20 Years in the Making Emergency Management Higher Education Today: The 2014 FEMA Higher Education Program Survey Carol L. Cwiak North Dakota State University.

20 Years in the MakingEmergency Management Higher Education Today: The 2014 FEMA Higher

Education Program Survey

Carol L. CwiakNorth Dakota State University

Thank You!

The EM Hi Ed community extends its gratitude to FEMA’s Hi Ed team for the support and resources provided over the past 20 years.

Special thanks to

Barbara Johnson for

her devotion to our community

Many thanks to the survey respondents!

Methodology

Invitation only survey distributed to all institutions POCs on the FEMA Hi Ed page offering emergency management certificate or degree programs.

Online survey administered via North Dakota State University’s Group Decision Center.

One survey response per institution.

Participants were asked to answer as many questions as possible given the status of their program and the data available to them.

Institutions solicited 1791

Responses received 69Response rate 39%

Methodology

Check your program listing(s) on FEMA Hi Ed page annually (College Lists) to ensure that the information is up-to-date, particularly in regard to contact information. Also, make sure your program is located on the correct list.

1 April 2014

Reported Offerings

29 of the responding

programs (42%) reported that they plan to develop new

offerings over the next year.

133 Offerings Reported

* One program reported offering a diploma as well.

Degree, Certificate, Etc. OfferedReported Offerings

Doctoral Degree 4

Doctoral Level Concentration 1

Master’s Degree 19

Master’s Level Concentration 5

Graduate Certificate 15

Bachelor’s Degree 24

Bachelor’s Level Concentration 4 Minor 14Associate Degree 21

Undergraduate Certificate 25

Other* 1

Program Years in Existence

67% of responding

programshave been

in existence for 6 yearsor more.

n = 67

1 year or less 7%

2-5 years25%

6-10 years37%

11-15 years24%

16+ years6%

Program Names

Emergency Management 45 Homeland Security 111

Disaster Management 92

1 7 combined with emergency management; 4 stand-alone.2 3 combined with emergency management; remainder stand- alone or are paired with other focus areas.

Departments Housing Programs Emergency Management Earth Sciences Administrative Science Public Safety Technology Human Services Public Service Business Emergency Services Nursing Criminal Justice Homeland Security

Social SciencesPublic AdministrationManagementEnvironmental & Occupational Health Political ScienceUrban Design and PlanningPublic HealthPsychologyGlobal HealthFire ProtectionPublic PolicyLandscape Architecture & Urban PlanningEducation

Most common word found in department names (17 out of 69) – “public”.

Primary Purpose

n = 68

* Other: different focus at undergraduate and

graduate level, faith-based,

and academic/management

18%9%

67%

Pre-employ

Advance

Both

Other

6%

Primary Focus

Public 32%

Private 5%

VOAD ---

Humanitarian ---

All of the above 36%

Combination* 23%

Other 5%* Vast majority were public/private

n = 66

Students and Graduates

26,671 - Number of students reached this year by EM program courses (extrapolated from response of 10,402/39%)

3,974 - Number of EM graduates this year (extrapolated from response of 1,550/39%)

22,770 - Number of students that have graduated from EM programs to date (current extrapolation added to 2012 figure of 18,796)

No data collected for 2012-2013 academic year.

Students

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which

they can learn.”~Albert Einstein

n = 64

Males67%

Fe-males33%

Track Graduates’ Employment

n = 68

40%

YES

NO

60%

Graduates’ Employment - Tracked

n= 25

24%

28%

0-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%16%

32%

Graduates’ Employment - Estimated

Of the 41 remaining respondents, only 21 felt they could estimate the percentage.

n= 21

43%

24%

0-25%

26-50%

51-75%

76-100%

14%

19%

Enrollment and Graduation Trends

n= 66

Enrollment - Past 3 years

Enrollment - Next 3 Years

Graduations - Past 3 Years

Graduations - Next 3 Years

0

20

40

60

80

100

42 51

34

51

14 1127

9104 5 6

Increase No Change Decrease

Faculty RepresentationFull-time Faculty Devoted to Program

None 24%

135%

221%

3 9%4 5%5-10 6%

n = 66

*Historically, the percentage of programs with no devoted full-time faculty has consistently been approximately 30% and the combined percentage for programs with no, or one, devoted faculty members averaged about 70%. *This year’s data

denotes an uptick in full-time devoted faculty that we have not seen before.

