Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

Virginia Commonwealth University

Emergency preparedness has always been a critical aspect of governmental policy at the federal, state and local levels. Response to natural disasters - floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, outbreak of infectious disease - requires pre-disaster planning, mid-disaster operations and postdisaster reconstruction that can only be carried out successfully through a partnership between all levels of government and between the public sector, private sector and civil society. Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania the concept of emergency preparedness has been expanded to include the task of homeland security - protecting the U.S. from terrorist-caused disasters. Policy planners and operational responders at all levels of government who had previously focused upon natural disasters now have the added responsibility of preparing for and mitigating the effects of politically inspired terrorist violence.

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs