What Would You Do In An Emergency?

During a two-week period this fall, Duke's campus was hit with an earthquake, hurricane and severe storms that produced tornado warnings. "It has been a busy year on the emergency management front," said Kyle Cavanaugh, Duke's emergency coordinator and vice president of administration. "There is always a great deal of work and a lot of people involved in helping ensure that Duke is prepared to respond to these situations - most of which people never see."Cavanaugh will be the guest at the Primetime employee forum from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 26. He will take questions and discuss the university's emergency management process, decision-making and the communication channels used to notify the campus community in emergencies. The event will be webcast live from the Primetime website, where Duke employees can also submit questions during the forum. Since becoming emergency coordinator, Cavanaugh has, helped coordinate response to events such as the H1N1 virus, a gas leak near Duke's downtown facilities, winter storms, and the hoax bomb threat on campus a few weeks ago. As Duke's international presence has expanded, so has his involvement in events overseas, including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year.When Primetime was introduced in 2006, it was hosted in a setting where employees came in person to the meetings, which typically drew about 300 people. Today, a growing number of people participate online. The Primetime in April drew a peak of 4,500 viewers from off-site locations, including the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C.  As a result, the forum will move to an online-only event that is webcast live from the Duke Studio on campus. Individuals can still submit questions for the guest in advance or during the event at working@duke.edu."We plan to embrace the trend of online participation that has evolved over time," said Paul Grantham, assistant vice president for Communication Services. "It has become more convenient for people who are geographically dispersed to watch online during their lunch hour rather than travel to a specific location on campus."Grantham said efforts would continue to be made to coordinate with areas that do not have regular online access at work to allow them to gather and watch the event in a conference room. Primetime will also be recorded and posted on the Primetime website after the event on Oct. 26.