The complexities of modern society and the dynamic forces of progress necessitate that professionals in every discipline be forward-focused, which is believed to come from gaining higher education. This is becoming standard within the fire and emergency services professions and is commonly a factor regarding upward mobility. With that in mind, the U.S. Fire Administration/National Fire Academy (NFA) developed the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) recognition certificate

Gorman, Mary Kathleen

Herron, Rita I.

English

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Publications Summer 2013 Research Is a Partner in Forward Focused Time Mary Kathleen Gorman Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, gormanm@erau.edu Rita I. Herron Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, herronr1@erau.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/publication  Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons Scholarly Commons Citation Gorman, M. K., & Herron, R. I. (2013). Research Is a Partner in Forward Focused Time. Carolina Fire Rescue EMS Journal, (). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/151 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact commons@erau.edu. SUMMER • 2013  27  Carolina Fire Rescue EMS Journal  www.carolinafi rejournal.comBy Mary Kathleen Gorman, MDSand Rita I. Herron, Ph.DThe complexities of modern soci-ety and the dynamic forces of progress necessitate that professionals in every discipline be forward-focused, which is believed to come from gaining higher education. This is becoming standard within the fi re and emergency services professions and is commonly a factor regarding upward mobility. With that in mind, the U.S. Fire Administration/Na-tional Fire Academy (NFA) developed the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) recognition certifi -cate. FESHE recognition acknowledges that colleges and universities are com-mitted to the academic excellence of professional development education cri-teria set forth by the FESHE committees and the NFA (USFA, 2013). The underly-ing academic belief is that additional ed-ucation will be a catalyst for academic research. This research will have a two-fold impact on public safety: academic/professional achievement for employees and new knowledge that will assist fi re and emergency management profession-als in their daily duties.Research is a partner — rooted in sci-entifi c method, it is essential to continu-ous organizational and process improve-ment (Gunderson & Lindsay, 2011). As an example, fundamentals of physics and chemistry must be applied to increas-ingly multi-faceted situational param-eters within diverse social constructs. Coupled with competitive economic conditions and higher professional stan-dards, “non-traditional” adult students are seeking to augment experience with academic achievement (Mourchid, 2008). The National Fire Academy (NFA) estimates that there are more than 1.1 million fi refi ghters in the United States, with nearly half over 40 years of age (USFA, 2012). The demographics suggest a transition to less physically-demanding roles, while leveraging individual and in-stitutional “history,” as a win-win for the professional as a whole.The type of research conducted within the fi re and emergency services varies from current topics within local level organizations: staffi ng, correlation response times and losses, impact of ed-ucation via simulation only for fi re train-ing, to those on a more of a state/nation-al level: standardized testing, feasibility of national response time to major di-sasters, technological advancements used to assist in incidents (USFA, 2013). Research is an important part of the FESHE mission, for it is believed necessary to advance the pro-fession by increasing the body of knowledge (Smeby, Le-Ron, Lutz, De-Iorio. 2005).All FESHE core curric-ulum cours-es have a research com-ponent to them — As-sociates and Bachelor level courses. These as-sist the students in learning the basics of research: selection of topic, locating credible sources of data, synthe-sizing information, compiling an assign-ment, and citing sources. An example of an online resource center available to everyone is the National Emergency Training Center Learning Resources Center (NETC-LRC), maintained by the NFA. It is through this research portal that materials on all subjects pertaining to fi re and emergency services can be found (USFA, 2013). In addition, the LRC maintains a collection of dissertations and theses written by academics and professionals in the fi eld. Research is a partner in forward focused timeThe NFA released a report on March 1st of this year which compiled institu-tions of higher learning having achieved the FESHE recognition and regional ac-creditation. The FESHE certifi cate rep-resents that the program being offered meets the “minimum standards of excel-lence” set by the National Fire Academy for academic degrees. The report also lists colleges or universities which are regionally accredited. Accredita-tion refl ects that the pro-gram is recognized by the Council of Higher Education Accredi-tation (CHEA) and the U.S. De-partment of Educa-tion as achiev-ing high academic standards. Both the FESHE recogni-tion and accreditation status should be important considerations for prospective students when evaluating educational alternatives. In addition, online learning offers anoth-er modality conducive to shifting sched-ules and geographical remoteness.According to the USFA (2012) report, there are 92 regionally accredited col-leges and universities in 39 states (two offering online degrees), with 15 others having achieved the FESHE recognition for Associate’s degree programs. For the Bachelor’s degree programs, 24 colleges and universities are regionally accred-ited in 25 different states (four offering online degrees), with another 16 institu-tions having the FESHE recognition.What the USFA’s report indicates is that the academic community is in-creasingly responsive to the needs and challenges of today’s public safety professionals. There is no substitute for training, and the experience gained through history is invaluable. This is an interesting time of change for the fi re and emergency management area. We are moving toward a forward-focus root-ed in academic research combined with innovation which leverages science and technology. It certainly is a recipe for su-perior stewardship of the profession in this millennium. Professor Gorman is an Associate Fire Sci-ence Program Chair at Embry-Riddle Aero-nautical University (ERAU). Before coming to ERAU, she spent 27 years as a geologist in the environmental sector, responsible for regulato-ry development, emergency pollution response, incident investigation and remediation, disas-ter planning, and hazardous materials/solid waste management.Dr. Herron is an Associate Fire Science Pro-gram Chair at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni-versity (ERAU). Her Ph.D. is from Florida State University, where she worked prior to coming to ERAU. She has been at ERAU for seven years, in which time she served as the Interim Dean of Online Instruction and has maintained an active status on various University committees regarding online learning and academic tech-nology advancement. References:Gunderson, M., Lindsey, J. (2011). Applications of Fire Research and Improvement. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.Mourchid, Y. (2008). Earning a Fire Science Degree FESHE Style. Firehouse 33, 102-105. Retrieved from: Pro-quest Database.Smeby, C., LaRon, T., Lutz, S., DeIorio, I. (2005). A Modest Proposal for Fire and Emergency-related Doctoral Research. Retrieved from: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/down-loads/pdf/nfa/higher_ed/research_forum_proposal.pdf U.S. Fire Administration (2013). Fire Science Degree Programs from FESHE-Recognized and Regionally Accred-ited Schools. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Home-land Security. U.S. Fire Administration (2013). Research Resources and Student Outcomes Assessment. Retrieved from: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfa/higher_ed/resources/resources_re-search.shtm 

Research Is a Partner in Forward Focused Time

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Research Is a Partner in Forward Focused Time

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