The University of Akron has once again been certified as a StormReady University by the National Weather Service.
UA was the first university in Northeast Ohio to be awarded the certification in 2012, and is one of only four schools in Ohio to hold it now. Bowling Green State University, Sinclair Community College and Wright State University are also certified.
StormReady, a voluntary program created in 1998 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service, provides clear-cut advice to city leaders, emergency managers and media with the communication and safety skills to spread the word quickly about oncoming severe weather.
The process to recertify UA was overseen by Mark Beers, UA’s emergency management coordinator for the past 13 years.
Beers started the three-month certification process by drawing up action plans for each building on campus, depending on the weather-related emergency.
“To train Emergency Response Teams, which are made up of faculty and staff, we used scenarios on how to react during emergencies,” explains Beers.
Then came an application to the National Weather Service, approved because of the University’s numerous “warning points,” such as outdoor sirens, indoor fire alarm mass notification system, emergency weather radios and even glow-in-the-dark tornado safety wall plaques.
To complete the recertification process, the National Weather Service personnel inspected the entire campus to ensure every necessary safety precaution had been taken, and Beers attended a mandatory tour of a National Weather Service center.
Story by Julie Mullet
Media contact: Lisa Craig, 330-972-7429 or lmc91@uakron.edu.
Mark Beers, Emergency Management Coordinator, displays one of the signs that the National Weather Service issued UA when it was certified as a StormReady University.