University names Michael J. Mulhare director of emergency management
Michael J. Mulhare, chief of the Office of Emergency Response and the Emergency Response Administrator for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, has been named director of emergency management at Virginia Tech.
He will begin his position at Virginia Tech Nov. 24.
Reporting to Vice President for Administrative Services Sherwood Wilson, Mulhare will lead a new department that will oversee emergency planning and preparedness at Virginia Tech. As director, Mulhare will be responsible for an all-hazard approach to the coordination and management of risk assessment, emergency management, disaster planning and continuity of operations planning. He will work closely with leadership in student affairs, human resources, facilities, campus police, environmental health and safety, and other offices to establish a comprehensive and integrated emergency management program.
"Mike brings with him almost 25 years of practical experience as an emergency manager, first responder, scientist and engineering," said Wilson. "His unique qualifications give him an extraordinary ability to evaluate risk and plan appropriately."
Mulhare has served the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in a variety of capacities since 1985. He was a supervising sanitary engineer for the Division of Site Remediation from 1992 to 1996 and a supervising sanitary engineering for the Office of Compliance and Inspection from 1996 to 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was the emergency response administrator in the Office of the Director, and in 2006 took on the added duties of Chief of new Office of Emergency Response..
Mulhare and his wife have three children, two of which have graduated from Virginia Tech. He received his bachelor's degree from Saint Joseph's College (Maine) and a master's degree from the University of Rhode Island.
