Lucy A. Arendt (M. EERI 2008) has been awarded EERI Honorary Membership in recognition of her exemplary service to the Institute. Honorary membership is awarded to recognize members who have made sustained and outstanding contributions to the field of earthquake engineering and/or to the Institute and the pursuit of its mission.
Dr. Lucy A. Arendt is a Professor of Management at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. A specialist in community decision-making for disaster recovery, Arendt currently serves as the chair of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction. Much of her professional work focuses on individual, organizational, and community decision-making around disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. She holds a doctorate in Management Science from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Arendt served on the EERI Board of Directors as Secretary/Treasurer from 2018-2023 and as an elected Director from 2015-2017, as well as on committees including Audit and Initiatives Development. She participated in Learning From Earthquakes (LFE) post-earthquake reconnaissance research in New Zealand in 2010 and Mexico in 2017, and served as a leader in LFE’s travel study program. She was a member of and co-chaired the School Earthquake Safety Initiative and worked with Mary Comerio to produce her produce her volume in EERI’s Connections Oral History Series. One of her greatest contributions has been as the leader of EERI’s Housner Fellows early-career leadership training program. Since 2011, she has mentored, trained, and guided four classes of nearly 30 Housner Fellows, many of whom are now leaders in the earthquake field in their own right. Her dedication to governance and teaching has made a significant difference for many younger EERI members, demonstrating her sustained and outstanding contributions to EERI and the field of earthquake resilience.
Arendt is also a contributor to FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254, Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time (2021), and she continues advancing functional recovery as a member of the Provisions Update Committee’s Functional Recovery Task Force and through her work with the Applied Technology Council.
