Supporting the Emergency Management Pipeline: How Institutions of Higher Education can Increase the Emergency Management Career Goal for Students to Enhance Disaster Preparedness and Response Globally

Abstract

Introduction:

The local, national, and global disasters have increased the demand for Emergency Management professionals. Institutions of higher education can play a key role to support and respond to this demand. One institution of higher education responding to this demand is Anna Maria College (AMC). AMC is a four-year, independent, Catholic institution accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, which was formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Established in 1946 by the Sisters of Saint Anne, the College was founded to increase access to quality education, educational innovation, and respect for service to others through development of the total human being. AMC offers exceptional professional programs at all degree levels, especially in community-oriented professions, propelling students to lives of civic, spiritual, and personal consequence. Based on the number of public safety majors and their networks, an area of interest has become how the college could contribute and respond to the demand for emergency managers.

Method:

These search resources were used: Chronicle, HigherEd jobs, Indeed, GoogleScholar Emergency Management majors curriculum, with searches from 2012 onward. Keywords used included emergency management jobs, higher education emergency management curriculum, public safety and community networking, disaster, and emergency preparedness, and filling the emergency management pipeline.

Results:

Data collection and analysis planned for completion by February 2023.

Conclusion:

Higher education can support the pipeline to narrow the gap and respond to the demands for trained and educated community members in disaster and emergency preparedness. Higher education responses include strategies such as, creative emergency management curriculum and community networking.