DRU Resources

DRU Library

A digital collection of risk, safety, and resilience resources.

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2023 Climate Resilience Roundtable White Paper

On December 7, 2023, 24 professional leaders in safety, risk management, emergency management, sustainability, and compliance from nine institutions of higher education (IHEs), one commercial property insurer, a building engineering and consulting firm, and Deloitte & Touche LLP gathered in Oakland, California, for an in-person roundtable discussion. The objective was to understand how IHEs can become more resilient to climate change- particularly the risk assessments, resilience planning, stakeholder collaboration, and community engagement necessary to make IHEs better able to handle hazards related to climate change. 

Read the DRU Climate Resilience roundtable white paper summarizing the facilitated discussions, findings, and potential recommendations. 


2023 DRU Summit White Paper

In April 2023, the DRU National Summit was held at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. More than 100 attendees representing 50 institutions of higher education met to discuss tools, resources, and strategies for improving disaster resilience on their campuses. The 2023 DRU Summit white paper summarizes the event and key findings.


2022 DRU Roundtable White Paper

In December 2022 a group of DRU members and representatives from private industry partners met in San Francisco for a roundtable discussion. The topic, enterprise risk management maturity models and frameworks, came as a result of responses from the 2022 DRU National Survey. The DRU Roundtable white paper was developed to summarize  findings and recommendations.


2022 DRU National Higher Education Program Survey Report

Following the 2022 DRU National Summit, 388 respondents representing institutions of higher education from across the US participated in a program survey. The survey results provide an opportunity to establish baseline data for enterprise risk management programs in higher education and highlight responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 2022 DRU National Higher Education Program Survey Report is available online.


2018 DRU Summit White Paper

The 2018 National DRU Summit was held in Eugene, Oregon, on April 4 and 5, 2018. The summit featured presentations by higher education experts and thought leaders, as well as peer-to-peer discussions, workgroups, and networking sessions to help participants advance the concept of resilience on their campuses. The 2018 DRU Summit white paper summarizes the peer-to-peer discussions that took place.


2016 National Higher Education Needs Assessment Project

The 2016 National Needs Assessment presents the results of a needs assessment of emergency management programs (EMPs) at institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the US. The findings are based on information collected from a national survey of emergency management practitioners at US IHEs, targeted interviews, case studies, discussions at a summit of representatives of Oregon IHEs, and input from a project advisory committee.


Emerging Issues in Managing International Programs at Institutions of Higher Education

In October 2015, global health and safety managers, with support from the National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS), the Disaster Resilient Universities® (DRU) Network, and the University of Oregon Community Service Center, met at the University of Minnesota's International Center for a focus group to review key risk-management and mitigation issues identified in a pre-focus group survey of DRU members, prioritize emerging risk issues for higher education, and develop a preliminary set of recommendations to address these issues. These recommendations were reviewed in a second focus group at the University of Oregon Portland Campus in February 2016 and resources required to implement those recommendations were discussed. Read the final report.