Risk, Ethics, Safety & Resilience

Risk, Ethics, Safety, and Resilience (RESR) leads functions that ensure a safe, resilient, and supportive campus environment. This includes environmental and occupational health and safety, fire safety, emergency preparedness, business continuity, compliance, and ethics. The team provides comprehensive services that support leadership in managing risks, enhancing safety, ensuring regulatory compliance, and developing university policies.

Emergency Management & Business Continuity

A student checks off an list of emergency preparedness items including bottled water, a flashlight, rope and other important items.

Western Washington University’s emergency management program works to strengthen university-wide emergency and disaster resiliency by encouraging prevention and mitigation actions, collaboratively planning, educating about preparedness, and supporting response and recovery efforts.

Environmental Health and Safety

Person adding waste to a collection bottle using all the protective measures including goggles, gloves and a protective shield.

The overarching responsibility of Environmental Health and Safety is to support the efforts of the university community in remaining healthy and safe.

Ethics and Compliance

A drawing of a person at a crossroads, two signs are there, one points to ethical and the other to legal

Western's Ethics and Compliance program promotes a responsible, efficient, and effective risk based approach to managing the myriad of regulations allowing the University community to focus on achieving its University Strategic Plan. Despite the challenges, Western is committed to compliance while upholding its value of integrity, ethics, and accountability among its workforce and students.

Risk Management

Diverse group of professionals with their laptops out on a boardroom table having a discussion.

Risk Management acts as a consultant and service-provider to executive, division, college, and unit leadership who have substantive responsibility for managing risk.

University Policy & Public Records

Two Tree on the WWU Campus

University Policy  and Public Records is responsible for the development of university policies and the fulfillment of public records in response to public records requests. 

Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Risk, Ethics, Safety, and Resilience

Darin Rasmussen, the Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Risk, Ethics, Safety, and Resilience, oversees various functions to ensure WWU is a safe, resilient, and supportive place to live, learn, and work. Darin began his career at Western in 2012 as the Interim Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police, and in 2014, he was appointed to the permanent role. He transitioned into the AVP position in April 2022. In addition to his experience at WWU, Darrin brings over 22 years of public safety experience, including a distinguished career with the Marysville Police Department.

Darrin outside of Old Main

Organization Chart