2008 Woodie Awards
University introduces homeland master's
By: Abid Mujtaba
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News
Texas A&M University's contribution to homeland security will increase in fall 2008 with the introduction of a master's degree program in Homeland Security Studies.
"It's a general change in the world in which we live. Technology is giving small disgruntled groups the power to have major impact on society," said David H. McIntyre, director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security, ICHS, at A&M.
"Even if the threat from Islamic terrorism ended, the threat from [the] Timothy McVeigh [responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1992] style of terrorism will exist. Also, as we become a more complex society, natural disasters have an even greater impact upon us."
Jeanine Kantz, who works at the ICHS, said homeland security is becoming more of an all-hazards focus, not just on the threat of terrorism.
The master's program will be a faculty-driven, graduate level interdisciplinary course conducted by the ICHS that coordinates the extensive academic activities on campus geared toward homeland security.
McIntyre listed the wide range of academic courses and programs dealing with homeland security and the wide range of research in human and animal diseases, civil engineering, crash barriers, aviation and port security and border issues across the campus. The current Certificate in Homeland Security offered to students in the Bush School is an example of this.
"We [also] do a number of non-degree programs out of TEEX, Texas Engineering Extension Service, as well," McIntyre said. "They have 70,000 people a year [in a] facility outside of College Station which trains policemen and firemen, so A&M is doing a lot."
A number of schools across the U.S. have homeland security programs of one kind or another. Recent reports put the number of schools with a homeland security program or course at 250.
"Most of them were established after Sept. 11, but some of them were built over existing programs," McIntyre said. "What is new and different and important about the master's degree program at Texas A&M will be the focus and the breadth of the degree.
"It's a general change in the world in which we live. Technology is giving small disgruntled groups the power to have major impact on society," said David H. McIntyre, director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security, ICHS, at A&M.
"Even if the threat from Islamic terrorism ended, the threat from [the] Timothy McVeigh [responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1992] style of terrorism will exist. Also, as we become a more complex society, natural disasters have an even greater impact upon us."
Jeanine Kantz, who works at the ICHS, said homeland security is becoming more of an all-hazards focus, not just on the threat of terrorism.
The master's program will be a faculty-driven, graduate level interdisciplinary course conducted by the ICHS that coordinates the extensive academic activities on campus geared toward homeland security.
McIntyre listed the wide range of academic courses and programs dealing with homeland security and the wide range of research in human and animal diseases, civil engineering, crash barriers, aviation and port security and border issues across the campus. The current Certificate in Homeland Security offered to students in the Bush School is an example of this.
"We [also] do a number of non-degree programs out of TEEX, Texas Engineering Extension Service, as well," McIntyre said. "They have 70,000 people a year [in a] facility outside of College Station which trains policemen and firemen, so A&M is doing a lot."
A number of schools across the U.S. have homeland security programs of one kind or another. Recent reports put the number of schools with a homeland security program or course at 250.
"Most of them were established after Sept. 11, but some of them were built over existing programs," McIntyre said. "What is new and different and important about the master's degree program at Texas A&M will be the focus and the breadth of the degree.
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