Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security

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Securing our Nation’s Future: Many Jobs, One Mission

Homeland Security is a dynamic and diverse career field with opportunities that cut across numerous disciplines. Increased public-private partnerships have made homeland security an important focus for employers, opening career possibilities in private, nonprofit, Federal, State, and local governments. Not unlike the threats themselves, the effort required to safeguard our nation is constantly changing as we anticipate, prevent, and react to everything from pandemics to hurricanes to terrorism.

Gain a comprehensive understanding of Homeland Security disciplines and the latest concepts on risk analysis, emergency management, and crisis communication with a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security (GCHS) from Old Dominion University. The GCHS program follows an "all hazards" approach and is adaptable to both the public and the private sector with assignments that provide practical and real-world skills that are applicable in the workplace.

Due to the number of job opportunities in field, individuals earning a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security can choose from a wide range of professional roles. GCHS is a Live-ONLINE program; a perfect fit for those with busy work and family lives. Our students can continue working in their current field as they earn the qualifications and skills for advancement or to pursue other career opportunities.

Please contact us at 757-683-5650, or email our team at cepd@odu.edu if you have further questions.

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How does a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security translate to Career Opportunities?

Candidates for the Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security will possess the fundamental aspects of national safety and security skills commensurate to those pursued for positions in various government and private agencies. Catastrophic prevention, preparation, communication, responsiveness and recovery are a unique and vital set of skills coveted in areas of public administration, particularly in civil security including emergency and crisis management, business continuity, infrastructure protection, intelligence analysis, law enforcement, and physical security. While the federal government's Department of Homeland Security and federal agencies may be among the largest employers of homeland security professionals, homeland security-related jobs can be found across the country as an ever-growing field and has the potential for huge employment growth. Due to the number of jobs in homeland security, individuals earning a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security can choose from a range of professional roles.

By earning a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security, a professional can find work in such occupations as:

  • Administration/management
  • Emergency management
  • Disaster recovery
  • Education
  • Policy planning
  • Facilities management
  • Research

About the Course

What Should I Expect?

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The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission to secure the nation from threats. In a larger sense, those responsibilities include coordinated efforts to minimize, address, and respond to terrorism, natural disasters, and other large-scale threats to human life, property, and natural resources.

Due to the nature of homeland security work, candidates pursuing opportunities within the field must meet a criterion not generally required of other professionals. By earning a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security, you will be equipped to address key areas of homeland security planning and organizational imperatives relative to emergency management. Courses within the Graduate Certification in Homeland Security will help candidates develop key skills like leadership, critical thinking and analysis, logistical planning, communication, and problem solving.

Graduate Certification in Homeland Security students:

  • explore policy and regulatory issues of emergency management; intergovernmental responsibilities and relationships among local, state and federal agencies in an "all hazards" approach to preparing and responding to manmade and natural disasters
  • are introduced to the basic elements of public relations as it pertains to assisting organizations avoid, mitigate and recover from crisis situations
  • develop cyber threat models using attack graphs/trees, STRIDE, Universal Modeling Language (UML), attack graphs/trees and common of risk analysis tools
  • examine approaches to the management of risk using probability assessment methods; risk modeling; software packages; extensions of decision analysis, including stochastic dominance and multiattribute methods; applications to project management, scheduling, and cost estimation.

 

Who Should Take This Course?

To enroll as a GCHS candidate, you must hold a bachelor's degree.

The Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security is ideal for: federal, state, and local officials; individuals in in the private sector; security consultants; insurance agencies; local emergency management officials; law enforcement personnel; members of the military; and employees connected with other federal agencies interested in broadening their homeland security education or those that find the program provides valuable and relevant skills.

As Homeland Security professional, your most fundamental duty is to help reduce our Nation's vulnerabilities and to minimize the damage from catastrophic events through critical infrastructure protection, crisis management, risk assessment, and terrorism preparedness for most every eventuality.

A Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security will provide you with the training needed to foster a career in this industry. As an ONLINE program, GCHS is perfect for a busy professional; a student can continue working in their current field as they earn the qualifications and skills for advancement or other career opportunities.

Course Details & Schedule

Required Courses (12 hours); 45 Contact Hours

The School of Continuing Education will assist you in obtaining your MIDAS ID and other credentials required to access ODU systems.

To receive credit in Public Administration through our School of Business or have your credit applied to an MPA degree, you must qualify to be admitted to the department. These 9 credit hours can use used in other graduate programs within ODU and in other universities only if accepted by the directors of these graduate programs. If this is your intention, we recommend you contact the program director of the program that you are interested.

Required Course

ENMA 625: Introduction to Homeland Security Logistics*

3 Credits

An introduction to Homeland Security and principles of all-hazards risk management. Topics to be addressed include the balance among different hazards in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery; the impacts of illegal and legal immigration on the economic and social stability of communities; and the emergence and evolution of threats in cybersecurity, cybercrime, and critical infrastructure.

*Required course for the certificate

Elective Courses

Choose three of the following:

3 Credits

Approaches to the management of risk; probability assessment methods; risk modeling; use of software packages; extensions of decision analysis, including stochastic dominance and multiattribute methods; applications to project management, scheduling, and cost estimation.

3 Credits

This course provides an overview of the field of cybersecurity. It covers core cybersecurity topics including computer system architectures, critical infrastructures, cyber threats and vulnerabilities, cryptography, cryptographic protocol design, information assurance, network security, and risk assessment and management. Students are expected to become familiar with fundamental security concepts, technologies and practices, and develop a foundation for further study in cybersecurity.

3 Credits

This course demonstrates the importance of rapidly disseminating spatial information towards the prevention and response of various organizations to homeland security events. This course will provide students with the tools and experience required to collect, prepare, and manage spatial data and enable students to be prepared to map and analyze the data to quickly and effectively create a coordinated response to real homeland security events.

3 Credits

Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Explores policy and regulatory issues of emergency management; intergovernmental responsibilities and relationships among local, state and federal agencies in an "all hazards" approach to preparing and responding to manmade and natural disasters. Examines challenges faced by local, state, and federal managers during a large-scale disaster.

3 Credits

This course introduces skills to manage technical professionals and lead strategic change in their organization. Based on the basic operations and functionality of cybersecurity systems, students will learn the management of cybersecurity technical professionals, including how to effectively lead and manage teams, how to launch and assess organizational change initiatives, and how to work effectively within an interdependent group to achieve common goals.

Refund Policy

To withdraw from a course you must send a request in writing to cepd@odu.edu seven (7) days prior the start date of the course. Failure to attend a course does not constitute withdrawal. Course registration fees, less a $50 processing fee will be refunded via check per Old Dominion University policy (we are unable to return money to a debit or credit card). There are no refunds once the class has begun.

Late withdrawals of six (6) days or less before the class begins, will result in the student being charged the $50 processing fee, as well as charges for books and/or other course material fees.