MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOMELAND SECURITY
Master of Science in Homeland Security (Online Program)
| Hasan Arslan, Graduate Coordinator | WS 349C | Phone: (203) 837-8463 |
| arslanh@wcsu.edu | ||
| Charlene Parks, Secretary | WS 306 | Phone: (203) 837-8340
parksc@wcsu.edu |
| Faculty: | M. Alizadeh; H. Arslan; W. DeFeo; T. Dwyer; K. C. Jordan; G. Kain; R. Kroll; K. Marino; T. Miller; D. Sharma; S. Yamen. |
Program Overview and Mission
Homeland security professionals work in local, state, and federal governments. Dozens of federal agencies employ graduates with a master’s degree in homeland security. The DHS had 188,000 employees in 2010 and now more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. According to the DHS website, “DHS offers talented new professionals flexible work schedules, student loan repayment, tuition reimbursement programs and more in a generous benefits package.” A graduate degree in this field is designed to prepare the next generation of homeland security professionals for leadership positions across the public and private sectors.
The M.S. in Homeland Security program is designed entirely standard 16-week ONLINE program (FALL/SPRING) and SUMMER 1 with interactive (audio and visual) capabilities for instructors and the students. The program will start in Fall 2022. The graduate program will adopt EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING at every stage of students’ education.
The Master’s program also emphasizes the data-driven instructional approach and data analytics and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) methods in its Capstone projects.
Learning Goals, Objectives and Assessment
Objective 1 – LEADERSHIP AND ETHIC: Program graduates will demonstrate leadership adherence to ethical decision-making processes to implement homeland security strategies and emergency management plans.
- Learning Outcome 1Students will integrate principles, practices, and behaviors of effective leadership, collaboration, and organizational governance to enhance public value
- Learning Outcome 2 Students will identify and assess potential terror, accident, and disaster threats to the American homeland on a data-driven and evidence-based approach.
- Learning outcome 3 Students will demonstrate knowledge of ethical issues influencing leadership decisions.
- Learning Outcome 4 Students will judge the constitutional issues and legal challenges that will emerge from the execution and the implementation of US federal and state laws such as the Patriot Act and Presidential executive orders.
Objective 2 – CRITICAL THINKING & COMMUNICATION: Program graduates will be able to analyze facts, generate and organize ideas, make comparisons, draw inferences, and solve homeland security-related problems.
- Learning Outcome 1 (written) Students will demonstrate practical, professional written communication skills when designing, implementing and evaluating homeland security-related strategies, policies, and plans at different levels of government or the private sector.
- Learning Outcome 2 (oral) Students will demonstrate effective, professional oral communication skills when making persuasive and knowledge transfer presentations.
- Learning Outcome 3 Students will implement Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyze Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Protection plans for effective emergency management.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Students will integrate principles, practices, and behaviors of effective leadership, collaboration, and organizational governance to enhance public value.
- Students will identify and assess potential terror, accident, and disaster threats to the American homeland on a data-driven and evidence-based approach.
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of ethical issues influencing leadership decisions.
- Students will judge the constitutional issues and legal challenges that will emerge from the execution and the implementation of US federal and state laws such as the Patriot Act and Presidential executive orders.
- Students will demonstrate practical, professional written communication skills when design, implement and evaluate homeland security-related strategies, policies, and plans at different levels of government or the private sector.
- Students will demonstrate effective, professional oral communication skills when making persuasive and knowledge transfer presentations.
- Students will implement GIS to analyze Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Protection plans for effective emergency management.
Admission Requirements
- GPA 3.0+ or not less than 3 years of employment within the five years in criminal justice-related
- Current resume
- Two professional letters of recommendation
- Statement of purpose (2-3 pages – double spaced)
- Official transcripts
- The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) may be required for non-native English speakers with limited exposure to English.
Degree Requirements
The Master of Science in Homeland Security requires 36 credit hours. There is no concentration or electives offered. All students must complete 11 core courses (33 credits) and the Capstone project (3 credits). Students who have acquired possible employment or an internship may use this experience as part of their Capstone course credit (3 credits).
The Master of Science degree will be conferred upon the matriculated graduate student who has
- completed 36 credits with a cumulative GPA of 3.0or better.
- participated in program-level assessments
- completed the program within six years
- filed the application for the degree with the Office of Graduate Admissions by December 1 for the May commencement, February 1 for an August conferral, or October 1 for a January conferral.
Courses
The courses are shown in the curriculum below to achieve five DHS missions while integrating theory with practice. At the end of the program, students are expected to develop expertise in counterterrorism, immigration policies, and cybersecurity while understanding leadership’s significance in emergency management and response.
Our course curriculum will be aligned with the DHS missions and practice; so that our graduates can be better prepared to serve in this field.
- Each course will include real-life case studies. Graduate students are encouraged to write threat assessment scenarios along with prevention methods and response strategies. Students must either collect their own data or work with the official secondary data to run those scenarios.
- Candidates must develop proposals based on the five missions of the Department of Homeland Security using real-time data and geo-mapping to address the DHS’s principles of emergency management scope: 1) Mitigation, 2) Preparedness, 3) Response, 4) Recovery.
- On its website, the DHS provides a list of resources where graduate students should obtain training on a wide range of topics including but not limited to bioterrorism, and emergency preparedness, including all hazards and basic disaster response skills (https://training.fema.gov/is/).
| Independent Study Program (IS) – Emergency Management Institute
The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) offers self-paced courses designed for people who have emergency management responsibilities and the general public. All are offered free-of-charge to those who qualify for enrollment. training.fema.gov |
Master of Science in Homeland Security
| YEAR 1 | |||
| JLA 505 | Homeland Security: Organization & Policy | 3 SH | FALL |
| JLA 510 | Geopolitics and Homeland Security Strategy | 3 SH | FALL |
| JLA 525 | Data Analytics and GIS for Homeland Security Professionals | 3 SH | SPRING |
| JLA 530 | Terrorism: Intelligence Analysis and Critical Thinking | 3 SH | SPRING |
| JLA 545 | Strategic Planning and Budgeting for Homeland Security | 3 SH | SUMMER |
| JLA 555 | Cyber Security of the Homeland | 3 SH | SUMMER |
| YEAR 2 | |||
| JLA 600 | Transportation and Border Security | 3 SH | FALL |
| JLA 610 | Public Health Disaster Science and Crisis Management | 3 SH | FALL |
| JLA 620 | Security Threat Analysis on Critical Infrastructure and WMD | 3 SH | SPRING |
| JLA 630 | Advanced Legal Issues in Homeland Security | 3 SH | SPRING |
| JLA 640 | Contemporary Issues in Homeland Security | 3 SH | SUMMER |
| JLA 650 | Homeland Security Capstone Project | 3 SH | SUMMER |
TOTAL CREDITS 36 SH