Cavanaugh has led the EH&S department for nearly 20 years.
Mark Cavanaugh, director of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S), University chief safety officer, and fire marshal, has been named associate vice president of EH&S, effective July 1.
For nearly 20 years, Cavanaugh has led the EH&S department, which works to promote safety and minimize hazards to students, employees, patients, and visitors throughout the University. EH&S provides safety and advisory services through managing risk; assessing, evaluating, and advocating safe work practices; and ensuring regulatory compliance with University and regulatory standards. Among its services, EH&S provides safety training for all members of the University’s research community, and conducts regular inspections of labs to ensure that they comply with all relevant regulations.
Additionally, EH&S is responsible for developing and implementing emergency plans for all parts of the University. These emergency plans have been heavily replied upon since February 2020 when the University began to deploy its responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since this time, Cavanaugh has served as a co-chair of the Coronavirus University Response Team (CURT), which has implemented multiple key actions University-wide in response to health and safety concerns resulting from COVID-19, especially in the areas of the student and employee experience, campus operations and continuity, and new pandemic policies to help mitigate the spread of the virus.
“Mark is a very effective leader of the EH&S team that keeps our research university—including our hospitals and Medical Center services—operating safely every day of the year,” said Holly Crawford, senior vice president for administration and finance, CFO and treasurer. “Notably, for the past year and a half, he and the CURT team have done a tremendous job responding to a very daunting challenge—addressing the safety needs of all of our University community members during a pandemic, while also maintaining the mission-critical campus operations that define the University and keep it running. We are fortunate to have Mark as a leader in these areas, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in the years to come.”
Over the past 18 months, Cavanaugh has additionally served as co-chair of the River Campus Emergency Operations Center (EOC), as well as logistic sector chief for the Finger Lakes Regional Vaccination Hub.
As AVP, Cavanaugh retains his positions as fire marshal and chief safety officer. He joined the University as fire marshal and chief safety officer in 1997, and has served as EH&S director since 2002.
