Professor David Neal of Oklahoma State University’s Department of Political Science and Fire and Emergency Management Program was recently presented the Wayne Blanchard Award for Academic Excellence in Emergency Management Higher Education during the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s annual Higher Education Conference at Emmitsburg, Maryland on June 3rd. 

This national honor signifies important contributions by the award winner during one’s career.  Neal has been a leader in this arena since taking a faculty position with the first Emergency Management degree program at the University of North Texas in 1989.  Much of his career has focused on starting and enhancing undergraduate and graduate degree programs both as a faculty member and as a consultant.  He has initiated the first emergency management undergraduate and graduate distance learning degrees, mentored thesis and Ph.D. students in the field, and taught hundreds of future professional emergency managers.  He has also published academic articles on issues related to establishing and teaching Emergency Management in the higher education environment, and is also co-author of Introduction to Emergency Management (2012) with Brenda Phillips and Gary Webb. 

Neal has published about 50 academic articles and has received over $1,000,000 in grants and contracts (e.g., National Science Foundation, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which in most cases provided additional research experiences and funding for undergraduate and graduate students.