Anna K. Schwab is program manager at the US Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) administered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). The Center focuses on conducting research associated with natural hazards and disasters, translating the findings to practice and educating the next generation of hazards scholars and practitioners. In her role as Program Manager, Ms. Schwab works collaboratively with diverse partners around the country to coordinate the research, education, and outreach projects of the Center, acts as liaison among participating principal investigators, and facilitates engagement of the CRC Advisory Board.
Prior to her current position at the Resilience Center, Ms. Schwab served as program manager and research associate at the Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative, a partnership between UNC-CH and the NC Division of Emergency Management which provided technical assistance to local governments for the development, adoption and implementation of local and regional hazard mitigation plans in compliance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act. Ms. Schwab also spent many years serving as a research associate and program coordinator for a variety of public service and research initiatives at UNC-CH, with her primary focus concentrating on emergency management, natural hazards mitigation, land use, law and planning, environmental and emergency management ethics, coastal zone management, sustainable development, and natural resource conservation.
Ms. Schwab’s published and unpublished works reflect her wide-ranging interests, including writings focused on natural hazards and the development of resilient and sustainable communities. Among her publications is the 2007 release of Hazard Mitigation and Preparedness: Building Resilient Communities published by John Wiley & Sons as part of a series on the disaster cycle targeted at professional emergency managers. The book was subsequently revised and published by CRC Press in 2013, with a third edition forthcoming in 2021. In addition, Ms. Schwab is co-author along with Professor David Brower and Dr. Timothy Beatley of the first and second editions of An Introduction to Coastal Zone Management, published by Island Press. She has also written a chapter on ethics in Preparedness and Response to Catastrophic Disasters published by CRC Press in 2013. In 2006 she served as coordinator and contributing author of the Coastal Hazards Management Instructor Guide for the Emergency Management Institute Higher Education Program, with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in collaboration with the NOAA Coastal Services Center. Additional journal articles and conference proceedings she has authored have addressed the topic of sea level rise; a critique of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000; and an essay in The Practice of Local Planning published by the American Planning Association. Other government-issued technical materials that she has authored or co-authored include several guides and instructional manuals to assist local planners and emergency managers in the State of North Carolina, as well as the Capability Section of the NC State Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Ms. Schwab received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics (Phi Beta Kappa), a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning, and a Law Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.