Spring Break
University introduces homeland master's
By: Abid Mujtaba
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News
The focus will be policy, science, engineering and technology in homeland security. That is very unusual in that so many schools are simply teaching what the federal government is doing or what emergency managers are doing. This is a very different academic, intellectual approach."
In the initial interest meeting last fall, more than 100 faculty members expressed interest in participating in the program.
"[What is also] different is the large number of colleges across the University [and] the large number of faculty that will be able to create courses that link in to this program. The idea of tying this together through the fundamentals of policy, science, engineering and technology is an absolutely new concept that does not exist anywhere else in the U.S.," McIntyre said.
Students who wish to specialize in homeland security have the opportunity to earn a master's degree in that field. This will involve taking a set of general core courses and specialized elective courses offered by participating colleges and departments, including the engineering program.
"I think, both as a participant of the campuswide interdisciplinary homeland security program and as a representative from the engineering program, that, in the future, we shouldn't graduate any engineer from Texas A&M University that doesn't have a good understanding of homeland security issues," said Don T. Phillips, the coordinator of homeland security research initiatives for the engineering program. "It is something that everyone will have to be concerned with not, just the federal government."
The master's program will be run by an intercollegiate faculty group. The courses will be taught out of the individual colleges, but it will be the faculty group who decides how the courses are tailored into the program.
"Probably every college on campus will [by the end,] have a say in the formation of the program," Phillips said.
A steering committee consisting of 18 individuals, from the ICHS and members of the faculty, are writing the bylaws that will govern the program.
In the initial interest meeting last fall, more than 100 faculty members expressed interest in participating in the program.
"[What is also] different is the large number of colleges across the University [and] the large number of faculty that will be able to create courses that link in to this program. The idea of tying this together through the fundamentals of policy, science, engineering and technology is an absolutely new concept that does not exist anywhere else in the U.S.," McIntyre said.
Students who wish to specialize in homeland security have the opportunity to earn a master's degree in that field. This will involve taking a set of general core courses and specialized elective courses offered by participating colleges and departments, including the engineering program.
"I think, both as a participant of the campuswide interdisciplinary homeland security program and as a representative from the engineering program, that, in the future, we shouldn't graduate any engineer from Texas A&M University that doesn't have a good understanding of homeland security issues," said Don T. Phillips, the coordinator of homeland security research initiatives for the engineering program. "It is something that everyone will have to be concerned with not, just the federal government."
The master's program will be run by an intercollegiate faculty group. The courses will be taught out of the individual colleges, but it will be the faculty group who decides how the courses are tailored into the program.
"Probably every college on campus will [by the end,] have a say in the formation of the program," Phillips said.
A steering committee consisting of 18 individuals, from the ICHS and members of the faculty, are writing the bylaws that will govern the program.
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