OSU Fire Protection and Safety Technology Alumni Helping to
Fight Industry Workforce Shortage

Alumni and corporate matching programs to ensure education of
next generation’s fire protection students

The fire protection and safety industry is facing a simple case of supply and demand – the demand for fire protection engineers greatly outweighs the supply.

In 2006, the Society for Fire Protection Engineers conducted an informal survey of fire protection engineer employers and found that 90 percent of those surveyed said they experienced difficulty in hiring a fire protection engineer in the past year with 86 percent responding that it was due to a lack of applicants.

“The current environment is extraordinarily favorable for our profession,” said Chris Jelenewicz, engineering program manager for the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. “Almost every day a prospective employer or recruiter has contacted us looking for qualified candidates.”

Housing the nation’s premiere Fire Protection and Safety Technology [FPST] program, Oklahoma State University’s [OSU] 70-year-old program is responsible for producing many of the nation’s currently degreed fire protection and safety professionals. But to continue growing and meeting the needs of the industry, the program is relying heavily on the help of outsiders.

Gifts by alumni and friends, like Neil Ryan, a 1980 OSU FPST graduate, are pertinent to growing the program and combating the shortage now facing the fire protection industry. By soliciting donations from fellow alumni, Ryan is leading efforts to create an endowment for the program that will go toward an unrestricted account, which will be used to promote fire protection and safety technology as a career choice to kindergarten through 12th-graders, among other things.

“Every graduate from the FPST program that I know has been well prepared by the program to succeed in their chosen FPST career,” Ryan said. “Giving back is our way of helping the University that helped prepare all of us.”

As the supervisor of operations integrity management and emergency response at ExxonMobil’s Houston office, Ryan says he’s found a strong alumni base to call on just within his corporation. Adding ExxonMobil’s 3-to-1 educational gift matching policy and Ryan was able to reach the $10,000 endowment minimum with relative ease.

“I felt by directing ExxonMobil alumni to a fund specifically for them it would be easier to recruit donors,” Ryan said. “I have solicited about 15 donors.”

Creating more faculty positions in OSU’s program will also be essential to educating the additional graduates the industry needs, says J.D. Brown, associate professor and FPST interim department head.

“The field is in desperate need of more people,” Brown said. “This money will help us grow our own program and help promote fire protection and safety technology as a lucrative career choice.”

The Oklahoma State University Foundation serves as the private fundraising organization for OSU, as designated by the OSU Regents. Its mission is to unite donor and university passions and priorities to achieve excellence.

Top of page ^