Dr. Hall played an integral role in the
creation of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security and
served as the Associate Director from 2006-2014. She continued to serve the
institution through various leadership roles, including Interim Associate Dean
of the College of Health, Chair of the Department of Economic Development,
Tourism, and Sport Management, and most recently as Executive Associate Dean for
the College of Business and Economic Development.
Dr. Hall's expertise is in the area of sport safety and security management. She
has published in leading international sport management, homeland security, and
emergency management journals and has co-authored two textbooks--Sport Facility
Operations Management and Security Management for Sports and Special Events. She has also authored several book chapters in sport facility and event management, crisis communications, and emergency response and recovery. Additionally, she has been invited to publish in national magazines such as Athletic Management, Athletic Administration, and Security Magazine. Dr. Hall has been referred to as one of the nation's leading experts in sport security with interviews in USA Today, ESPN the Magazine, CBS New York, and also appeared on a live national broadcast of ESPN's Outside the Lines. Dr. Hall was one of 150 experts from across the globe invited to attend the first International Sport Security Conference in Doha, Qatar. Dr. Hall has presented at international and national conferences, and conducted invited presentations for U.S. federal and state agencies, college athletic conferences, and professional sport leagues, including Major League Soccer (MLS).
Dr. Hall has been the principal investigator on external grant awards in excess
of $4M. Funded projects included awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security to develop risk management curriculum for sport security personnel at
NCAA institutions, conduct risk assessments at college sport stadia, and develop
training programs for sport venue staff. Dr. Hall has also been involved in
several service projects including the development of a risk assessment tool for
U.S. sport stadia in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and
International Association of Venue Managers; development of a disaster
mitigation plan post-Katrina for the Mississippi Regional Housing Authority; and
development of a sport safety and security system for a K-12 school district in
Houston, TX.
Dr. Hall teaches undergraduate and graduate sport management courses in
economics, finance, and security. She developed a graduate level emphasis area
in sport security management for the Master's program at Southern Miss. Dr. Hall
has completed threat/risk assessment training through the National Emergency
Response and Rescue Training Center; terrorist bombing training through New
Mexico Tech Energetic Materials and Testing Center; and special events
contingency planning for public safety agencies training through the FEMA
Emergency Management Institute.
Dr. Hall played soccer at Southern Miss from 1997-2001 and holds the record for
most goals scored. She was inducted into the Southern Miss Sports Hall of Fame
in 2013. She also captained the Northern Ireland International Soccer Team until
her retirement in 2008.
Lauren Cranford is the Director of Operations for the National Center
for Spectator Sports Safety and Security. Her role is to manage and coordinate
all NCS⁴ operations including, but not limited to, overseeing all grants,
projects, budgets and staff. She assists the director with development and
implementation of programs, special events and training sessions.
Cranford received her Master of Public Health Degree from The University of
Southern Mississippi with an emphasis in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She
received her Bachelor's degree in Community Health Sciences with an emphasis in
Health Promotion. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist through
the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.
Mr. Ward is the Director of Training and Exercise at the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS⁴) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM). In this role, he engages professional, collegiate, endurance event, and interscholastic safety and security professionals to meet industry training requirements, validate plans and processes, integrate solutions and implement best practices. Mr. Ward is responsible for ensuring the NCS⁴ effectively connects the academic and operational communities, preparing practitioners for the current, evolving threat environment.
In addition to his role at the NCS⁴, Mr. Ward has served in the United States Air Force since 2006. He has held a variety of roles in planning, incident management and emergency response. Mr. Ward has led organizational preparation, mitigation, response and recovery efforts for a wide range of natural, technological and human-caused disasters. He has also developed and led chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response teams. In his 15-year career, Mr. Ward has supported preparedness and response efforts domestically and throughout Southwest Asia and the Republic of Korea. Most recently, he served in theater in support of Operation SPARTAN SHIELD as an Emergency Management Superintendent, where he oversaw emergency management efforts at three locations across the AOR.
Mr. Ward has developed and headed emergency management plans and programs for multiple disciplines and organizations, applying best practice and experience to a wide range of incident and event management. He is an Anti-Terrorism Officer, a Hazardous Material Technician, and was awarded the international designation of Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®) by the International Association of Emergency Managers in 2013. He has a Bachelor's degree in Emergency and Disaster Management and a master's degree in business administration.
Brooke Graves is a Training Manager at the National Center for Spectator Sports
Safety and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi. She provides
oversight for the training courses offered through NCS⁴. These duties include
course and instructor scheduling, ensuring all targets are met, and maintaining
the quality of each delivery. Before her current role, Brooke held a number of
first responder roles in both the criminal justice and emergency medical systems.
She was a Special Investigator for the state of Mississippi where she was deemed
a subject matter expert in sexual abuse cases in the state court system. Most
recently, Brooke served as the Law Enforcement and Public Safety Instructor for
the Hattiesburg Public School District. She was the mentor instructor for the
state of Mississippi and was involved in developing curriculum and assessment
material for the Law Enforcement and Public Safety curriculum. Brooke received her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice and Behavioral Science from Tennessee
Wesleyan University and her Masters of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the
University of Cincinnati. She is a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical
Technician and a trained forensic interviewer. She is a certified trainer for
Community Emergency Response Teams.
