Janna Lawrence – RIC’s New Director of Emergency Management

Janna Lawrence is RIC’s first emergency management director, a critical role on today’s college campuses. 

In this role, Lawrence will proactively plan for, respond to and lead recovery from emergencies that occur at Rhode Island College, ranging from public health crises to active shooter situations. She will play a critical role in minimizing the impact of emergencies and recovery from emergencies.

Prior to joining the college, Lawrence served for 20 years (2002-2022) on the New York City Police Department (NYPD), advancing from police officer, to sergeant, to lieutenant. During the last eight years of her tenure with the NYPD, she was commanding officer of the Employee Assistance Unit.

A Harvard graduate, Lawrence earned her Master of Public Administration degree in 2020, along with a Graduate Certificate in Leadership, Management, and Decision Sciences and a Graduate Certificate in Emergency Management. She earned her M.A. in forensics psychology in 2001 and her B.A. in criminal justice in 1999.

In September 2025 Lawrence was hired by Rhode Island College on a part-time basis until her new position was approved by the state. She became full time on Feb. 23, 2026.

“I give Rhode Island College and President Warner a lot of credit for being proactive in creating this position even before the Brown University shooting in December 2025,” Lawrence says.

Should an active shooter situation take place at RIC, Chief of Campus Police James Mendonca would act as incident commander, coordinating the operational response, while Lawrence would act as liaison between the college and municipal emergency responders.

“My role entails putting the right people in the right places and ensuring that we’re following the plans and procedures that the college has developed in order to respond quickly and effectively to an emergency,” she says.

Lawrence’s first priority when she arrived at RIC was to work with the City of Providence and the state to individually number each building on campus and to give each building a street address.

“Currently, Rhode Island College has one address – 600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue, which makes it very difficult for emergency responders to know which building on campus to go to when there’s an emergency,” she says.

“If there’s an emergency at Roberts Hall and you call 911, the address is going to come up on the database as 600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue, which is the address for every building on campus. By designating a unique number and street address for each building, emergency responders will be able to respond more quickly and effectively. It will also help visitors who come to campus find specific buildings,” says Lawrence.

“The campus itself and the administration is actively looking at Rhode Island College’s safety and security posture right now,” she says, “meaning where we sit as far as preparedness to respond to emergencies. We’re looking at where gaps may exist, where improvements can be made, and we’re taking this opportunity to improve the areas where we can.”

Physical assessments of buildings are being made, along with the layout of the campus and the locations of cameras and blue light phones. Lawrence is working with the administration on improvements in communication on campus. In the future, every staff, faculty and student will be able to download to their phone an app called Rave AppArmor that will act as a “mobile” blue light phone, along with many other capabilities.

With years of experience in law enforcement, Lawrence is more than able to lead RIC’s preparedness to respond to emergencies.

Along with her role at RIC, Lawrence is director of Rhode Island’s Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). Her job is to lead the trauma response team; she is also RI MRC’s volunteer coordinator – two positions she continues to hold.

As head of the trauma response team, she puts volunteer behavioral health providers and support personnel on the ground during a state emergency.

For instance, following the Brown University shooting, the trauma response team responded with 20 behavioral health providers and 10 support personnel who staffed the family reunification center where all students who were in the area of the mass shooting were brought following the incident. The team provided trauma-informed care to the victims, to the survivors, to the families and to emergency responders (police, fire and EMS).

“Emergency management brings many disciplines together,” says Lawrence. “It’s law enforcement, it’s EMS, it’s behavioral health. Emergency management is about lessening the barriers and coordinating the responses of all those involved in an emergency situation.”