Graduate Education in Emergency Management

William L. Waugh, Jr.Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

Georgia State University

The Range of PossibilitiesGraduate certificatesGraduate concentrations in degree programs,

e.g., MPA and MPP and PhD programs – the Georgia State University and University of Nevada at Las Vegas experiences

Masters degree programs in EM – the University of Nevada at Las Vegas experience

Doctoral degree programs in EM

Educational MissionsProfessional Certification – Graduate

Certificates – pitching to the CEM exam – wrap around programs (linking certificates to graduate degree programs)

Professional Education – MPA and MPP programs – three or four course specializations

Doctoral Education – research versus application - doctors of practice in a research environment

EM Graduate Curricula MappingEM KSAs – from undergraduate to graduate

knowledge, skills, and abilitiesTraditional versus professional programs – the

theory versus practice debatePre-service versus midcareer professional

programs - where to begin, balancing emergency management and management or technical education

Practitioner versus academic educational programs – theory versus practice issues in research programs

Finding a balance that worksFinding a mission that works – negotiating

institutional and market pressuresTruth in advertising – matching values,

missions, and student goalsQuality control – getting from war stories to

generalizable contentSupport for professional education –

counseling, placement, internships, etc.

Building EM LiteracyUnderstanding the context of emergency management –

the legal, political, social, and cultural contexts – with a touch of ethics, diversity, and technology

Determining the knowledge goals – what do they need to know about emergency management practice

Introducing emergency response – from firefighting to shelter management

Introducing Homeland Security – organizational and political linkages, values and missions, etc.

Introducing management issues in emergency management – from management skills to survivor skills in public, private, and nonprofit organizations – budgets, human resources, financial management, etc.

The necessity of mission-driven programsInstitutional constraints, economic realities, professional pressures, and faculty resource limitations