Michael J. Fagel, Ph.D., CEM

Michael J. Fagel, Ph.D., CEM, has been involved in many phases of public service. In over 4 decades of public service, he has been in Fire Service, Emergency Medical Service, Public Health, Law enforcement and Emergency Management, as well as corporate safety, security and threat risk management. Fagel has taught at EKU in their SSEM program since 2005. Currently, he is also an Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in their Masters of Public Administration program.

He is a senior field instructor at Louisiana State University in their National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) where he trains first responders nationwide. The courses include Active Threats on Campus, Campus Integrated Response, Community Public Health and Criminal Intelligence He was a team leader for their Agricultural Response to Terrorism program as well. He has delivered over 350 lectures across the nation and written over 150 articles on safety & disaster planning.

He has published 7 textbooks on safety & disaster management. His 4th Textbook, Crisis Management & Emergency Planning earned the Textbook of the year award from ASIS. Also, he was on the National Domestic Preparedness Office SLAG team (NDPO) at the FBI in Washington. Fagel spent ten years at FEMA in their Occupational Safety & Health Cadre in Washington, responding to incidents and disasters such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, where he worked as a safety officer and CISD de briefer. Most recently, he served the FDNY for over 100 days at after the New York City World Trade Center 9-11 Attacks. He spent 2 years helping Middle East nations create a national response plan and create a new FEMA-type organization.

He teaches Homeland Security at Northern Illinois University, and he supported the US Army’s SBCCOM at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in their WMD facility support operations for 48 months. He served as lead at the National Guard Bureaus CERIAC Fusion Center for 32 months.

He serves as an SME for the National Center for Security & Preparedness, based in Albany, and also supports the State Preparedness Training Center in Oriskany on various courses, including A2S2, Critical Decision Making, EMS Triage and Multiple Casualty Incident Management, and Indicators of the Terrorist Attack Cycle. He has been involved in the training of Fusion Center and Intelligence officials in numerous training classes for DHS.

He has had several mid-east deployments for an extended period. He was a delegate to the European Conference on Emergency Management held in Budapest.  Along with these other assignments, Fagel served as a Homeland Security Analyst at the Argonne National Laboratories engaged in the protection of Critical Infrastructure for 17 years.

He is on the Board of Infragard Chicago, and serves as an SME for Infragard National Headquarters in Emergency Management. He has been an elected township official as well as a member of the Northern Illinois Critical Incident Response Team.