This article outlines a set of recommendations to college and university leaders and governing bodies on how to develop crisis-management systems to ensure that their institutions are as well prepared as possible for a wide range of crises. These recommendations are based, in part, on crisis-management programs developed for various business organizations by one of the authors. Since there is virtually no national research that details how colleges and universities have prepared for such events, the authors also conducted a survey of colleges and universities to determine the level of crisis-management preparation among American colleges and universities. The results of that survey also inform their recommendations. The research suggests a very mixed picture regarding crisis-management preparation in American colleges and universities. (Contains 1 table.)