Toward disaster-resilient universities: A pre-COVID assessment of American institutions of higher education

This article investigates the state of resilience of academic institutions in the Southeastern United States prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on 50 expert interviews with campus emergency management professionals conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article advances three findings that contribute to the discourse on disaster-resilient universities. First, some academic institutions appear to have strengthened their emergency management capacities, the result of expanded leadership support, enhanced processes and procedures, clarified roles and responsibilities, increased preparedness and training activities, and investments in staff and resources. Second, academic institutions face unique emergency management challenges, driven by their competing priorities, dispersed and dynamic campus populations, and inconsistent buy-in from stakeholders. Third, academic institutions are not unified in their approaches to emergency management. They differ in how they structure the emergency management function and in their approaches to risk. These findings underscore the advances and ongoing complexities related to the strengthening of emergency management and resilience-building within higher education settings. They also suggest that sustained resilience-building requires integrating improvements to emergency management processes and procedures with institution-wide governance reforms that improve collaboration and increase stakeholder support for preparedness efforts. • Academic institutions expanded EM staffing, training, and planning pre-COVID-19. • Leadership and institutional buy-in are key to strengthening higher education resilience. • Emergency managers face unique challenges from dynamic and dispersed campus populations. • The EM functions of academic institutions vary in structure and approach. • Strategic planning and stakeholder engagement are vital for campus resilience.