New Hires

Did not attempt to hire 51%Attempted to hire, but did not hire 13%Hired new faculty 35%

24 programs - 53 new hires

Full-time 12 Adjunct 41

n = 68

Programs Offering Distance Education

n= 68

18%No

82%Yes

Percentage of Curriculum Offered Online

39% of all respondingprograms offer 100%of their courseworkonline. 28% (19) offer100% of their coursework online only.

n = 54

Series10

5

10

15

20

25

30

57

15

27 0-25%26-50%51-99%100%

Principles of Emergency Management

n = 67 n = 67

The Principles are being used in varying degrees across programs: across courses, to structure courses, and to guide and structure programs.

91%Yes

9%No

Awareness

81%Yes

19%No

Utilization

Technology Based Instruction

n = 68

Glitch in survey forced those who teach multiple selections to check “other”.

Technology Institutions Teaching

GIS 18

Web EOC/ Other web-based EOC system 21Social networking 16

Planning software 6Media software 8Other (Google Earth, HAZUS, Intelligence Analysis, simulation software, Blackboard, D2L, SPSS, Canvas, course delivery software, Ping, Sakai, ALOHA)

12

None 13

Resource Utilization

Respondents (n=53) overwhelming reported utilizing EMI IS Courses as supplemental material (91%) as opposed to as a primary source of information (9%).

n = 66Utilization

0

20

40

60

80

100

EMI IS Prototype

Hi Ed82%

14%

47%

Hi Ed Course Utilization

NIMS (19) Disaster Response and Operations (16) Terrorism & Emergency Management (16) Hazards Risk Management (14) Principles & Practice of Hazard Mitigation (13) Homeland Security and Emergency Management (13) Sociology of Disaster (11) Building Disaster Resilient Communities (10) Social Dimensions of Disaster (10) Technology and Emergency Management (10)

Table 2- Representation Across Program Level

Access & Support Indicators n MeanStd.

Deviation

Access to external funding opportunities to support your program(e.g., grants, contracts, etc.)

65 4.12 (-) 4.35/2012

2.75

Access to institutional funding (e.g., stipends to develop courses/materials)

66 4.85 (-) 5.02/2012

2.70

Access to library resources (e.g., ability to obtain new holdings)

66 7.79 (-) 7.95/2012

2.15

Institutional administrative support (e.g., support attempts to develop & implement new program ideas)

66 6.39 (-) 6.86/2012

2.71

Local emergency management community support (e.g., county and regional)

65 7.55 (-)7.77/2012

2.41

State emergency management community support (e.g., state-level agency & state professional organization)

66 6.48 (-)7.33/2012

2.92

National emergency management professional community support (e.g., IAEM, NEMA, EMPOWER, etc.)

65 5.03 (-)5.60/2012

2.81

FEMA-specific support(e.g., Higher Education Program, EMI, etc.)

66 6.85 (-)7.14/2012

2.46

DHS-specific support(e.g., overarching DHS programs & agencies within DHS other than FEMA-specific support)

65 4.82 (+)4.58/2012

2.95

Top five challenges facing emergency management higher education

programs are requested and top challenges across respondent

comments make the list.

Top Challenges Facing Programs

1 43% (30)2 41% (28)3 38% (26)

4 20% (14)5 20% (14)

JOBS &

INTERNSHIPS1

STUDENT ENROLLMENT & RECRUITMENT4

Faculty5

FUNDING2

Identity, Academic Credibility, Professionalism, and Value3

Challenges Identified

Survey Year/ Ranking

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Funding 1 2 1 1 2 --

Emergency Management Identity, Academic Credibility, Professionalism, and Value 2 -- 6 -- 3 5

Student Recruitment, Enrollment, and Retention 3 3 3 4 4 1

Qualified and Competent Faculty 4 1 2 2 1 2Internship and Job Placement 5 6 7 3 5 3Current and Updated Educational Materials: Textbooks, Journal Articles, Etc. 6 -- 8 5 -- 6

Constantly Changing Policies and Material -- 4 -- -- -- --Institutional Support -- 5 -- -- -- --Lack of Political Understanding and Support -- -- 4 -- -- --DHS/FEMA -- -- 5 -- -- --Connection Between Field and Academia -- -- 9 -- -- --Greater Focus on Research -- -- -- -- 6 4Need for Clarity Between Emergency Management and Homeland Security -- -- -- -- 7 --

Top Challenges Facing Programs: 2007-2012

We are aware of the challenges and the onus is on the higher education community to address them.

Much work has been done, but we still have a long way to go. We write the future for emergency management higher education with our efforts - we build a better tomorrow with our successes.

Contact Information

Carol L. Cwiak, J.D., Ph.D.Dept. of Emergency ManagementNorth Dakota State UniversityNDSU Dept. 2351P.O. Box 6050Fargo, ND 58108-6050(701) [email protected]/emgt

"Education is not the answer to the question.

Education is the means to the answer to all questions."

~William Allin