Flexible degree offers expertise, career advancement in critically vital and growing field.
Today’s emergency management professionals face a more challenging environment than ever in protecting the public. Around the globe, communities are reckoning with the rising costs and frequency of disasters, which are becoming more varied, complex and difficult to predict.
To meet demand for new talent in this vital and rapidly growing field, USC is launching a master of science in emergency management (MSEM) program. With a curriculum designed in partnership with industry experts, the MSEM will prepare students for leadership roles in a wide range of organizations within the private, nonprofit and public sectors. Students will learn to navigate and collaborate across complex and interdependent governmental, nonprofit, and business organizations and systems that are crucial to protecting communities from natural and human-made hazards and emergencies.
“With the increase in climate-associated, epidemiological and cyber-related disasters, the field of emergency management is burgeoning and in dramatic need of well-prepared professionals,” notes USC Bovard College Dean Anthony Bailey. “USC is excited to offer this new master’s program that will train new leaders to fill this critical societal need.”
The student-centric MSEM can be completed in 12 months, is offered in a convenient online format for working professionals and includes multiple enrollment dates each year. It provides a rigorous curriculum through which students will gain tools and insights they can immediately apply to advance their careers.
Through courses in critical infrastructure, disaster planning and operational coordination, students will develop strategic, tactical and decision-making skills that address all phases of emergencies at the local, state and federal levels. Current topics such as climate change, public health emergencies and multifaceted cross-border disasters will be examined. Students will have the opportunity to develop strategies that help communities build resilience and mitigate the disproportionate effects of disasters on socially and economically diverse populations.
Learn more about the online Master of Science in Emergency Management.