Lindsay France/University Photography

CUEMS Director Rebecca Goldstein '13, left, and CUEMS Director of Operations Jonathan Bar '13, right, congratulate Dan Maas.

Dan Maas, emergency manager for Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) fire protection, was recognized as the Collegiate EMS Adviser of the Year by the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation. He received the award at its annual conference in Washington, D.C., in February. At the same conference, the foundation renewed the recognition of the Cornell University Emergency Medical Service (CUEMS) student organization in the Striving for Excellence category.

Christine Stallmann, associate vice president for environmental health and safety, said that Maas "continually provides mentorship, leadership and advocacy to CUEMS." He is generous with both his time and technical knowledge, adjusting his hours during the school year to provide weekend time for the students to staff CUEMS, and teaching and mentoring the students in CUEMS in a collegial fashion, she said. "His leadership has fostered a professional attitude that is modeled throughout CUEMS," Stallmann said.

Stallmann said that Maas has also helped integrate CUEMS into the university's employee-staffed emergency services operations.

"Maas has been a model adviser and strong proponent of the CUEMS student organization for many years," said Ben Kuo, associate director of EH&S. "He has helped forge a positive relationship for CUEMS with all the surrounding response agencies," he said, and "has positively promoted CUEMS among Cornell's senior leadership."

In renewing the recognition that CUEMS has received as a Striving for Excellence organization, the NCEMSF is designating CUEMS as a representative of its "gold standard for campus EMS delivery and care" and as a benchmark organization against which other campus-based EMS groups should compare themselves. Striving for Excellence is a three-year certification.