Certificate of Graduate Study in First Responder Executive Leadership

Never before has the need for a group of well-educated executive emergency management leaders been so great. In the aftermath of responses to 9/11 our systems for addressing the crisis have become stronger. However, the staggering loss of life caused by these terrorist acts demands that the principal focus of our nation’s emergency management system be the training of emergency management first responder executive leaders who can address critical incidents during times of crisis (such as flooding, humanitarian crisis, hurricane recovery, supply logistics, ect...). At the helm of reducing our nation and its communities’ vulnerabilities and risks to such events is a set of executive skills that involve: fiscal management, ethical decision making, pre-event planning, taking the necessary steps to fully integrate staff and communities into a comprehensive management system that has the capacity necessary to respond to mass casualty events. This certificate of graduate study is designed to equip our nation’s emergency management executive leaders at the federal, state, and local levels with the necessary skills to help communities, businesses, and individuals to protect themselves from threats and be able to mount an all-hazards response. Also, this COGS allows for the "stackable credential" nature of the MPS degree in that students can earn the COGS and then the full degree.