Rate My Professor Claire Knox

Claire Knox is a Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida's College of Community Innovation and Education. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Administration from Florida State University in 2010, a Master of Public Administration with concentrations in Environmental Policy and Management and an Emergency Management Certificate from the same institution in 2005, a B.S. in Renewable and Sustainable Resources in 2000, and a B.A. in English in 1999 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her career trajectory includes Assistant Professor (2011–2017), Associate Professor with tenure (2017–2023), and promotion to Professor in 2023. She holds a joint appointment with the National Center for Integrated Coastal Research. Previously, she served as Founding Director of the Master of Emergency and Crisis Management Program (ranked #1 nationally by U.S. News & World Report) from 2018–2021 and Director of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program from 2011–2018. Before academia, Dr. Knox worked as an Interpretive Specialist at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center for the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act and as a Planning Assistant with the Lafayette Parish Traffic and Transportation Department.

Dr. Knox's research specializations encompass environmental vulnerability and disaster response, coastal resilience, critical theory, discursive analysis, and cultural competency in emergency management. She has secured nearly $5 million in grants as PI or co-PI, including from the National Science Foundation for hurricane evacuation behavior studies using social media data and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for flood risk reduction. Key publications include the co-edited book Cultural Competency for Emergency and Crisis Management: Concepts, Theories and Case Studies (Routledge, 2020), which won the 2021 Book of the Year Award from the American Society for Public Administration’s Section on Democracy and Social Justice. Her articles appear in journals such as Public Administration Review, Environmental Politics, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Administration & Society, Disaster Prevention and Management, and Risk Analysis. Among her honors are the 2022 UCF Research Incentive Award and Kay C. Goss Innovation and Technology Award at FEMA’s Higher Education Symposium, 2025 Emergency Management Educator of the Year, 2025 Campus Impact Award, induction into UCF’s Scroll & Quill Society, and multiple teaching and service awards. Dr. Knox serves on editorial boards of Public Administration Review, Natural Hazards Review, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, International Journal of Security, Preparedness, and Resilience Education, and Frontiers in Communication: Disaster Communication. She was Past Chair of ASPA's Section on Emergency and Crisis Management and a board member of the Section on Environmental and Natural Resource Administration, contributing as an expert reviewer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Agriculture.