RICHARDSON, Texas (April 18, 2005) – The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of Management on May 4 for the first time will offer a one-day course to train business-continuity managers how to ensure that if their place of business is struck by a disaster or emergency their company will survive the event.

The Business Continuity Management Workshop, offered through the school’s Executive and Professional Development division, will feature presentations by four experts in the field who currently are working as continuity planners for such companies as Perot Systems and Washington Mutual. Sessions will focus on the business-continuity needs of both large corporations and small businesses.

Dorothy Miller, manager of The UTD School of Management’s Emergency Management Preparedness Program, said that the short course is designed to help companies build the foundation of a plan that takes into account potentially destructive hazards and their impact.

“We hear about disasters and emergencies every day in the news, events such as the recent shootings in the Atlanta courthouse and in Canton, Texas, not to mention tornadoes and flooding that devastate whole areas. In this workshop, we will help companies develop a plan that addresses the question, ‘If a disaster strikes our business today, will we still be in business tomorrow?’ Such a plan is vital to any organization,” Miller said.

She said the program plans to offer similar workshops that address emergency and disaster preparedness planning for schools and health care organizations and for the security of transportation systems.

The May 4 workshop will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cost for each participant is $295. For additional information, please contact Miller at 972-883-2562 or view the UTD Professional Development website at http://som.utdallas.edu/executive/cert.

UTD’s Executive and Professional Development division, working in partnership with public and private organizations, focuses on strengthening individual and organizational effectiveness. It offers non-credit programs including workshops, seminars, conferences, short courses, custom-designed programs and one-on-one training. Companies can work with UTD to design custom on-site or on-campus training.

About the UTD School of Management

The School of Management is the largest of UTD’s seven schools, with an enrollment that has increased 92 per cent over the last seven years to more than 4,300 students. The school’s new 204,000-square-foot building features classrooms with state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, wireless connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, a computer lab, faculty offices, meeting rooms and an executive education center. The faculty ranks 37th in research productivity among business school faculties nationwide, based on publications in the top 22 business journals spanning all areas of business, and the school’s Cohort MBA program ranks among the top 32 full-time MBA programs at public colleges and universities in the U.S.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.