Spring Valley, Wis., resident receives national Corps of Engineers award
Release #PA-2008-085; Dec. 15, 2008
SAINT PAUL, MINN. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters in Washington, D.C., awarded St. Paul District employee and Spring Valley, Wis., resident Michelle Shafer, its Emergency Manager of the Year award this month.
Shafer is the Corps' St. Paul District emergency manager and has worked for the district since 1985. She also serves on the Corps, headquarters Catastrophic Disaster Response Planning Advisory Committee and Temporary Housing Project Delivery Team, as well as is a Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, Emergency Support Function #3 (public works and engineering) team leader.
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Shafer received this award for taking a leadership role, both regionally and nationally, in improving the federal government’s emergency response efforts and for her outstanding leadership provided during numerous regional emergencies in 2007 to include spring flooding in the Red River of the North river basin, the I-35W Bridge collapse Aug. 1 and flash flooding along the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin in the summer.
During an emergency, her role involves coordinating between the Corps and other agencies, local and federal, responding to the same disaster; providing Corps' assets to local communities when needed; monitoring emergency response funding and mission effectiveness; and more.
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"Michelle Shafer is an example of what all federal employees should strive to be. She is highly motivated, energetic and always ready to take on any challenge," said St. Paul District Commander Col. Jon Christensen, who nominated her for this award. "This is coupled with an extensive knowledge in her field of emergency management that allows her to proceed with ultimate confidence in any emergency situation."
Shafer also recently returned from Louisiana after having served for three months as the emergency manager of the Corps' Recovery Field Office set up there to respond to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $126 million to the five-state district economy. The more than 625 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
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