Although Todd Short has been a sworn police officer since 2000 and has instructed on many topics since 1995 while affiliated with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, he has spent the last 12 years specializing in emergency management- and terrorism-related topics. He is currently teaching courses addressing campus response to critical incidents as well as awareness and operational-level performance for various disciplines who may respond to a weapon of mass destruction incident.
Currently, Todd is a police lieutenant, leading the Emergency Management Bureau for the University of Illinois Police Department. In addition, he is an adjunct faculty member at Louisiana State University's National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, where he teaches emergency management and response to first responders throughout the world. As of 2016, he has trained over 2,500 faculty, staff, students and other interagency partners in emergency preparedness and incident management so the campus community and Champaign County would be better prepared to mitigate the effects of any emergency.
Some of the awards and recognition Todd has received include Police Chief's Award (Terrorism Training), 2004; Crisis Intervention Team Officer/Outstanding Citizen Award, 2004; Police Officer of the Year Nominee, 2005; and Chancellor's Distinguished Staff Award, 2008. Todd also assisted with writing Module #6 (Recovery) for the Louisiana State University course, Executive Seminar, Prevention Of, Response To, and Recovery From Campus Emergencies, a course certified by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium in 2008.
Todd's most memorable moment at Parkland was "my professors who deeply cared about my academic progress and taught me to prepare myself academically and professionally for my interests after I graduated."