The UCF Department of Emergency Management was named the 2021 WeatherReady Nation Ambassador of Excellence for East Central Florida in September.

Each year, the National Weather Service (NWS) WeatherReady Nation (WRN) requests each branch across the country to nominate a partner who has “shown exemplary efforts toward helping build a WeatherReady Nation.”

This year, NWS Melbourne chose to recognize UCF’s Emergency Management team for their efforts in promoting hazardous weather safety on campus, holding several weather-related exercises and participating and hosting several SKYWARN training classes annually.

“UCF Emergency Management is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with the NWS Melbourne,” says UCF Emergency Management Director Joe Thalheimer. “The UCF Community and all of Central Florida are better prepared, safer and more resilient as a result of the collaboration between our emergency mangers and their meteorologists. Our team is really honored to be selected as this year’s Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence.”

The recognition includes being featured on the National Weather Service’s website and shoutouts on NWS Melbourne’s social media pages.

The Emergency Management team has a long, successful partnership with NWS Melbourne, including renewing its designation as a StormReady university in 2019. The recognition will remain in effect until May 28, 2022.

The Department of Emergency Management prepares UCF by enhancing partnerships and coordinating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the university’s ability to mitigate, protect, and prevent against; respond to; and recover from natural, technological, and human-caused threats and hazards.