FEMA HIGHER EDUCATION PROJECT

One of the goals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is to encourage and support the inclusion of emergency management-related education in colleges and universities across the United States. We believe that in the future more and more emergency managers in government as well as in business and industry need to come to the job with a college education that includes courses in disaster/hazard related topics. It is our hope that an ever growing number also will graduate with a degree in emergency management.

To further this end FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI), in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which focuses on skills-based training for existing emergency management personnel, has undertaken several projects which promote college-based emergency management education for future emergency managers. In 1995 EMI devoted a full-time staff officer to the task of working with academics to develop and promote emergency management-related college courses. At first, about all that could be accomplished was to provide copies of existing EMI Instructor Guides and Student Manuals to academics interested in investigating the development of their own emergency management-related courses. Since then several projects have been added to this initiative.

An annotated listing of colleges and universities in the United States that teach one or more emergency management courses was assembled. This twenty-plus page document describes courses and programs offered and provides point-of-contact information for each institution listed. To enhance its comprehensiveness, an early draft of this document was mailed to over two thousand academics who receive the Natural Hazards Observer Newsletter. This listing is now routinely provided to emergency management personnel interested in continuing their education, as well as to academics wishing to develop their own emergency management-related courses.

Following the development of the college list, a compilation of course syllabi and outlines of existing emergency management-related courses taught in academia today was put together through requests to the college list points-of-contact. Over seventy course outlines or syllabi are now included in this compilation, which is available free of charge to any academic wishing to investigate the development of emergency management-related courses.

Next, EMI developed its own outline of a potential emergency management curriculum consisting of class-room based, upper division (junior/senior), baccalaureate-level courses. EMI is now working with a variety of colleges and universities to develop such a curriculum from the listing of courses herein:

Aim and Scope of Emergency Management (1998)
Business and Industry Crisis Management (1998)
Citizen and Community Disaster Preparedness (1998)
Disaster Response Operations and Management (1998)
Earthquake Hazard Management and Operations (1999)
Economics of Hazards and Disaster (1999)
Emergency Management for the Fire Community (1999)
Emergency Management for the Law Enforcement Community (2000)
Emergency Management Skills and Principles (1999)
Ethics in Disaster and Emergency Management (2000)
Hazardous Materials Management (1999)
Issues in Emergency Management (2000)
Legal Dimension of Emergency Management (2000)
Living in a Hazardous Environment (1997)
Politics of Disaster (1998)
Principles and Process of Disaster Preparedness and Planning (1998)
Principles and Process of Disaster Relief and Recovery (2000)
Principles and Process of Hazards Mitigation (1998)
Public Administration, Policy and Emergency Management (1998)
Research Methods in Emergency Management 1998)
Social Dimensions of Disaster (available)
Sociology of Disaster (available)
Technology and Emergency Management (1998)
Terrorism and Emergency Management (1999)

Each course will be in the form of an Instructor Guide, much like existing EMI course Instructor Guides. These Instructor Guides are being developed in sufficient detail to enable an informed instructor to teach the course at the upper division level with a minimum of additional work outside of becoming familiar with the recommended course materials.

As courses are developed EMI will make them available electronically via the Internet (http://www.fema.gov/EMI/edu/higher.htm) and hard-copy via the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce (for NTIS cost and ordering information call 1-800-553-NTIS). EMI will announce course availability in the Natural Hazards Observer, by direct mail announcements to those schools teaching emergency management courses, and via the Higher Education Internet Homepage.

As a result, FEMA hopes to see an advancement of emergency management degree programs throughout the U.S., to include some level of degree program in every State in the Union. While the need is for four-year emergency management degree programs, the development of such programs could follow an evolutionary path such as, for example:

• A certificate program for practitioners as found at the University of California at Berkeley.
  
  
• An Associate Degree program as offered by the Delaware Community College system or St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida.
  
  
• An Emergency Management minor, as is being considered at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.
  
  
• The conversion of the Higher Education Project's class-room based courses into distance learning courses and degrees, as is being done at St. Petersburg Junior College.
  
  
• An existing Department, such as Urban Planning or Public Administration, offering an emergency management concentration or specialization.
  
  
• The full-fledged major and bachelor degree in emergency management as at the University of North Texas in Denton, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, or the Bachelor degree in Emergency Services Management at the University of Richmond, Virginia.
  
  

Finally, EMI has instituted a Higher Education Internship. Students enrolled at emergency management degree granting schools can intern at EMI for several weeks to several months under the sponsorship of their department. Roundtrip travel will be reimbursed, dorm-style housing will be provided, and a suitable assignment will be negotiated (with the student and his or her faculty representative.) No salary will be paid and interns are responsible for all their expenses, including meals. The student's school must agree to provide credit hours (to be negotiated) for a successful internship (students will be evaluated on their performance).

While we believe that this initiative is good in and of itself, we also believe that an added benefit is that it will contribute to the advancement of the profession of emergency management. Imagine a future wherein a mayor, city or county manager or administrator, governor, volunteer agency active in disaster, or business/industry Chief Executive Officer has a choice of hiring an Emergency Management Degree holder for a new position -- a person who can be looked upon to quickly contribute to his or her organization's management team. We think this day is coming and are happy to be able to have a role in helping.

Questions concerning the Higher Education Project can be addressed to:

Wayne Blanchard, PhD, CEM
c/o the Federal Emergency Management Agency
NETC/EMI, Building N, Room 430
16825 S. Seton Ave.
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
(301) 447-1262 or fax at (301) 447-1598
email: wayne.blanchard@fema.gov