Charles Jennings
Charles
Jennings
Associate Professor
Phone number
646.557.4638
Room number
433.09H
Education

PhD         Cornell University (1996, City and Regional Planning)
MRP        Cornell University (1994, City and Regional Planning)
MS          John Jay College of Criminal Justice (1990, Fire Protection Management)
BS           University of Maryland at College Park (1986, Journalism)
AS           Montgomery College (1984, Fire Science)

Bio

Charles Jennings is Associate Professor in the Department of Security, Fire, and Emergency Management. He teaches in the graduate program in Emergency Management and Protection Management and the Bachelor's in Emergency Setvices Administration. He currently serves as Program Director for the Master's in Emergency Management program. Jenings led the introduction of the first graduate course offerings in emergency management in the New York area in 2000.  Jennings has a career that balanced academic and practioner positions in fire and emergency management including serving as Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains, NY (2002-2008) and Chair of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the City of Ithaca, NY (1993-1996). He served as Director of Emergency Management and Acting Fire Chief in White Plains. While in White Plains he oversaw many innovations including installation of mobile computer terminals in both police and fire vehicles, enhanced training, new equipment, and oversaw the Department's $40+ million budget. He was a member of the Westchester County Emergency Medical Setvices Advisory Board.   He has conducted research on numerous topics, many related to public policy issues and the fire service. He also serves as Director of the College's Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies

Jennings was a founding professional advisor to the Skyscraper Safety Campaign (SSC), where he supported advocacy for improved building codes and requirements for tall building in New York City. He is an Alternate to the National Fire Protection Association's High Rise Building Safety Advisory Committee (HRBSAC), formed in the wake of post-9/11 advocacy. HRBSAC continues to make recommendations to building and fire safety code committees and develops guidance documents for building operators and users.

 

 

 

JJC Affiliations
Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies (RaCERS)
Courses Taught

FIS 350 Management Applications in Fire Protection

FIS 401 Seminar in Fire Protection Problems

PMT 725 Seminar in Emergency Management

PMT 763 Emergency Management: Preparedness

PMT 781 Risk Analysis and Loss Prevention

Professional Memberships

National Fire Protection Association

Society for Risk Analysis

Urban and Regional Information Systems Association

Associated Public Safety Communications Officers

American Society for Quality

International City/County Management Association

Institution of Fire Engineers

International Association of Emergency Management

International Command and Control Institute

 

 

 

 

Scholarly Work

Persaud, Eric and Charles Jennings. “Pilot Study on Risk Perceptions and Knowledge of Fentanyl Exposure Among New York State First Responders.” Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2019. Doi:10.1917/dmp.2019.95

Jennings, Charles et al. Guide for Communicating Emergency Response Information for Natural Gas and Hazardous Liquids Pipelines. HMCRP Report 14, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC: 2014. (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/hmcrp/hmcrp_rpt_014.pdf)

Clare, Joseph, Len Garis, Darryl Plecas, and Charles Jennings. “Reduced frequency and severity of residential fires following delivery of fire prevention education by on-duty firefighters: Cluster randomized controlled study.” Journal of Safety Research. Vol. 43, Issue 2, April 2012, pp. 123-128.

Thiel, Adam and Charles R. Jennings, Editors, Managing Fire and Emergency Services. Washington, DC: International City/County Management Association, 2012.

"High-Rise Office Building Evacuation Planning: Human Factors versus "Cutting Edge" Technologies." Journal of Applied Fire Science, Vol. 4, no. 4. (1995)

Honors and Awards

Chief Fire Officer designee, Center for Public Safety Excellence

Fellow, Institution of Fire Engineers

City of White Plains Mayoral Proclamation, “Charles Jennings Day” January 22, 2008

 

 

Research Summary

Charles Jennings conducts research in several areas. More recently, he studies response to and initial management of complex incidents including active shooter, bombing, and technologic failures. This includes development of after action reports on events including the Pulse Nightclub shooting, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas school shooting, Boston Marathon bombing, and several major high-rise fires.  He also studies and publishes on community fire risk and public safety policy in the areas of resource deployment and analysis using Goegrraphic Information Systems (GIS). He is interested in promoting evidence based practice and collaborative problem solving in government, and the emergency management and response community.