Master of Arts in Emergency and Disaster Management-Capstone Option

This course addresses the fundamental principles and theory of emergency and disaster. It covers the conceptual necessities for effective preparation, response, and recovery. It identifies specific examples of effective theory in practice in different systems.

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.

This course deals with the interaction, coordination, and facilitation between federal, state, and local AND the different functions associated with emergency and disaster management (fire, police, emergency medical, military, public health, etc.) during public crises. Included in the course is in-depth study of current policy and plans associated with interagency cooperation, shortfalls in interagency and intergovernmental efforts, principles for effective interorganizational behavior, and concepts for closer interorganizational action.

This course provides an overview of what is known about natural hazards, disasters, recovery, and mitigation, how research findings have been translated into policies and programs; and a sustainable hazard mitigation research agenda. The course also provides an examination of past disaster losses and hazards management over the past 50 years, including factors--demographic, climate, social--that influence loss.

This course in research methods will prepare the emergency and disaster management graduate student to understand material and issues associated with but not limited to the logic of the scientific method, research design, and qualitative and statistical analysis of data. Students will be afforded to opportunity to begin to conduct research on topics within the field of emergency and disaster management. This course is intended to provide a foundation from which the student may use the knowledge and practices gained in this course throughout the rest of their graduate program.

This course identifies the public law, regulation, and associated policy that facilitates and in some cases restricts emergency management planning, recovery, and relief. Topics include national, state, and local issues and examples of public law. The course also covers issues associated with intergovernmental (fire, police, EMS, emergency management, military, etc.) action in emergencies as such action relates to regulation or public law.

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.

This course is a survey of the capabilities and limitations of the systems and procedures that affect joint planning in time-sensitive situations, and the criteria for the use of force and the need for Crisis Action Planning (CAP).

This course addresses the potential results from nuclear, biological, and chemical incidents or uses. Topics include public health consequences of such incidents, emergency planning and response measures in place among U.S. agencies, and emerging detection and management technologies. Existing vulnerabilities to these types of incidents and attacks will also be discussed.

This course is an in-depth look at specific public crises to examine preparation, response, and recovery from them. Included in the course are issues of leadership and decision making, organizational structure, and training, among many other issues that are brought to bear when a crisis strikes a nation, state, locality, or community.

This course gives the student an arsenal of usable tools and techniques that are universally prescriptive and can be implemented in nearly every risk-associated situation, from public health to accidents to terrorist attacks and even to challenges to corporate reputation management. Students who complete this course will be prepared to make the best possible decisions during a crisis emergency about the effected population’s well being, and communicate those decisions, within nearly impossible time constraints, and ultimately, to accept the imperfect nature of choices as the situation evolves.

This course explores the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a new phenomenon. WMD, possibly wielded by terrorists, is the ultimate nightmare of a world society which likes to think of itself as having moved to a new plane of conduct. The U.S. government takes the matter seriously and it is presently devoting tens of millions of dollars to prepare for an incident. This course explores this new potential threat and the various responses to prevent, prepare, and respond to its use.

This course is an interactive course designed to help students achieve a greater understanding of the statistical methods and models available to analyze and solve business management problems. The course is designed for students majoring in a business administration or management course of study. Topics covered include inferential statistics, averages, measures of variation, the Normal distribution and its uses, sampling distributions, hypothesis testing for large and small samples, regression and correlation, and Chi-Square distributions The skills, tools and methodologies needed to analyze systems and to make decisions are provided. State of the art analytical tools and quantitative methods, including computer-based solutions are discussed. The emphasis of the course will be on the proper use of statistical techniques and their implementation rather than on mathematical proofs. However, some mathematics is necessary in order to understand the proper application of the techniques. This course will use Microsoft Excel for some of the work. Students should have a basic familiarity with Excel and have access to this software application.

This course examines the variables involved in crisis planning, communication and management. To do so, we must consider the organization’s vulnerabilities, the environment in which it thrives, the stakeholders who can influence its operation and the strategies best suited to maintaining or enhancing its reputation. The media plays a crucial role in crisis management and we will discuss this factor throughout the course. We will consider how the media acts as a catalyst as well as intermediary in this process. Some of the questions that will arise will be: Is the relationship inherently antagonistic? Should it be? By the conclusion of the course, participants should have developed a deeper understanding of the range of crises facing organizations, an enhanced appreciation of communication tactics that can be brought to bear in such situations and a greater familiarity with the historical antecedents of current crises.

This course examines a range of management issues and strategies within the context of managing public organizations. The core focus is on an enhanced understanding of the theoretical and practical approaches to public management, an examination of enduring and day-to-day dilemmas faced by competent public managers, and the application of relevant theories to public management within the United States.

This course is an analysis and provides research on legislatures, legislators, and the legislative process at national, state, and local levels. It focuses on legislative structures, decision making, and behavior among nations, U.S. states, and local governments.

This course is a fascinating study of the concepts of medical and healthcare issues in emergency management in mass-casualty and high-impact incidents. The student will learn about the planning and coordination--from the national to the local levels--necessary to respond to disasters that are natural (such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and heat waves); industrial, technological and transportation (such as hazardous materials, air crashes and mass gatherings); conflict-related (such as terrorist attacks and mass shootings); as well as the education, training and research done before, during and after these events.

This course focuses on the principles, types, and forms of health management systems that exist to serve public needs during society’s most threatening crises. Topics range from international and national political and policy views of disaster health management down to local levels where leading hospitals and emergency managers must respond to public health disasters on a daily basis.

This course provides a graduate level study of epidemiologic concepts and approaches to population problems in public health. It covers a wide spectrum of topics, to include outbreak investigation, test properties, and study design. The course will provide understanding of disease and disease transmission, rates and proportions associated with different forms of outbreak, and epidemiological risk management methods and measures. Prerequisite: PBHE550

Pre Reqs: Research Methods in Public Health(PBHE550)

This course is available to graduate students majoring in emergency and disaster management. Students may enroll in this course or take the comprehensive examination option. This course will involve a major research paper or thesis option that demonstrates understanding of the program objectives. The research paper and thesis option will demonstrate understanding of social science research methodology. A Research Manual with explicit guidance for the research paper and thesis option will be available. Students electing this option must use this as one of the graduate electives. The student shall select their research paper or thesis option professor from designated APUS faculty. Students should confer with the professor overseeing the research paper or thesis option to determine which exit option is the best for the student’s needs.