LSU Names Michael Antoine Associate Vice President for Campus Safety, Emergency Preparedness & Emergency Response

BATON ROUGE – LSU has named Michael Antoine to the inaugural position of Associate Vice President for Campus Safety, Emergency Preparedness & Emergency Response. In this role, Antoine will have the charge of managing and executing overall operations and strategy related to the LSU Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Emergency Operations Center.

Antoine currently serves as the Director of Emergency Preparedness at LSU. His new position is an expansion of his previous emergency preparedness duties by also overseeing LSU Police, Parking & Transportation Service and Environmental Health & Safety.

A New Orleans native, Antoine has more than 22 years of comprehensive public safety experience in Louisiana homeland security and emergency preparedness planning.

His extensive career includes helping lead the city of New Orleans search & rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina and numerous Presidentially Declared National Disasters. He also coordinated public safety operations for major events such as Super Bowl XLVII, The College Football Playoff National Championship in 2020, and Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans between 2017-2020.

“Campus safety is an increasingly complex undertaking that requires deep expertise in public safety and emergency management. By creating this position, we are elevating expectations of how to identify challenges and enterprise new ways to communicate and respond to them. Michael’s experience and background are the perfect foundation for building a more proactive approach of preparedness and response to improve campus safety,” President William F. Tate IV said.

In this new position Antoine will report to Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer Kimberly Lewis.

“Since working at LSU, Antoine has streamlined and centralized processes and procedures to enhance efficient coordination and communication across campus safety and emergency preparedness departments, we are thrilled to have someone with his expertise take on this critical role,” Executive Vice President Lewis said.

Plans he has previously developed and implemented at LSU include a new Comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan, Active Shooter Response Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, Emergency Medical Response Plan and Incident Action Plans for home football games and other special events.

Antoine is also currently leading various initiatives to include an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) program and Emergency Call Boxes also known as “Blue Lights” accessible to students and faculty across LSU campuses.  

Prior to LSU, Antoine served as Director of Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness at Tulane Health System;​ Chief of Staff of Public Safety, Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, City of New Orleans; Deputy Director Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness, City of New Orleans; and numerous positions with the New Orleans Fire Department, such as Fire Captain, Training Officer, Compliance Officer, and lead for the department’s Incident Management Team.  ​

Antoine is a PhD candidate in Urban Planning at the University of New Orleans (UNO), holds a Master’s Degree in Homeland Security/Emergency Management from Tulane University, a Bachelor of Science in Public Health/Emergency Management from Tulane University and is a National Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), and Louisiana Emergency Management Professional (LEM-P).​ He is a graduate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Emergency Management Executive Academy, Naval Post Graduate School Executive Leaders Program, Harvard Kennedy School of Government Leadership in Crisis Academy, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Homeland Security Institute.

Among other prestigious accolades, he is a FEMA Vanguard Executive Crisis Leadership Fellow, a New Orleans Gambit 40 Under 40 Awardee, and was appointed to serve a three-year term on the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency National Advisory Council.