Traci Johnson is the Instructional Design Specialist for the National Center
for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS⁴). Her role is to design,
develop, and deploy engaging learning activities and compelling course content
for traditional classroom and eLearning training delivery programs. She
collaborates with subject matter experts, instructors, and other design team
members to ensure the accuracy and validity of the training design and
methodology.
Before joining NCS⁴, Johnson was a Mississippi public school educator,
having taught English and Language Arts in the Hattiesburg Public School
District, as well as the Harrison County Public School District.
Additionally, Johnson taught elementary and secondary Music abroad at
International Schools located in both Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Jeju Island,
South Korea, where she was heavily or solely involved in establishing,
developing, and designing curriculum, instructional materials, and
instructional methods for a variety of music classes within each school’s
respective music department.
Johnson received her Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music
Education from The University of Southern Mississippi. She also completed
her certificate in Instructional Design from the IDOL courses Academy.
Sara Priebe is the Event and Membership Manager at the National Center for
Spectator Sports Safety and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi.
In this role, she executes planning and logistics for NCS⁴ events. Priebe is the
contact for vendors interested in securing sponsorships and exhibits at all NCS⁴
events. She works to develop and implement membership plans, strategies and
initiatives for current member retention and new member recruitment. She also
provides customer service to vendors and Solution Partners as well as members
and event attendees. In addition, she provides graphic design for NCS⁴'s
communications pieces.
Jonathan Ruffin is a training manager at the National Center for Spectator
Sports and Safety and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi.
He provides oversight for the training courses offered through NCS⁴.
These duties include course and instructor scheduling, ensuring all targets
are met, and maintaining the quality of each delivery.
Before his current role, Ruffin served as Director of Internal Operations and
Facilities at East Carolina University. In this role, he oversaw daily
maintenance and management of multiple athletic venues and was the primary
game manager for multiple sports. Prior to that, he was Director of Facilities
and Events Management at the University of Louisiana Monroe. During his time
in athletics, Ruffin has been part of several conference/regional tournaments
and various on-campus special events.
Ruffin received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from The University of
Southern Mississippi. He then completed a Master of Science degree in Sports
Management with a Safety and Security emphasis from The University of Southern
Mississippi.
Tymika Rushing is the Business Affairs Manager for the National Center for
Spectator Sports Safety and Security. She is responsible for overseeing the
daily financial operations of NCS⁴, which includes coordinating processes in
budgeting and compliance for grants and externally funded projects, contractual
amendments, and various fiscal responsibilities. Her role is to provide
comprehensive financial management to include, but not limited to, budget
planning, forecasting, compliance, and financial reporting.
Before joining NCS⁴, Rushing was a Contracting Specialist at the NASA Shared
Services Center (NSSC) and for the past 6 years, worked as a Grants & Contacts
Coordinator within the Office of Research Administration at The University of
Southern Mississippi.
Rushing received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The
University of Southern Mississippi. She received her Master of Business
Administration degree from William Carey University.
Dr. Joslyn Zale serves as the Senior Research Associate and CSSP Manager at the
National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at The University of
Southern Mississippi. Her research interests include modeling risk,
vulnerability, and resilience to hazard events, evacuation modeling, social
media use related to hazard events, geospatial big data sources and uses,
multi-scale and spatio-temporal modeling, citizen science, and location
privacy. Her research has appeared in numerous publications, including The
Professional Geographer, the Journal of Emergency Management, and Southeastern
Geographer. Dr. Zale presented her work at national and international
conferences and before U.S. Congressional delegations. She collaborated on
more than $22 million of research funded by DHS, NSF, Department of Education,
and the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, and is a reviewer for the
Journal of Emergency Management and the Natural Hazards Review. Dr. Zale
oversees NCS4's CSSP program, produces technical reports and white papers,
and aids with product reviews and product operational exercises.
Andrew Hood is the student web developer for the NCS4. His
responsibilities include maintaining legacy and conference/event websites in
combination with other staff and the creation of the new ncs4.usm.edu website
using a custom-built WordPress environment. Much of his work revolves around
using React to create custom WordPress plugins and creating the NCS4
custom theme to display the site. Andrew is currently completing a BS in
Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics at The University of Southern
Mississippi.
Jonathan Stanford is a Graduate Assistant for the National Center for Spectator
Sports Safety and Security, where he assists in operations and logistics as it
relates to sports and special events. Stanford is currently pursuing a master’s
degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Sport Event Security
Management (MBA) at The University of Southern Mississippi.
Before joining NCS⁴, Stanford received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business
Management from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. During his time in
Colorado, he served as Philanthropy Director, Greek Life Programming Director,
and was a delegate on the Interfraternity Council for his fraternity of Alpha
Sigma Phi. With raising thousands of dollars and performing hours of community
service, his fraternity went on to win two Grand Senior President’s Cups, which
is the highest award a fraternity can achieve.
