UNH Today

James Ramsay, professor of security studies and chair of the Department of Business, Politics and Security Studies, has been selected as a 2019 Fellow in the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), the world’s oldest professional safety organization. Ramsay is one of four ASSP members in the U.S. to earn this year’s honor of Fellow, which recognizes a lifetime commitment to worker safety and health. Fewer than 0.1 percent of ASSP membership are Fellows.

Ramsay was honored at ASSP’s Safety 2019 Professional Development Conference and Exposition, where ASSP President Rixio Medina recognized the significant contributions this year’s Fellows have made in the occupational safety and health field.

“ASSP Fellows are the heart of our profession and deserve to be recognized for their dedicated work to advance occupational safety and health performance as well as the profession itself,” Medina said. “Their career achievements in preventing workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities are an inspiration.”

Ramsay has been an ASSP member since 1996, a Professional Member since 2005 and its national education standards chair for 12 years. He also launched and served as editor-in-chief for the organization’s Journal of Safety, Health & Environmental Research. As a Certified Safety Professional, his contributions to the profession have been numerous and notable.

Ramsay was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services to serve on the CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) board of scientific counselors and the NIOSH disaster research Institutional Review Board. He has served as a program evaluator, commissioner and board member for ABET, as well as on several federal technical committees and ANSI standards efforts. Ramsay was also part of a team that created the academics practice specialty, most recently developing the new Council on Academic Affairs and Research and serving as its inaugural vice president.

With more than two decades of experience in occupational safety, public health, emergency management, environmental health and security studies, Ramsay is widely published on safety and health issues ranging from needlestick injuries to economic analysis, hazardous communications, education standards and accreditation.

Ramsay joined UNH in 2015 to lead the creation of the homeland security bachelor’s degree program, which was the foundation for UNH earning its designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency.