OSU distance learning grad students put education to practice during Hurricane Irene
Friday, September 2, 2011
Oklahoma State University Fire and Emergency Management students put their education
to practice last weekend as they responded to the wreckage of Hurricane Irene.
“They are putting theory into practice,” said Brenda Phillips, Fire and Emergency
Management professor. “We couldn’t be more proud of our students.”
Flooding, fallen trees, damaged homes and power outages were among the major problems
east coast residents faced, OSU emergency workers said.
“We were 60 miles east of the eye of the storm,” said Barb Russo, a Fire and Emergency
management administration graduate student, who was stationed in Onslow County, North
Carolina for the duration of Hurricane Irene.
Russo, a Jacksonville firefighter, was one of thousands of emergency workers stationed
along the east coast throughout the hurricane. She worked for Onslow’s Emergency
Operation Center as a liaison between the center and the city.
“If there were three streets under water, I’d report it,” Russo said. “We were responsible
for communicating all of the city’s needs.”
Russo is one of many students in OSU’s Fire Emergency and Management distance program.
The program allows professors to teach students from Tulsa to Midwest City all the
way to the east coast, Phillips said. Some students will be in the classroom here
in Stillwater, while others will be at their computer watching the class through a
simulcast, she said.
Several of Russo’s OSU classmates were also involved in emergency efforts. Kyle
Overly, a Fire and Emergency Management Administration 2010 graduate, was stationed
in Virginia throughout the storm. He currently works at a consulting firm in Pennsylvania
that does disaster preparedness training and exercises for local and state clients.
Overly went to Virginia after a client in Northampton County indicated a need for
help in the Emergency Management Center.
“In the aftermath of a disaster, there are a lot of needs and volunteers and workers
fill those needs,” he said. “Without their support, people would suffer a lot more
hardship from disasters.”
Overly assisted during the storm from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. He
provided planning guidance and monitored social media outlets for updates from area
agencies such as FEMA, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and Virginia Department
of Transportation.
“A lot of what we learned in the classroom is directly applicable to real life,”
he said. “The program at OSU covers a full spectrum of emergency management.”
OSU’s Fire and Emergency Management program, which is a branch of the Political Science
department, offers a master’s and a doctorate degree. The department usually attracts
two types of students: the professional who returns to school looking to move up in
the field, or the traditional undergraduate student who is seeking a graduate degree,
Phillips said. The program is also one of two in the nation to offer a Ph.D program.
Jim Aleski, a Fire and Management graduate student, works as a firefighter in New
Jersey. During Irene, he was assigned to Cherry Hill Township as the public information
officer, where he managed social media for the Emergency Operation Center.
“When you have a degree from OSU, people expect you to make an impact,” Aleski said.
“Higher education gives you a lot more knowledge about the field, which is why more
is expected of you.”
The OSU students bring real world experience to the classroom and are great professionals,
Phillips said.
“They are out there doing things that make a difference in the community,” she said.
“It means that Oklahoma State University is making the world a safer place.”