Home : Degrees : Emergency Readiness and Response Managment Degree
Bachelor of Science in Emergency Readiness and Response Management
Why choose the National Labor College (NLC) for your degree in emergency readiness and response management?
The NLC is the only higher-education institution offering a degree that combines homeland security courses with courses in labor studies.
Who should choose an emergency readiness NLC degree?
The program is specifically designed for union members in:
fire service,
emergency medical services (EMS),
law enforcement,
public safety,
homeland security and other related fields.
What does the degree study cover?
the rise of modern terrorism,
domestic terrorism,
the Department of Homeland Security organization and
labor and civil liberties issues.
Career Opportunities
Government agencies and businesses in the private sector are intensely focused on security and preparedness; they need knowledgeable employees to achieve their goals.
Through this program, students will gain the skills currently in demand for expanding opportunities at federal, state, and local levels. A few of the many professional careers include the following:
Fire service
Law enforcement
Immigrations and customs agent
Border patrol officer
Private security consultant
Public security manager
Counterterrorism agent
Security analyst
Emergency response manager
Emergency planning manager
Homeland security agent
Students will learn:
To plan the management and mitigation of the physical and human consequences of natural, technological, biological, civil and human-caused hazards by integrating theory with practice.
Insights into private vs. public financial planning.
Fiscal-year budgeting and bargaining cycle.
How to manage grant applications.
Strategic financial planning.
Leadership and management roles for all phases of significant events - e.g., natural and human-made disasters, including terrorism.
Legal, financial and human resources skills.
Regulatory standards.
Safety administration.
Principles of risk management.
Online Format
Classes are taught in an accelerated, interactive, online, 7-week format. Weekly assignments allow students to structure their course time around busy working family schedules.
Cost
The NLC offers affordable tuition rates:
$270.00 per credit hour for AFL-CIO affiliated union members, their family, and members of Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate.
$325.00 per credit hour for non AFL-CIO affiliated union members and their family.
Emergency Readiness and Response Management Major
Requires students to complete 36 credits – 12 required courses offered sequentially over two years.
Prerequisite course requirements, credit load, and/or course availability may affect a student’s individual progress. Consult an NLC Admissions Counselor at 888-427-8100 for individual program planning.
Digital Learning for the 21st Century
Technological development has resulted in widespread change in the way information is acquired, manipulated, and analyzed. Every college and university in the world now relies on digital systems to meet the needs of their students and other stakeholders. Against this background, this course answers some of the fundamental questions about the nature of online education and covers critical competencies that constitute successful learning, including research and writing skills. This course also provides useful information about the National Labor College and its organizational resources.
Fundamentals of Emergency Readiness and Response Management
This course provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of Emergency Readiness and Response Management and provides historical case studies of public safety management. Topics include an introduction to emergency management skills related to planning, response, mitigation, and recovery for all hazards. Students will also explore the roles and responsibilities of emergency response and support functions.
Labor and Work in the United States
This class is designed to provide students with an understanding of issues related to the evolution of work, worker organizations, and labor management relations in the United States. The course will also examine practical aspects of collective bargaining and contract administration in a unionized workplace and related legal and policy debates.
Disaster Response, Operations and Management
Provides students with an understanding of jurisdictional, regulatory, and consensus standards applicable to emergency management. In particular, students will examine the roles and responsibilities of emergency response agencies and functions (i.e., Federal, State, Local, Tribal, OSHA, National Response Framework, and TCL).
Legal and Ethical Aspects of Emergency and Consequence Management
Students will examine various case studies as a method of considering law and legal principles related to consequence management for community and workers’ health and safety. These case studies will examine ethical approaches in Emergency Readiness and Response Management.
Research Methods for Emergency Readiness and Response Management
This course prepares students to select and use appropriate research methods for Emergency Readiness and Response Management. Topics include the principles of survey research, use of statistics, and qualitative social science methods.
Risk Management
This course covers risk assessment from the public health, environmental risk, and emergency management perspectives. Students will explore vulnerability and risk assessment methodologies for natural disasters and man-made events. Vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying and quantifying vulnerabilities in a system. Vulnerability assessment has many methodological elements in common with human/ecological risk assessment. This course explains how risk management is an important component of emergency preparedness.
Strategic Financial Planning and Management
Topics include the following: an introduction to financial planning (private vs. public); an introduction to basic financial concepts; an introduction to budgeting (fiscal year) and the collective bargaining cycle; as well as an examination of financial tools and their application to significant events. This course also covers budgeting and managing grant applications and strategic financial planning in both the public and private sectors.
Leadership: Systems Thinking and Critical Decision Making
Students in this required course will examine Critical Incidents case studies. Topics include an introduction to systems thinking (analysis) and the art of critical decision making for significant events; systems analysis for resource allocation and needs assessment; decision making at the individual, group, and organizational level; transactional and transformational leadership skills; leadership beyond Maslow’s theory; and situational leadership in a multidisciplinary environment.
Emergency Planning
Students will critically examine case studies of significant events as a way to approach the subject of Situational Awareness Management. Students will consider the topics of resource distribution management and understand the related guidelines. They will also examine planning for and responding to significant events as identified by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Planning Scenarios; the design, development, and assessment of incident action plans; and the revision of action plans based on situational / operational requirements. This course emphasizes strategic problem solving and planning
Capstone Project in Emergency Readiness and Response Management
In the capstone course students will build on what they have learned in the major, integrating the theory and knowledge that they’ve gained in the classroom with the practical experience of an internship in emergency readiness and response. Capstone projects and internships will be developed through a series of meetings between the student and program faculty.
Labor and Work in the Global Economy
This class is designed to provide students with an understanding of global labor issues and how they affect the U.S. and world economies. The course will include, among other topics, an overview of the debate over international labor rights and standards, and an introduction to comparative labor movements.
