forwarded to Federal Staff for a budget review … to ensure that all requested items are allowable, allocable and necessary."
The grant is awarded to schools that make strong cases for the programs proposed in their applications. "The money is very specific; the federal government dictates how the money is used," Reynolds said.
The university will for the most part have to adhere to the approved proposal, although it is allowed a degree of implementation flexibility because the award is a discretionary grant.
"The scope of the project can't change without the Department of Education's approval," Director of Emergency Management Geoffrey Bartlett said.
Bartlett said the university plans to implement a version of a computer software, Kuali Ready, specifically designed for higher education institutions. Originally developed by the University of California, Berkeley, Kuali Ready works to more effectively restore core institutional functions in the aftermath of a disaster.
The software is designed to cater to the specialized needs of educational institutions and help them design their own disaster−response programs, which are part of "continuity planning," the goal of carrying on the mission of the university in the event of an emergency, according to Bartlett and Reynolds.
Tufts University Police Department Capt. Mark Keith described Kuali Ready as a useful tool for designing continuity plans, which some departments have in place. "There are some departments within the university that have already devised … continuity of operations programs," Keith said.
Tufts' proprietary version of the Kuali Ready software will be dubbed Tufts Ready, according to Bartlett.
Bartlett said the grants are not an indicator that Tufts' existing emergency operation plan is defective. "We recognize an effective emergency operation plan is a work that's constantly in progress," he said.
He added that the university's plan has been put into action before. "We also have some experience in using the plan on a few occasions," Bartlett said. "[The] power outages that happened in 2008 and 2009 are foremost in people's memories."
Keith cited some examples of possible situations requiring an emergency response from the university. "Weather emergencies and power outages are the most common [crises] that we might experience around here."
The public safety department will look through reports of past emergency responses to pinpoint areas where changes are needed, according to Bartlett. With the grant's support, he hopes to bring emergency management organization under one roof. Previously, funding and planning for emergencies was scattered across a number of departments.
Reynolds echoed this sentiment, saying that this grant offers an opportunity to synthesize the university's emergency preparedness. "It gives us a chance over the next years to really put a plan together," he said.
