While the ubiquity of cell phones has sparked a debate about the necessity of blue light phones, campus officials might consider the benefits of keeping highly visible phones in service for the purpose of marketing safety.
Author: mcolpitts
Dr. Matthew W. Colpitts is currently a professional emergency manager in higher education. He works closely with law enforcement, fire, EMS, environmental health, student affairs, residential life, facilities services, and community partners is enhance safety and preparedness.
Matt has been an educator, administrator, and leader in higher education and K12 independent schools for over 20 years serving in the areas of residence life, university housing, student conduct, campus safety and security, emergency management, enrollment management, and student affairs. Matt has also served in educator-leader roles at diverse educational institutions including University of Washington, Clark University, Landmark College, Southern Oregon University, Utah State University, and Interlochen Center of the Arts. He is a sought-after risk and safety management consultant, working with many different types of education and non-profit institutions.
A first-generation college student from rural Maine, Matt is a proud graduate of Clark University in Worcester, MA with a B.A. in English and Philosophy. He holds an EdD from Fielding Graduate University where he researched emergency management in educational institutions. He holds the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designation, the premier security credential from ASIS. Outside of school, Matt enjoys reading, traveling, and learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
By Matthew Colpitts In the wake of the Dear Colleague Letter issued by the Department of Justice and Department of Education on February 22, the future of Title IX and how it will be implemented has come into question, with many critics of the new President and Secretary of Education concerned that recent changes will … Continue reading Title IX and Trump/DeVos – What will happen under the new President and Secretary of Education?
Over the past several months, I have been working with some colleagues in higher education and K12 independent schools on the development of a new resource for safety and risk in education. Together, we have created the Center for Student Affairs Policy and Law (CSAPAL). A high-level overview of what CSAPAL does is: The Center … Continue reading New Safety and Risk Resource for Student Affairs Leaders in Higher Ed and Independent Schools
Emergency Preparedness: It is Personal Now that college, universities, and schools are back in session and (for many of us) we are heading towards winter weather, it is time to think about safety and preparedness. Many of our institutions, hopefully, have emergency management and campus safety plans. However, if yours does not, please start working … Continue reading Emergency Preparedness: It is Personal
Emergency management work in higher education and schools has a lot of parts. One of the areas that many people get lost in is the formal training and certification for the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). These two systems are distinct, but are often referred … Continue reading Incident Command System Training for Higher Education and Schools: Where to Start
When a student is a risk to themselves or others, what do you do? What if your institution cannot continue to take the risk of having the student on campus? I argue (and so do many others…) that educational institutions need to think about these issues and develop plans to address them. Specifically, schools need … Continue reading Threat Assessment and Removing Students From Campus: What Risk Do You Want?
This is a longer post but I hope reviewing the work of a real education institution's emergency management and campus safety work is helpful. This is an overview of the emergency management and campus safety work that I did at Utah State University (USU). Beginning in August 2010, when the Department of Housing and Residence … Continue reading Lessons on Preparedness Work at an Intermountain West University
Many folks in higher education and K12 schools know that emergency management and preparedness is important to their institutions and the safety of their students, but they are not sure where to start. Getting started with emergency planning can seem overwhelming. Luckily, help is available. Some of that help comes in the form of consultants … Continue reading Federal Guidance for Campus Safety and Emergency Management
During the past few years while I have been serving as a Dean of Students, and in many of my other positions, I have thought about the impact of international crises on the campus safety of higher educational institutions and boarding schools. Events all over the world always seem to land on campus; There is … Continue reading International Incidents and Campus Safety: Events Around the World Always Land on Campus
A few years ago, I went to a training presented by Franklin Covey on productivity, called The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity. It was a good training overall but what I got the most out of it was the “Roles and Goals” part. Basically, the main idea with Roles and Goals is that in order … Continue reading Roles and Goals in Leadership
GoodIvy Consulting | Safety & Security for K12, Higher Education, & Business 