Law - Homeland Security Practicum

Catalog description

This course will be taught during the full academic year. The class is divided into three parts: Fall: One credit hour in which students will read materials on a specific potential threat to homeland security. Students will be expected to discuss the reading materials at each class meeting and will prepare a short memorandum at the end of the first semester on their reading. Spring: Two credit hour part in which students will divide into teams that will work together for the rest of the academic year. Each team will be expected to create a long-term strategy both to mitigate potential dangers from the threat assigned for the year and to formulate a short-term action plan to be utilized in the event that the threat materializes. Students will be evaluated on the long-term and short-term planning documents they prepare. Final Simulation: Final three credit hour part consists of a five day intensive real time simulation in which each team will be required to deal with an emerging threat as though they were, in fact, an emergency management team dealing with a real threat. Each team will be monitored by a real world professional emergency manager. The actual simulation will last for two full days. A second two day period will consist of analysis and evaluation of each team's actions by the monitors and the simulation leaders. The final day will be for each individual to prepare a comprehensive analysis of her actions and the actions of her team with suggestions for improvement.