Accelerated Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)/Master of Arts (M.A.) in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

Virginia Commonwealth University

The accelerated B.A. and M.A. program allows qualified students to earn both the B.A. and M.A. in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in a minimum of five years by completing approved graduate courses during the senior year of their undergraduate program. Students in the program may count up to 12 hours of graduate courses toward both the B.A. and M.A. degrees. Thus, the two degrees may be earned with a minimum of 144 credits rather than the 156 credits necessary if the two degrees are pursued separately. Students holding these degrees will learn about the dual nature of homeland security and emergency preparedness as an adaptation of traditional policy responses to natural disasters to include those types of disasters caused by domestic or international terrorism. Students will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge that will prepare them for private or public sector employment in the expanding area of homeland security and emergency preparedness and/or further study in numerous areas of public policy. This online graduate degree takes a broad interdisciplinary approach to preparedness that gives students the ability to see the larger organizational, social, political, ethical and economic aspects of disaster studies, in addition to the policy-making and implementation aspects. The scholarly study of homeland security and emergency preparedness rests at the intersection of national defense, emergency management, law enforcement and policy management.

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs