The Nassau Community College Spring 2010 Cultural Program Presents Rescue in Haiti: An Eyewitness Perspective from FEMA Task Force Member James Coll March 8

NEWS RELEASE

Immediate: February 25, 2010 Media Contact: Alicia Steger - 516.572.9634 Email: alicia.steger@ncc.edu ncc.edu/newsreleases

The Nassau Community College Spring 2010 Cultural Program Presents Rescue in Haiti: An Eyewitness Perspective from FEMA Task Force Member James Coll, March 8

Garden City, NY - The Nassau Community College Spring 2010 Cultural Program is proud to present Rescue in Haiti: An Eyewitness Perspective, which will take place on Monday, March 8 at 2:15 p.m. in the College Center Building. James Coll, a member of New York Task Force 1, a FEMA team specializing in urban search and rescue that was in Haiti just after the earthquake, will speak about his experiences there as well as the Haitian and American governments' roles in rescue operations. Coll is also an NYPD detective and a professor of history at the college.

Sent to Haiti by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Coll and the rest of the team arrived in the country three days after the devastating earthquake. During the next eight days, the team rescued six people in Port-Au-Prince who were trapped in collapsed buildings. Coll said his heart went out to the people of Haiti who have suffered so much.

Coll is currently a detective in the elite tactical rescue team in the Emergency Services unit of the New York City Police Department. He was also a first responder to the plane landing in the Hudson that has come to be known as “The Miracle on the Hudson.” In addition, he provides training for new police officers on how to deal with emotionally disturbed individuals. “I love doing the work I do for the police department. Every day I can see first-hand the positive impact we have on peoples' lives,” he said. Police work runs in Coll's family. His father and brother have both been in the police force. A 1993 graduate of NCC who got his masters degree at Hunter College, Coll came back to Nassau in 2001 to teach American history.

For more information about Rescue in Haiti: An Eyewitness Perspective, which is free and open to the public, call 516.572.7153.

About Nassau Community College Nassau Community College, a division of the State University of New York, is an institution where over 23,000 full- and part-time students and nearly 15,000 continuing and professional students start and continue their successful journey through higher education. More than 60 fields of study are offered on a 225-acre campus located in the center of Long Island. As the largest single-campus two-year college in New York State, Nassau Community College maintains a national reputation for excellence. For more information, visit www.ncc.edu.

Ref: 1440.2/25/10/190

Top of page