University News
Western Creates Emergency Management Degree
March 21, 2006
MACOMB, IL – Hurricane Katrina, the Utica (IL) tornado, Sept. 11, the Flood of ’93. Natural – and terrorist-related – disasters that affected hundreds of thousands of citizens. In response to the need for highly skilled and trained emergency management personnel to address these disasters, Western Illinois University is working to establish an emergency management degree program that will take an “all hazards” approach.
According to College of Education and Human Services Dean Bonnie Smith-Skripps, WesternÂ’s Faculty Senate and the WIU Board of Trustees recently approved the suggested curriculum and the proposal now moves forward to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for consideration. Once established, the program will be housed in the health sciences department and will draw upon coursework and expertise from law enforcement and justice administration as well as other University departments.
“We began discussions for this potential degree program in Summer 2005. Later that summer, Hurricane Katrina reinforced our discussions and further validated the real need for a program such as this,” Smith-Skripps added. “The program will include core courses from not only health sciences and law enforcement, but food services, management, political science, social work and other departments.”
Examples of courses include “Weapons of Mass Destruction in Health Sciences,” “Principles of Emergency Management,” “Business and Industry Emergency Management,” “Dimensions of Disaster” and “Legal Aspects of Emergency Management.”
“This multidisciplinary approach will work well with many department minors,” said Diane Hamilton-Hancock, health sciences chair. “In addition to new courses, we’ll also include existing courses into the program. Several members of our faculty have experience in emergency management and related first-responder education.”
While developing the curriculum, Western faculty and staff worked closely with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials to ensure the program would address essential topics and issues.
“FEMA endorses our proposed degree program and agrees that higher education must address emergency management,” Smith-Skripps said.
Smith-Skripps added that the proposed emergency management degree ties in with the recent Homeland Security certificate program launched by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Western Illinois University and other Illinois public universities will establish an 18-hour certificate in Homeland Security. Blagojevich released $75,000 to Northern Illinois University to develop the core course, including a web-based version that can be used by each of the partnering universities.
“The Homeland Security certificate will also build upon the expertise we already have in place,” Hamilton-Hancock explained. “For instance, current courses in political science such as ‘Terrorism in Political Conflict’ and in computer science such as ‘ Computer Systems Security’ will tie in perfectly with this certificate program.”
Western will launch its Homeland Security undergraduate certificate program in Fall 2006. Students will take core courses, in addition to the foundation course created by Northern. Caterpillar Inc. has committed $25,000 in scholarships for students interested in the program, and one $5,000 scholarship will be available to a WIU student.
“Western is excited to be a member of this innovative partnership that provides a value-added educational opportunity for our students,” Smith-Skripps said.
For more information on the proposed emergency management degree program or the Homeland Security certificate, contact Hamilton-Hancock at 309/298-1076.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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