On Call for Crisis: UNO Grad Gains Real-World Experience at OPPD
What does it take to respond to a crisis? UNO grad Mark Schaffer spent his senior year at OPPD learning just that.
- published: 2025/06/11
- contact: Bella Lockwood-Watson - Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications
- email: unonews@unomaha.edu
Tornadoes tear through towns. Floodwaters swallow roads. Wildfires ignite with little warning. In the U.S., natural disasters rack up more than $18 billion in damages every year, but after the sirens fade and the skies clear, who steps in to bring order back to chaos?
At the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), students like Mark Schaffer are stepping up to answer that question. As an emergency management major, Schaffer didn’t just study disasters from a distance. Schaffer immersed himself in real-time response planning through a hands-on internship with the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD).
Schaffer has long been drawn to the intersection of strategic thinking, logistics, and community engagement, but it took time to find the right fit. He began his college career studying mechanical engineering, intrigued by the idea of building systems and solving problems. However, after completing an internship in the field, he realized his true strengths lay elsewhere.
Wanting to make a more direct impact on people and communities, he enrolled at UNO and shifted his focus to emergency management, a discipline that blended his analytical mindset with a drive to serve others in moments that matter most.
UNO’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) equipped Schaffer with the vocabulary, frameworks, and critical thinking tools to understand what makes communities resilient. He studied everything from disaster recovery protocols to the intricacies of incident command systems, but it wasn’t until he stepped into the halls of OPPD that those ideas took on real weight. There, the theories became tangible, and the stakes more immediate.
At OPPD, Schaffer became a dynamic part of the emergency management team, rotating through departments, sitting in on high-level meetings, and playing a role in simulations that felt less like classroom drills and more like rehearsals for the real thing.
One week, he might be stationed in the Emergency Operations Center, watching teams mobilize during a weather event. The next, he was helping craft tabletop exercises involving complex what-if scenarios: active threats, natural disasters, and large-scale infrastructure failure.
“Mark always remained curious, wanting to learn and ask questions, which really helped him build a solid foundation and understanding of Emergency Management. He also had a rare quality of staying proactive; he never hesitated to ask questions, connected the dots quickly, and wasn’t afraid to dive into complex systems. He didn’t just follow plans and what was given to him; he thought critically about how things could be improved, demonstrating his critical thinking skills.”
These weren’t academic thought experiments, they were critical tests of how OPPD, as a major utility provider, would keep Omaha’s lights on in the worst-case scenario.
“I've been able to really get a good idea of all the stages of emergency management and gotten to see it all,” said Schaffer.
Schaffer quickly found a passion for the adrenaline and unpredictability of disaster response, especially when it came to natural hazards. Tornadoes, floods, extreme weather events. These weren’t abstract threats to him, instead, they were puzzles to solve in real time.
What made Schaffer effective in those moments was the academic foundation he built at UNO. From day one, his coursework immersed him in the language of the field. FEMA frameworks, the structure of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and how emergency operations centers (EOCs) function behind the scenes.
"Just being able to understand what any of that actually means has been super valuable, both for the learning process, because then you don't have to stop and have people define things, but also for the building connection part,” said Schaffer.
When Schaffer entered the room with veteran emergency managers and utility leads, he wasn’t just a student sitting in the corner. He understood the acronyms, spoke the jargon, and tracked the flow of decisions with confidence. That kind of fluency earned him credibility and made him feel like he belonged there.
From sitting in on high-stakes tabletop exercises to learning how to lead during moments of crisis, Schaffer's shown what it looks like to step up before the job title even arrives. His story is proof that when students are given the tools, support, and room to explore, they don’t just learn, they lead.
Whether he’s inside a fortified substation or planning the next simulated emergency, Schaffer's presence is a signal that the future of disaster response is in capable, clear-headed hands.
As his graduation in May 2025 fades into the rearview and the real world calls louder, one thing’s certain, Schaffer isn’t waiting to make a difference. He’s already doing it.
About the University of Nebraska at Omaha
Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.
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