Fall 2016, UNH Manchester Inaugurates New Major in Homeland Security

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hd38bu9PE

The Case to Accredit Homeland Security Programs: Why Outcomes-based Accreditation Makes Sense

The following essay lays out an argument for program level accreditation in academic homeland security (HS) programs. Admittedly, neither the practice nor the educational components of the HS discipline are standardized. Indeed, a recent analysis by the Congressional Research Service indicates that there remain several operational definitions of HS in practice. Regardless, this paper provides rationale which argues that after roughly eight years, academic HS has developed enough to be able to identify and support a distinct set of student learning outcomes— knowledge, skills and attitudes—that can both characterize and define the discipline. Generally, program level academic accreditation requires a discipline to have identified and vetted a set of student learning outcomes. Academic programs, in turn, integrate this set of outcomes into their core curriculum and students of a given discipline acquire a common set of knowledge, skills and attitudes deemed central to their discipline regardless of where they are educated. Hence program level accreditation works proactively and continuously to address questions about degree integrity, professional competence, truth in advertising, professional boundaries, certification, licensure, quality improvement and control. Without accreditation it remains extremely difficult for a discipline to demonstrate true legitimacy since anyone would be able to teach anything they want. Indeed by extension, one might easily argue that so long as such questions are unanswered, there can be no discipline. Further, for true professional legitimacy to accrue, even when a discipline is able to identify, vet and develop a defining set of student learning outcomes, it still needs to integrate them into a recognized accreditation process and then develop incentives for academic programs to adopt accreditation into a wide spread practice in higher education. Indeed, these last two challenges characterize several related disciplines (such as occupational safety and health, emergency management, intelligence studies, criminal justice, cybersecurity, etc.). Ultimately, critical to the ongoing maturation and legitimization of the HS profession is the need to develop and pursue program level accreditation

There\u27s a Pattern Here: The Case to Integrate Environmental Security into Homeland Security Strategy

The time is long overdue to acknowledge that global climate and resource stresses, encompassed by the concept of environmental security (ES), are an increasingly important part of homeland security (HS) study and practice, by even the most restricted definitions of HS. Environmental security issues will affect global economic and political stability, US national interests, and the risk of war and terrorism. Just as homeland security encompasses many complex issues and interconnected subfields, environmental security (ES) is interdisciplinary by nature. In essence, ES is an emergent discipline borrowing from a combination of environmental studies — which decades ago integrated environmental science with public policy — and the broader observations of how environmental change, extreme weather events and resource scarcity issues impact domestic and international security. In a two-part argument, we first observe the growing environmental and resource-related security threats at every level of analysis, from global to individual levels as consequences of warming-induced climate alterations. Next, given the significant impacts on local, regional, and international geopolitical stability, we discuss why environmental security threats must be incorporated into both homeland and national security strategic planning. Developing a theory of environmental security seems central to a more complete understanding of homeland security and a more modern concept of national security

The Case to Accredit Homeland Security Programs: Why Outcomes-based Accreditation Makes Sense

The following essay lays out an argument for program level accreditation in academic homeland security (HS) programs. Admittedly, neither the practice nor the educational components of the HS discipline are standardized. Indeed, a recent analysis by the Congressional Research Service indicates that there remain several operational definitions of HS in practice. Regardless, this paper provides rationale which argues that after roughly eight years, academic HS has developed enough to be able to identify and support a distinct set of student learning outcomes— knowledge, skills and attitudes—that can both characterize and define the discipline. Generally, program level academic accreditation requires a discipline to have identified and vetted a set of student learning outcomes. Academic programs, in turn, integrate this set of outcomes into their core curriculum and students of a given discipline acquire a common set of knowledge, skills and attitudes deemed central to their discipline regardless of where they are educated. Hence program level accreditation works proactively and continuously to address questions about degree integrity, professional competence, truth in advertising, professional boundaries, certification, licensure, quality improvement and control. Without accreditation it remains extremely difficult for a discipline to demonstrate true legitimacy since anyone would be able to teach anything they want. Indeed by extension, one might easily argue that so long as such questions are unanswered, there can be no discipline. Further, for true professional legitimacy to accrue, even when a discipline is able to identify, vet and develop a defining set of student learning outcomes, it still needs to integrate them into a recognized accreditation process and then develop incentives for academic programs to adopt accreditation into a wide spread practice in higher education. Indeed, these last two challenges characterize several related disciplines (such as occupational safety and health, emergency management, intelligence studies, criminal justice, cybersecurity, etc.). Ultimately, critical to the ongoing maturation and legitimization of the HS profession is the need to develop and pursue program level accreditation

Study of Ste. Beuve's criticisms of English and German literatures

An attempt is made in the following pages to discuss the various judgements pronounced by Ste. Beuve upon the literatures of England and Germany. The task of reading Ste. Leuve's 6O odd volumes, in addition to those books consulted for reference, has been onerous but at she same time most interesting. In the case of a work like the 'Decline; and Fail', I have to confess myself in a position rather similar to that of Mr. Silas Wegg ; : "I haven't been, not to say right slap through him very lately, having been otherwise employed Mr. Boffin"; but with regard generally to the fairly wide reading involved in all three languages, my pleasure has been increased by renewing acquaintance with much that had long since been forgotten. Liberal use has been made throughout of quotations from the critic's own writings:- a practice which he himself preferred to follow, although it often results, as here, in a somewhat broken styl

A Guide for Homeland Security Instructors Preparing Physical Critical Infrastructure Protection Courses

Over 350 academic programs in the United States currently offer instruction in the field of homeland defense and security. In spite of this growth at the program level over the past ten years, there still exists a shortage of instructors and coursework in critical infrastructure protection (CIP). Traditional instructor preparation (which is accomplished through the attainment of an advanced degree coupled with research and professional experience) does not currently produce enough instructors qualified in CIP because of the extremely limited number of CIP-related educational opportunities. Therefore, an alternate venue for instructor preparation must be provided. This article addresses that need by providing a guide for educators who desire to engage in a deliberate self-study program to develop sufficient expertise to teach a first course in physical CIP at the undergraduate or master’s degree level. This information is also useful for professionals who have had to assume CIP-related duties and functions without the benefit of supporting coursework. This article introduces a five-part framework for understanding CIP — policy, networks, level of hazard, level of protection, and system design — and provides resources for understanding each part of the framework. Each element of the framework is introduced and briefly explained and then resources are presented which will allow the reader to explore this particular topic in detail. Where possible, resources are presented as Web links to allow the reader to directly access the learning resource, free of charge. The article concludes with guidance for adapting the five-part framework and the materials presented in designing a CIP course tailored to the needs of a specific instructor and institution

Paradigms for Cybersecurity Education in a Homeland Security Program

Cybersecurity threats to the nation are growing in intensity, frequency, and severity and are a very real threat to the security of the country. Academia has responded to a wide variety of homeland security (HS) threats to the nation by creating formal curricula in the field, although these programs almost exclusively focus on physical threats (e.g., terrorist attacks, and natural and man-made disasters), law and policy and transportation . Although cybersecurity programs are commonly available in U.S. colleges and universities, they are invariably offered as a technical course of study nested within engineering (or other STEM) programs. We observe that technical and calculus-based courses might not be well suited to HS students and do not necessarily meet a broad suite of professional needs in this discipline. As a result, cybersecurity principles, and strategies tend to be under-represented in the typical HS program. This paper proposes paradigms that could be included in a cybersecurity curriculum that are consistent with the broad array of outcomes now evident in many HS degree programs