Diane Mack was ready to respond when fire struck a laboratory at the Durham Research Center overnight on Nov. 14.
And throughout the incident response, from the initial fire call to full recovery of lab spaces, Mack rose to the task in her role as UNMC’s director of emergency management.
For her efforts, Mack will be awarded the UNMC Gold U Award – and receive recognition before the University of Nebraska Board of Regents at its meeting today (April 24).
Mack was nominated for the award by UNMC senior leadership – Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, Jane Meza, PhD, UNMC’s interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Charlotte Evans, UNMC’s chief of police and vice chancellor of public safety.
Those leaders offered high praise for Mack in nominating her for the award, saying she consistently delivers outstanding performance and demonstrated leadership during the fire that exemplifies UNMC’s core values.
“Diane Mack’s unwavering dedication, professionalism and embodiment of the ITEACH values make her an outstanding candidate for the Gold U Award,” they wrote in their nomination.
Mack said she appreciates the kind words and the award. But Mack also deflects credit to her team in UNMC’s emergency management office, her fellow incident commanders and to the entire campus and all the personnel who have roles to play in promoting a resilient med center.
“To me, it’s a reflection of what we’ve built and the team itself,” Mack said. “It’s truly the measure of a team when they come together, of how resilient an organization is and that ability for them to use the frameworks that we’ve built and be able to respond and recover from any kind of incident.”
She added, “That’s our goal, and to see that in action was truly rewarding.”
Mack’s career spans 25 years in the field of emergency management, homeland security and business continuity. She previously served in roles with Indiana University and the State of Indiana, as well as volunteering with the Team Rubicon disaster response organization.
She joined UNMC in 2021 – in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic – as the emergency management director for UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and that joint appointment continues today.
“I love the diversity of work between the two campuses, because any experience you can get in any environment makes you a better emergency manager,” Mack said. “You’re able to see different perspectives and different risks and different solutions to any kind of problem that might come up.”
In their nomination, the UNMC leaders said Mack’s performance stood out in a number of ways, such as:
- Implementing creative solutions for communications, relocating researchers and financial planning for the recovery.
- Communicating effectively and listening well, fostering collaboration across multiple departments.
- Leading daily coordination meetings, overseeing demolition and decontamination, and ensuring compliance with safety protocols.
- Providing calm, decisive leadership that inspired confidence and stability across the organization.
- Prioritizing mental health support for affected staff and students.
“She has developed and refined protocols that ensure our institution is ready to respond to crises effectively, safeguarding research, patient care and operational integrity,” the nominators said. “Her foresight and dedication have strengthened UNMC’s resilience and ability to thrive under challenging circumstances.”
Mack said so many people involved in the response deserve kudos.
Nevertheless, Mack will receive the Kudos Award – for leading that operation and her emergency management team and creating the plans that came to fruition.