Photo by Zachary Siebert / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Featured speaker at the Missouri Undergraduate Psychology Conference on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University, Grady P. Bray, Ph.D., tells a powerful personal tale of survival in a 1980 Las Vegas hotel to begin his presentation Friday morning. ‘In every crises there is an opportunity, and in every opportunity there is crisis,’ he said.

Photo by Zachary Siebert / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Featured speaker at the Missouri Undergraduate Psychology Conference on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University, Grady P. Bray, Ph.D., tells a powerful personal tale of survival in a 1980 Las Vegas hotel to begin his presentation Friday morning. ‘In every crises there is an opportunity, and in every opportunity there is crisis,’ he said.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Having survived one of the deadliest hotel fires in the United States, where he witnessed the death of several victims, Dr. Grady Bray came out of it with a way to help people deal with crisis.

The MGM Hotel fire in Las Vegas claimed 85 lives in 1980. Dr. Bray, who in searching for the career that was right for him had been a plumber, firefighter, psychologist, sex therapist and explosives expert, was in Las Vegas for training for his new career as a coroner. He was on the 20th floor that morning trapped in his room and watched helplessly as at least two people plummeted to their deaths and an older couple in the room next to him succumbed to toxic smoke.

Rescued by a construction worker with an air tank, Dr. Bray kept a journal during the next year writing about what he’d lived through and “came up with a system” for crisis response. Four years after the fire, he became the president and CEO of Bray and Associates, a consulting, training and disaster response company.

Dr. Bray relayed his story Friday as the featured speaker at the Missouri Undergraduate Psychology Conference at Northwest Missouri State University.

“The real question isn’t why this happened,” he said of mentally processing traumatic events. “The question is what do I need to learn?”

Dr. Bray’s story fits in perfectly with a new minor being offered by Northwest beginning in the spring semester — Comprehensive Crisis Response (CCR) is an interdisciplinary minor that includes classes such as Introduction to Disaster Response and Recovery, Crisis Communication, Principles of Humanitarian Relief, and Disaster Psychology.

Northwest faculty members presented students with information about the new minor just prior to Dr. Bray’s speech Friday.

Dr. Mark Corson, associate professor of geography at Northwest, serves as the coordinator for the new minor. He said in the post-9/11 world, “everybody from the business community to educational community” have emergency planning procedures and that graduates with the CCR minor would boost their resumes.

“People lament that this generation is too into their video games or too self-centered or whatever,” Dr. Corson said. “We’ve got lots and lots of students that want to help. I believe that if we empower people, they can become responders instead of victims.”

Dr. Corson said the program will focus on four areas: homeland security; emergency management; disaster response and humanitarian service.

The program will suit students who want to go into professional emergency management as well and students who simply want to volunteer at the American Red Cross. About 15 students are expected to sign up for the CCR minor in its first semester.

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com