Brenda Phillips

Brenda Phillips, Ph.D., is the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Indiana University South Bend with over thirty years of higher education experience. She has served as a Dean, Associate Dean, Graduate Program Coordinator (Fire and Emergency Management), and Founding Director (Women’s Studies). Dr. Phillips is a subject matter expert for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Office of the Federal Coordinator of Meteorology, and the National Council on Disability on issues surrounding disasters.

She is an author of Disaster Recovery, Introduction to Emergency Management (lead author), Qualitative Disaster Research and Mennonite Disaster Service. She co-edited Social Vulnerability to Disasters and Women and Disasters. Her published research, funded by the National Science Foundation, can be found in a variety of journals including the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Disaster Prevention, Disasters, Humanity and Society, the Journal of Emergency Management, Natural Hazards Review, and Environmental Hazards.

Dr. Phillips earned the Blanchard Award for excellence in emergency management education and the Myers Award for work on the effects of disasters on women. She was inducted into the International Women’s Hall of Fame for Emergency Management and Homeland Security in 2013.