A single class on disaster management will form the foundation for a variety of 18-credit hour certificate programs in homeland security.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity awarded a $75,000 grant to NIU in late January to develop the programs, one of which currently is available as an undergraduate certificate through the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.

The core focus

Dennis Cesarotti, assistant professor of technology, teaches one of the basic courses for the certificate programs, Disaster Preparedness. He incorporates other topics into the class curriculum, and next semester it will be available as an interdisciplinary course.

The present course covers natural and man-made disasters and covers a variety of topics, from violence to sabotage to hurricanes. The course uses actual disasters as examples and students look at real-life structures and how to improve them.

Cesarotti said the recent disasters of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 are prime examples of problems in disaster management.

“Everybody knows a little bit about it,” Cesarotti said.

Cesarotti thinks the abundance of specialists often keeps response teams from seeing the big picture and this is the primary issue the redesigned class will address.

The certificate programs will divide into four tracks, involving the Colleges of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Allied Health Professionals and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Cesarotti’s class will form part of the core for each track, alongside POLS 386, Global Terrorism.

A trend in secondary education?

The concept for development of an NIU curriculum in homeland security began in August, after the Illinois Board of Higher Education issued a statement stressing the importance of careers in the field.

Mary Pritchard, associate dean of Health & Human Sciences, said the idea evolved over the last couple months among various department chairs and deans and the existing certificate in manufacturing and industrial technology is the first result.

“We’re using existing classes as much as we can,” Pritchard said.

The other tracks will include topics such as responding to mass injuries, biochemical awareness and using Geographic Information Systems software as a homeland security resource.

Pritchard said the certificate programs may evolve further down the road. The grant comes from a partnership between the IBHE and the DCEO promoting the development at Illinois colleges and universities of a freestanding certificate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctorate programs in national security fields.

Cesarotti said offering baccalaureate programs might be the wrong move and he believes careers in homeland security will best be served by students with bachelor’s degrees in specific fields, augmented by either a certificate or master’s program in homeland security.

Pritchard said the certificate programs are the primary focus at this time, and future development of other programs mainly depends on the success of these programs.