Over 20 Institute for Disaster Management faculty, staff, and students headed down to Jekyll Island the second week of April for the 2025 Emergency Management Summit and Training Sessions (EMAG). The conference, hosted by the Emergency Management Association of Georgia, is one of the biggest gatherings of Emergency Management professionals in the Southeastern United States.
The EMAG conference provides a valuable opportunity to strengthen relationships with practitioners, healthcare providers, community partners, and academics. Rare facetime is used to relay best practices, share industry knowledge, and offer resources to support one another in our pursuit of building resiliency. The event draws attendees from all eight states in HHS Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) yet it reminds us just how much we have in common.
When IDM students weren’t serving as conference volunteers, checking in attendees and facilitating breakout sessions, they found opportunities to network with future employers and internship preceptors and broaden their horizons to new topics in disaster management. The conference also acted as a reunion of sorts, hosting many former IDM students who have gone on to become professionals in the field.
But the networking doesn’t stop when the conference does. After hours, you could often find IDM faculty and staff continuing the connections. If you ask IDM director, Dr. Curt Harris, he’ll tell you the EMAG conference has paved the way for dozens of partnerships, projects, and funding opportunities, many of which were made possible even after the conference closed up shop for the day.
The Institute for Disaster Management was selected to lead three breakout sessions. IDM faculty were also featured on two additional presentations alongside colleagues from Belmont University and Emory University. Presentations included:
- Marketing Matters: Marketing and Communication Strategies for Healthcare Coalitions (Erin Mumper, Alyssa Ragan)
- Critical Connections: Expanding Emergency Notifications Where They Matter Most (Austin Dobbs, Dr. Morgan Taylor)
- Expanding Healthcare Coalitions to Reinforce Resilience (Alyssa Ragan, Dr. Curt Harris, Jim Zerylnick)
- The Public Health Scorecard Approach: Identifying and Prioritizing Strategies to Advance Disaster Resilience (Dr. Curt Harris)
- The Southern Regional Disaster Response System: Progress toward strengthening Region 4 Preparedness and Response Framework (Kelli McCarthy)
IDM’s continued presence at EMAG reflects our mission to educate future leaders and strengthen disaster resilience across Georgia and beyond. We’re already looking forward to next year.
