After four years at the helm of the country’s first homeland security Center of Excellence and more than three decades with the University of Southern California, Randolph Hall has stepped down as Director of the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies (CREATE). He announced his retirement in a LinkedIn post on June 30, sharing plans to continue his research through a sabbatical beginning July 1.
Hall has been a cornerstone of CREATE since its inception. The center was established in 2003 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as the first university-based Center of Excellence dedicated to studying and mitigating threats to the homeland, whether natural, accidental, or deliberate. In his post, Hall noted the full-circle nature of his role, having “co-led CREATE at its inception, 21 years ago,” and now concluding his leadership after four transformative years as Director.
CREATE, based at USC, commemorated its 20th anniversary last year. The center’s mission is to develop advanced models and tools to evaluate risks, costs, and consequences of threats to human safety, as well as to assess and recommend strategies for mitigation and emergency response. Its work continues to inform national policy and resource allocation decisions related to disaster preparedness and counterterrorism.
Hall’s tenure at USC spans nearly 32 years, during which he served not only as a professor but also in various university leadership positions, including Vice Provost and Vice President of Research. His academic background includes expertise in supply chain optimization, innovation management, and healthcare systems, all of which informed his interdisciplinary approach to risk analysis and policy modeling.
In his announcement, Hall said he will use his sabbatical to extend his research on change and innovation within universities and university-industry collaborations.
Detlof von Winterfeldt, a founding figure of CREATE, will return as Interim Director beginning July 1. Von Winterfeldt previously served as director and brings continuity and deep institutional knowledge back to the center during this transition.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
