Emergency Management and Homeland Security (EMHS)

Curriculum

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The EMHS course requirements include two core seminars (6 credit hours) and three additional electives (9 credit hours). A 3-credit hour internship in the field is required for students without prior experience in emergency management. At the discretion of program advisors, up to 6 credit hours of graduate-level EMHS coursework taken at other accredited institutions of higher learning (units that were not applied toward another awarded degree or certificate) may be applied toward completion of the EMHS certificate or concentration within the MPA.

REQUIRED CORE SEMINARS

Two core seminars are required for completion of the EMHS certificate or concentration, including one focusing on policy and management aspects of EMHS and the other focusing on spatial analysis and planning. Together, these two seminars provide students with a comprehensive overview of the emergency management profession and the integrated array of knowledge and skills that comprise it. The core seminars are:

• PAD 5650/7650-3. Disaster and Emergency Management Policies (3 credit hours). Examines public policies for the management of hazards, emergencies, and disasters. Focuses on a series of case studies concerning major disasters, and on management principles drawn from those cases (including the all-hazards emergency management model). Examines the role of institutional processes, government organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in emergency management. (offered fall, 2007)
• GEOG 5230-3. Hazard Mitigation and Vulnerability Assessment (3 credit hours). The primary objective of this course is to explore ways to reduce the impacts of hazards, focusing on human systems, rather than the physical environment. The emphasis will be on hazard mitigation and vulnerability reduction/building resilience. Topics will include examining different techniques for conducting hazard and vulnerability assessments, incorporating hazard planning into comprehensive and land use plans, and assessing how vulnerability assessments fit into this process. The class conducts work to support hazard and vulnerability assessment, utilizing GIS as a tool. (offered fall, 2007)

ELECTIVE TRACKS

The EMHS program requires the completion of three additional electives chosen from a pre-approved, multidisciplinary list of courses relevant to emergency management. Electives are currently organized into a series of tracks. Students may select electives from a single track or from multiple tracks. Additional electives, not currently included in the list, may be approved by the student's advisor and the EMHS Coordinator. Any alterations to the program MUST be pre-approved.

Track 1: Policy and Management

Several courses already offered in the curricula of the School of Public Affairs, and various departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and elsewhere either directly or tangentially address policy and management aspects of EMHS. Solely by way of example, some of these courses include:

• PAD 5271. Managing Conflict and Change.
• PAD 5410. Administrative Law.
• PAD 5420. Law and Public Policy.
• PAD 5440. Negotiation and Conflict Resolution.
• PAD 5631. Environmental Politics and Policy.
• PAD 5632. Environmental Program Management.
• PAD 5633. Natural Resource and Environmental Health Law.
• PAD 6600. Legal Aspects of All-hazards Management.
• PSC 4365. Global Ecological Crises.

Track 2: Spatial Analysis, Planning, and Quantitative Assessment

The Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences and other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Architecture and Planning, the College of Engineering, and other academic unit all offer relevant coursework. Examples include:

• GEOG 5080. Geographic Information Systems.
• GEOG 5090. Environmental Modeling with GIS.
• URP 6653.    Natural Resource Planning and Management.
• URP 6651.    Environmental Impact Assessment.
• URP 6612.    Geographic Information Systems for Planners.

Track 3: Public Safety, Homeland Security, and Justice

The listing below includes course offerings from the School of Public Affairs’ Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) Program; and from the Graduate Certificate Program in Homeland Defense, a multidisciplinary program based at the Colorado Springs campus of the University of Colorado.

• CJ 5000.    Law and Social Control.
• CJ 5100.    Administration of Criminal Justice.
• INSS 682.  Protection of Critical Infrastructures (UCCS campus only).
• PAD 5950. Introduction to Homeland Defense (UCCS campus only).
• PAD 5951. Interagency Relationships in Homeland Security and Homeland Defense (UCCS campus only).
• PSC 598:   Understanding the Threat (UCCS campus only).

Track 4: Public and Environmental Health

The courses listed in this track are drawn principally from the curricula of the Master of Science in Environmental Science Program and the Health and Behavioral Science program within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UCD Downtown Denver Campus; and the Master of Science in Public Health program within the School of Medicine, at the UCD Health Sciences Center Campus.  Be sure to check with the course professor and academic advisor regarding conditions for course admission.

• ENVS 5620. Health Risk Communication
• ENVS 6200. Risk Assessment.
• ENVS 6210. Human Health and Environmental Pollution
• ENVS 6220. Toxicology
• ENVS 6230. Environmental Epidemiology
• HBSC 5001. Introduction to Epidemiology
• HBSC 5014. Global Health Studies I: Biocultural Basis of Health
• HBSC 5024  Global Health Studies II: Comparative Health Systems
• HBSC 5021  Community Health Assessment
• PAD 5633.   Natural Resource and Environmental Health Law
• PRMD 6600. Introduction to Public Health
• PRMD 6614. Occupational and Environmental Health
• PRMD 6630. Epidemiology
• PRMD 6635. Epidemiology of Communicable Disease
• PRMD 6637. Injury Epidemiology and Control
  

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

Students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average or better in all coursework taken in completion of certificate or concentration requirements. Students not maintaining this average will be placed on academic probation, which must be rectified by the end of the following academic term in which the student is enrolled. Two successive terms of academic probation shall result in removal from the program.