Emergency Management Faculty

Richard Brushwood

Richard Brushwood is an adjunct instructor of Emergency Services Management.   Richard has a BS in Business from Virginia Tech and a MS in Management from Indiana State.

Richard recently retired from the Federal Government after 33 years of service and is self employed conducting background investigations for various government activities. His career in Government took him from Fort Monroe, Virginia, to Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana and then Washington, DC.    He spent most of his career with Defense activities where he conducted facility vulnerability assessments for the US Army, classified document inspections for the Defense Investigative Service, where he also adjudicated security clearances, and served as an Assistant Inspector General.

During this time, Richard also taught personnel security classes for the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

When President Regan established the Strategic Defense Initiative, Richard joined the organization and helped design the state-of-the art facility to house the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) in the E-wing of the Pentagon.   Richard served as the Chief, Operations Security and was recognized for his accomplishments with the SDIO Directors Award. He transferred to the Defense Nuclear Agency and became the first civilian Director for Intelligence and Security.   At his retirement he received the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.

He and his wife, Judy, also a University of Richmond employee, have two children and one grandchild and live in Chesterfield, Virginia.

Kelly S. Durst

Kelly S. Durst is a PhD student studying Volcanology at Michigan Technological University in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She has a B.S. in Geology from James Madison University, a M.S. in Environmental Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Disaster Science from University of Richmond.

Prior to returning to school she worked as a GIS Analyst in the Richmond Metropolitan Area for 6 years.

Her current research involves thermal infrared remote sensing to predict volcanic activity. She plans on doing field work in Guatemala and Mexico. Her other interests include Geographic Information Systems, Emergency Management, and risk assessment relating to natural disasters.

Dr. Wallace G. "Bo" Harris

Dr. Wallace G. "Bo" Harris is an adjunct associate professor of Emergency Services Management.   Dr. Harris has a BA in Economics and an MBA from the University of Richmond and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, and he holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources designation.

His teaching specialties are public finance and management and political science.   Dr. Harris is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Social Services and is a career state employee with over 33 years of service with the Commonwealth of Virginia.   He began his career with the Department of Taxation where he was a management analyst and the assistant human resources officer.   The majority of his career was spent with the Virginia Retirement System where he rose from Operations Manager to the position of Senior Deputy Director, serving twice during his tenure at VRS as Acting Director.

Bo served as an intelligence specialist in the U.S. Air Force before his employment with the Commonwealth.   He and his wife, Kim, also a career state employee, have four children and one grandchild and live in Midlothian, Virginia.

Dr. Jan Thomas

Jan Thomas is a full-time consultant and founder of Circle Safety & Health Consultants in Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Thomas has over 30 years of experience in safety and risk-control at the state, federal and university level as well as within private sector. Prior to beginning her consulting business, Dr. Thomas held a full-time faculty position at VCU for nine years. Between 1981 and 1985 she was Chief Administrator of the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Program (VOSH). She began her career in 1975, as a safety and health specialist with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Dr. Thomas served as President for the Colonial Virginia Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) from 1987-1988. She has served nationally as the chair of the Technical Publications Committee and on the Editorial Board of Professional Safety with ASSE. She is a life member and past President of her local volunteer rescue squad.

Dr. Thomas has published numerous articles; three have received national writing awards including the 1992 Best Article of the Year from the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS). She also has a chapter in The Handbook of Comparative Development Public Administration (Marcel Dekker, 1991) and a chapter on "The Future: Where Are We Going? -- An Educator's Perspective" in Essentials of Safety and Health Management (CRC Lewis, 2002).

You may find more information at www.circlesafety.com.

• B.A. in Russian Language from Old Dominion University, USA
• M.S. in Safety from the University of Southern California, USA
• Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
• Certified Safety Professional (CSP) designation from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals

Dissertation: Comparative studies in the area of risk-control policy

Ongoing research: Emergency services, workplace violence, research strategy and futuristic techniques useful to the practice of risk administration and safety management.

Dr. Koko Warner

Dr. Koko Warner serves as an economist research scholar at the Natural Hazards Department at the Swiss Federal for Snow and Avalanche Research. Dr. Warner has worked for the past seven years on the economic and societal impacts of natural catastrophes in developing countries.

Koko Warner's current research investigates catastrophe risk management and weather-related catastrophe peril in developing countries. With research partners, she helped develop a framework to understand how countries manage infrastructure exposure to external shocks such as catastrophes. Warner's work quantifies the macroeconomic effects of potential capital stock exposure to catastrophe loss. This research has focused on alternatives to finance weather-related catastrophe risk. In 2003 and 2004, her work focused on an evaluation of operational policies for natural disaster management at major international financial institutions, upon infrastructure protection and the reduction of infrastructure vulnerability, and strategies for reducing poverty and infrastructure vulnerability to climate change. In 2005 she continues her work on disaster risk finance, particularly for climate-related extremes.

Warner received her doctoral degree in economics, and currently also serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Richmond's Emergency Service Management graduate program.