The devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the onslaught of Rita, flames leaping from beneath the landing gear of JetBlue A320 . . . every quiet moment on Earth is the calm before some storm. It’s not a matter of ‘if’; it’s a matter of ‘when and where’ disaster will hit. With the introduction of the Graduate Certificate Program in Emergency Management, Policy and Planning (EMPP), the University of Colorado Denver is helping to ensure that when a crisis strikes, trained management-level professionals will be ready to respond.
The new graduate certificate program partners faculty in the Graduate School of Public Affairs, the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the planning program at the College of Architecture and Planning. “We have faculty in all three schools who serve on our program committee and will teach in the program,” explains Lloyd Burton, program director. “The courses have all been offered previously on a basis of professional and personal research by participating faculty. By sharing course material, we can offer it in a more coordinated way to benefit students.”
The EMPP takes into account that most disasters are not terrorist related, explains George Busenberg, assistant professor in GSPA. There are three types of hazards: accidental, such as a downed airplane or a gas leak; intentional, such as terrorism; and natural, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and floods. "Many jurisdictions face multiple hazards," Busenberg says. "We’ll prepare students to manage a wide range of hazards."
Busenberg teaches Disaster and Emergency Management Policies, one of two required seminars for certification. The second required course is Hazard Mitigation and Vulnerability Assessment, taught by Deborah Thomas, assistant professor, through the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences in CLAS. Students then choose nine pre-approved elective credits to complete their graduate-level EMPP certificate.
The curriculum focuses on research and training in low-probability, high consequence events. "We need to manage the extremes," Busenberg explains. "It requires a distinct set of skills: It’s never routine, but most disasters can be managed."
The EMPP, which combines research and training, was approved this spring. Outreach and recruiting is underway this fall. “We’ve already started to get a significant number of inquiries. This program appears to be filling a substantial unmet need,” says Burton.
That unmet need includes problems facing first responders in the field. Burton says information is tightly held in crises that fall under the jurisdiction of law enforcement and homeland security. In terms of disaster prevention or mitigation, the emphasis is placed on sharing and planning. The EMPP training will help bridge this information gap. “One of the things we’re looking to do is better integrate both of those responses. You have two different organizational cultures, and we’re doing our best to make sure they are coordinated as much as possible.”
The university has always been at the forefront of disaster response with programs such as the Homeland Security Certification in Colorado Springs and one of the best natural hazards research programs in the country on the Boulder campus. “But to the best of our knowledge, this is the first program in our region of the country that focuses on an all-hazards approach,” Burton says. “What this means is that disaster managers at the local and regional level will be able to develop a deeper understanding of what the similarities and differences are between natural, accidental, and intentionally caused disaster situations. Then based on this understanding they can better determine what governmental action should be taken in mitigating, responding to, and recovering from such disasters.”