FOUNDATION NEWS, No. 4/Winter 2008 (March 2008)

CGSC, KSU consider degree program in homeland security studies

Faculty members from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and Kansas State University gathered at the Lewis & Clark Center Jan. 4 to conduct a workshop to study the possibilities and the need for a regional homeland security (HLS) degree program.

According to CGSC Assistant Professor Shawn Cupp and CGSC Dean of Academics Dr. Chris King, the workshop was the result of several months of discussion and planning between the CGSC and KSU. Local, state and national experts from every aspect of homeland security joined the educators at the workshop to provide their opinions on the need for the program and to make recommendations for what the curriculum should contain.

KSU’s Dr. Cheryl Polson said the workshop was the first step in the process of exploring the creation of a new academic degree program. Likewise, KSU Provost and Senior Vice President Dr. M. Duane Nellis said the approach was to gather the experts and get their input into the process and then build a curriculum around what they feel are the key aspects. The keynote speaker to kickoff the workshop was Maj. Gen. Tod M. Bunting, the Kansas Adjutant General, who in that capacity is also the director of Homeland Security for the state, overseeing the Kansas Army and Air National Guard and the state Division of Emergency Management.

After Bunting’s remarks the workshop attendees spent the majority of the day working in small groups with facilitators to brainstorm answers to pre-prepared discussion questions. The topics included Homeland Security as a Profession and Field of Study, Defining Specializations and Interest Areas, and Defining Specialization Content Areas.

If the program is approved and developed, both CGSC and KSU will offer versions of the program to their respective students.

The CGSC Foundation assisted the CGSC in hosting the workshop. 

This article was edited from the original published in the Leavenworth Lamp, Jan. 11, 2008, by Tisha Johnson.