Homeland security educationCalifornia universities prepare homeland security leaders of tomorrow

Fresno State University in California is readying itself for the launch of a new bachelor’s degree program that prepares students for careers in homeland security and emergency management.

The program is part of a broader effort by California State University (CSU) leaders as well as local and state officials to boost the state’s security by training more professionals to enter a field that is facing shortages of qualified workers.

“We’re really going to need to get the work force started now,” said Keith Clement, a professor in criminology at Fresno state who is leading the program’s creation. He added that if the country fails to prepare the next generation, then “we as a society should be prepared to pay the cost of not having a safe and secure environment.”

Fresno State’s homeland security degree comes as part of a broader state-wide initiative that will eventually involve all of the CSU campuses and the state’s community colleges. Officials say this arrangement is the first of its kind.

Under the proposed plan, students will be able to get an associate’s degree in homeland security and emergency management, then transfer to a CSU for a bachelor’s, and eventually obtain a master’s. Currently Fresno State is one of the few programs that offers a bachelor’s and CSU Long Beach and San Diego State University are among the few that provide a master’s.

School administrators say their newest degree program is part of a larger trend that reflects the growing concern over natural disasters and terrorist attacks and a newfound understanding of the role that universities play in helping to combat these threats.

“We’re getting on board with what’s happening nationally,” said Craig Zachlod, an emergency management expert who is working with Fresno State as it creates its program. “We don’t want to live with continuous fear or pretend these things are not going to happen, because they are. So all the more reason to be prepared.”

When Fresno State launches its program, which it plans on doing in the fall of 2013, the university will become one of only sixty-nine other schools that offer a bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in homeland security and emergency management in the United States.

But before the program can be launched, CSU administrators must find funding and Fresno State will need to formally recognize the program as a degree. Given the tight fiscal climate in California and the $650 million in budget cuts that the state’s universities are facing this year, Fresno State will likely be forced to turn to grants and student fees to support the program.
It is uncertain how much the program will cost, but the school will not have to hire too many additional staff as existing faculty members will teach the courses, although Fresno State will have to look for professionals to teach courses that require more technical expertise like cybersecurity and border security.

Clement believes that graduates of the course will have little difficulty in finding a job upon completion of the program, despite the troubled economy. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, emergency management jobs are projected to increase by 22 percent by 2018, more than twice as fast as the average for other jobs.