MS in Emergency Services Administration

The Master of Science Degree in Emergency Services Administration is designed to provide students with the conceptual foundation and managerial communication and analytical skills required for designing, testing, and implementing an effective response to workplace and community emergencies. Such emergencies may involve the potential loss of human life and property due to fire, explosion, release of hazardous chemicals, structural failures, natural calamities, and terrorist acts. The program has two major purposes:

To provide an understanding of the administration and management of emergency managers, and
To prepare students for leadership roles in emergency disaster administration by stressing independent research, communication and writing skills, exposure to experts, and practical experiences of respected emergency services and disaster organizations.

The intended audiences are practitioners from the public and private sectors who are engaged in the delivery or coordination of emergency services. Faculty teaching EMER courses represent a truly interdisciplinary team of researchers and prominent emergency services professionals.

The program is offered completely online utilizing the latest technologies for content delivery and disaster simulations. All components of the course, including advising, instruction, simulations, group projects, and thesis and/or comprehensive examinations, can be effectively conducted remotely utilizing the technologies supporting the delivery of the EMER degree. The program has been developed for the working professional who demands a real-world curriculum delivered to accommodate a scheduled requiring some degree of flexibility.

The Master of Science in Emergency Services Administration is available to qualified students preparing for professional careers in the field of emergency services administration. In recent years the emergency services professions have become extremely competitive. Demands for personnel to further their education in order to attain promotion and keep up with technical advances are inherent in most positions. The Department of Professional Studies, in cooperation with emergency services personnel from several agencies, has devised this special Master of Science Degree program to meet the needs of emergency services areas. The purpose of the degree is to develop administrative leadership skills in emergency service personnel to include:

firefighters,
police officers,
emergency medical services personnel,
dispatchers, and
disaster planners.

Click here to see goals specific to the MS degree.

Admission Criteria

Applicants must meet the following admission requirements:

Obtain admission to graduate standing by completing and forwarding the official CSULB graduate admission forms and fees to the University and Graduate Advisor, Professional Studies Department.
Each applicant for graduate standing shall have completed an appropriate baccalaureate degree from an accredited university.
Request that duplicate official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended be forwarded to the graduate advisor, Professional Studies Department.
Have at least a 3.0 GPA in the last 60 semester units attempted.
Be accepted by the Professional Studies program and the Graduate Advisor for admission to the graduate program.

Program Description

The Master of Science Degree in Emergency Services Administration is designed for individuals who work or wish to work as administrators in one of the areas of emergency administration. These areas include emergency (disaster) operations, police and fire administration, public utilities, and dispatch.

The degree will equip students with a broad knowledge of the activities and the relationships of the emergency services to each other, to the community, and to other public and private entities that are affected by emergency services. Students may specialize in program development and evaluation, training, personnel, budgeting, or inter-agency relations.

If you have specific questions about the MS degree in Emergency Services Administration please contact the EMER Program Coordinator, Dr. James Koval, jekoval@csulb.edu.

Requirements

Students must meet the following requirements:

Satisfactory completion of EMER 500, 502, 542, 545, 548, 631, 661, 671, GEOG 558, CRJU 525 and 520. (30 core required units) and
Satisfactory completion of one of the following:

9 additional elective units of approved graduate-level courses and 3 units of EMER-697 (Comprehensive Exam) for a total of 42 units in the program, or
9 additional elective units of approved graduate-level courses and 4 units of EMER-698 (Thesis) for a total of 43 units in the program.
Elective Courses must be approved by the Graduate Advisor.

Advancement to Candidacy

Graduate students may advance to candidacy upon completion of the following University requirements for Advancement to Candidacy:

Completion of all core courses (see above);
Maintenance of a B average (3.0 GPA) in all work completed in graduate program;
Approval of the Professional Studies Graduate faculty and the Director of Graduate Studies, College of Health and Human Services.

Application Procedures