Prepared for Devastation: Crisis Management versus Disaster Reactions in Higher Education

By Dr. Shonda Goward

An immediate emergency response is something that the CSU knows how to execute, for example, during the excessive heat of 2022 or the Tubbs Fire of 2017 that impacted Sonoma State. Where the CSU has room to develop is with regard to crisis management, which is being prepared for the long-term effects of a physical, health, or reputational disaster and recovery after it has passed. This memo focuses on physical and health disasters, but reputational disaster has also recently struck the CSU and the work the system is doing to review our crisis management protocols there are also important.