Online Master of Arts in Emergency and Disaster Management and Homeland Security - Dual Degree

This course establishes the theoretical foundation that enables the study and understanding of what constitutes ‘disaster’ as a part of the human condition and experience. Students are given a basic understanding of scientific concepts such as fact, theory, and hypothesis. These are then illustrated by analysis and case studies provided by renowned thinkers and writers in the field of emergency and disaster management. Students leave the class with a quality theoretical foundation from which to conduct all of their future master’s-level work.

This is a survey course that is designed to introduce students to the concepts of emergency management. Topics covered include the history of the field, hazard analysis, mitigation, planning, communication, response, recovery, and terrorism. Students conduct interview research with an emergency manager and conduct a site visit of an emergency operations center. Students can use this course to springboard into advanced topics within the field as offered by other courses, and is a great place for students to begin their emergency management degree programs.

This course deals with the interaction, coordination, and facilitation between federal, state, and local agencies during preparation, response, and recovery operations. The history of emergency response organizational development is explored, along with the current structural and operational design provided by the National Response Framework (NRF) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Finally, the potential for public-private partnerships in disaster response is examined. Students will achieve an understanding of how all of the various agencies work together to achieve emergency management and disaster response goals and objectives.

This course is a study of the economics associated with international, national, state, or local level disaster. Students will study, analyze, and conduct research on the direct and indirect economic losses associated with disaster. The course will cover the economics associated with both public and private institutions.

This course deals with the casualty consequences of large scale emergency, disaster, and/or destruction. Public health, emergency casualty services, mortuary, and other issues are addressed using case examples, theory, and principles that have been researched, studied, and documented in international, national, and local settings. The course covers the background and philosophy, parameters, clinical issues, special circumstances (CBRN/WMD), clinical and non-clinical issues, and recovery strategies in Mass Casualty Incident Management. In conjunction with the outlined topics, the course examines a number of Mass Casualty Incident Management Case Studies (New York City, Jerusalem, Toronto, New Orleans, Tokyo and Madrid).

This course examines the role of crisis action planning in emergency management and disaster response. This course begins by examining the art and science of future studies – that is, being able to accurately predict an outcome from a given set of inputs and understand the ramifications. Impacts of global warming are presented. Crisis leadership and management theories and methodologies are examined. Taking these three components into account, and adding in other threats that students envision in forum discussions, students then develop a crisis action plan for an organization of their choice, with the purpose being to provide a plan for organizational survival against the challenges depicted above. Students also select an optional topic from an approved bibliography to present and discuss, on such topics as future climate, weather, social justice, energy, economics, environment, resource depletion, and potential strategies for the survival of civilization. Students will achieve a new and more holistic appreciation of the disaster planning process. The crisis action plans that students develop for this course are consistently implemented in the real world, and are in place in organizations across the globe.

This course offers students the opportunity to study a historical disaster of their choosing in depth. The theory of case study analysis is covered in detail—problem formulation, research methodology, data collection, and analytical techniques are examined. Concurrently, students develop a topic statement and concept of analysis for their chosen disaster. The final product of the course is a case analysis that includes a telling of the story of the disaster; a depiction of the methodology that will be utilized to understand the disaster in academic terms; an analysis of what happened and why; and the lessons that can be drawn from the study that would improve the field of emergency and disaster management. Students will learn a valuable research skill that can be used repeatedly throughout their careers.

This course offers a comprehensive overview of key elements of the United States’ homeland security program. This overview will have students examining, discussing and analyzing homeland security operational and policy concerns which have continued to evolve in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

This course introduces students to risk management components including plans and strategies to mitigate risk. Students in this course will examine the role of risk management at the strategic and enterprise levels in the prevention of loss and mitigation of consequences through risk identification and control. This course will allow students to develop and apply risk management techniques to include selection of risk management measures and implementation of those measures.

This course explores the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a unique phenomenon within the homeland security landscape. Specifically, this course provides students with a historical perspective on the development and use of WMD from both an international and a domestic perspective. The course also explores the efforts to prevent, prepare, and respond to the use of WMDs.

This course traces the history, emergence, and growth of domestic terrorist and extremist groups within the United States. Students will assess various groups' intentions, capabilities, and activities within contexts of and ramifications on political, national security, and legal paradigms.

With an ever-changing threat vector, the need for a more resilient nation has never been more important. This course will explore different aspects of resilience and its connection to national homeland security. The course further explores resilience and its relationship to critical infrastructure nodes to methods of analysis and risk impact.

This course examines intelligence community responses to threats to the U.S. homeland from transnational and domestic actors. Threats to the U.S. borders, including illegal immigration, narcotics smuggling, money laundering, commercial smuggling, and other organized crime activities are also covered.

This course examines the way government policies emerge from the political process and are implemented through participating institutions. In this class students will investigate how good analysis can contribute to informed policy-making and review the factors that go into developing effective implementation strategies. In addition, today’s need for enhanced public accountability and the challenging problems of measuring program performance are examined.

This course provides basic research methods skills for addressing problems and issues specific to the programs within the School of Security and Global Studies (SSGS). The course covers four basic approaches to social research including experimentation, survey research, field research, and the use of available data. Students will gain foundational knowledge in research planning, design, methodology, data collection, and analysis. This course prepares students for advanced research methods. Students in SSGS graduate studies are expected to be completely familiar with Turabian and APA writing styles. If you do not possess copies of these manuals, here is a link to the library, https://www.apus.edu/apus-library/resources-services/Writing/writing-center.html, specific to writing basics, that has quick style guides in use within SSGS. Purchase of the most recent writing guide in use in your program is highly recommended. If you are unsure what writing style is in use in your program, consult with your academic advisor.