DETAILED PROPOSAL

CONCENTRATION IN EMERGENCY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Description

A new concentration in Emergency and Environmental Management is being proposed to provide an additional opportunity for Sociology majors to obtain knowledge as well as future career experience in two rapidly growing fields in both the public and private sectors—Emergency Management and Environmental Management. Because of the national and international prominence of the Disaster Research Center, there already exists the ability to place students in interesting internships and to assist them in finding employment following their graduation. The coordinator for this new concentration will be a faculty member affiliated with the Disaster Research Center.

Rationale and Demand

We believe that a concentration in the area of the management of natural, technological, environmental and purposive (i.e., terrorism) disasters will be particularly attractive to undergraduates at this time for two specific reasons. First, since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there has been increasing national concern about local, as well as national, capabilities for preparing for and responding to catastrophic events of many types. This concern superceded the mandate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—which had been the nation’s primary federal agency that dealt with disaster issues (including assistance to and training of local and state disaster agency personnel)—leading to the recent establishment of a new, multi-agency Department of Homeland Security. This concentration will demonstrate the University of Delaware’s responsiveness to this important national interest by providing students interested in rapid onset disasters (e.g., earthquakes, technological accidents, and terrorist activities) with broad exposure to the social science literature on the management of such events, including preparation for, response to, mitigation of and recovery from them. Students with this interest would likely pursue a career in emergency or risk management, either in the public or private sector.

Second, during the past 30 years there has been increasing national and global attention to environmental problems and their societal impacts. During this period policies directed toward the regulation of natural resources, pollution of the physical environment, and assessments of the effects of production activities on human and environmental health have become the focus of major social debates in countries around the world. The United States, having some of the strictest and most far-reaching environmental laws and policies, has still sustained major environmental disasters—those that do or could result from human pollution of the natural and built environments over time. These polluting and destructive outcomes result from human activities that were (and are) expected to result in progress, a better standard of living, and a higher quality of life. However, environmental disasters (e.g., the toxic pollution of Love Canal in New York or the lead smelter pollution of East Dallas neighborhoods) have created situations that require management solutions that are, in some ways, similar to those of rapid onset disasters and different in others. Students with an interest in environmental disasters could pursue careers as risk managers in the private sector or in regulatory governmental positions, as well as advocates for environmental groups.

Enrollment, Admissions and Financial Aid

To declare this major, the student must have the minimum 2.0 gpa required for all sociology majors.

Curriculum Specifics

Successful completion of the curriculum will give the student a B.A degree in Sociology with a concentration in Emergency and Environmental Management. Students selecting this concentration are required to take seven courses in addition to the three courses required of all Sociology majors (Soci 201, Soci 301, Soci 312). The minimum grade accepted in all courses completed for the major is a C-.

Required courses for this concentration:

Students will select two of the following three courses:

Soci 325 – Disaster and Society

Soci 321 – Issues in Emergency Management

Soci 470 – Environmental Sociology (being proposed for a second writing course)

Recommended electives within the major:

Students are required to select four additional three-credit courses with the agreement of the area coordinator. These courses are intended to provide the student with additional sociological principles and knowledge that will be useful in further her/his understanding of the societal dynamics involved in disaster management as well as in program areas that are relevant to social and organizational problems associated with this concentration.

Soci 204 – Urban Communities

Soci 209 – Social Problems

Soci 311 – Sociology of Health Care

Soci 322 – Crowds, Cults and Revolutions

Soci 327 – Sociology of Organizations

Soci 331 – World Population: Profiles and Trends

Soci 341 – Welfare and Society

Soci 361 – Racial Inequality

Soci 423 – Sociology of Risk (being proposed for a second writing course)

Recommended related work electives:

Students are required to select five additional three-credit courses outside of the major with the agreement of the area coordinator. These courses are intended to broaden the student’s knowledge of this area from other disciplinary perspectives. The following courses are recommended but the student is not limited solely to these courses:

ANSC 270 – Biotechnology: Science and Socio-Economic Issues

ANTH 101 – Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (Group C option)

COMM 236 – Principles of Communication Theory

COMM 245 – Mass Communication and Culture (Group C option)

GEOG 203 – Introduction to Cultural Geography (Group A option)

GEOG 235 – Conservation of Natural Resources (Group C option)

GEOG 236 – Conservation: Global Issues

GEOG 240 – Environment and Behavior (Group C option)

GEOG 310 – Social Geography

GEOG 449 – Environment and Society

GEOL 112 – Earth Resources and Public Policy

GEOL 422 – OSHA 40-Hour Hazardous Materials Safety Training

POSC 211 – Introduction to Politics in Developing Countries (Group B option)

POSC 220 – Introduction to Public Policy (Group C option)

POSC 240 – Introduction to International Relations (Group C option)

POSC 303 – Public Administration

POSC 350 – Politics and the Environment

POSC 456 – Disasters and Politics

Practicum:

All students in this concentration will have to take, on a pass/fail basis, a four-credit practicum, Soci 426 – Practicum in Emergency and Environmental Management, which incorporates an internship placement for a semester or for a winter or spring session. Students will be expected to carry out specified functions within their placement organizations (under the supervision of an organizational supervisor and after agreement with the area coordinator), to attend scheduled class meetings to discuss organizational experiences, and to complete written assignments as specified in the course syllabus. Organizations that might be appropriate for internship placements could include DEMA, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency; the Emergency Management Office of the City of Wilmington, Delaware; the New Castle County Office of Emergency Management; departments within DNREC (the Delaware State Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control); and the Region III offices of FEMA or EPA in Philadelphia. Private sector and non-profit organizational placements will also be developed.

Resources Available

Learning Resources:

This concentration will provide a formal mechanism to integrate the department’s Disaster Research Center (DRC) with the undergraduate teaching functions of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. The resource collection at DRC has substantial holdings (books, articles, “gray” literature, governmental documents, and research data sets) which are available to undergraduate students to improve their exposure to and grasp of emergency and environmental management issues. Also, because of the national and international prominence of the Disaster Research Center, there already exists the ability to place students in interesting internships and to assist them in finding employment following their graduation.

Faculty/Administrative Resources:

The coordinator of this concentration will be a faculty member affiliated with the Disaster Research Center. Faculty who will be involved with this concentration are:

Benigno Aguirre, Ph.D., Professor, full-time

Joanne Nigg, Ph.D., Professor, full-time

Havidan Rodriguez, Ph.D., Professor, full-time

Implementation and Evaluation

Implementation Plan:

The department will publicize the new concentration among our current majors and incoming students. It will be presented in all material that the department uses to inform majors. Once the concentration is approved, we will develop supplemental materials that we will use at the end of this academic year. While some of the course offerings have been taught, the faculty now plan to regularize their offerings so that students can complete the program in a timely manner. Furthermore, this year’s search for a new faculty person will be advertised widely and students will be informed at those events about the major.

Evaluation Plan:

As sociologists, we will develop the appropriate tools to evaluate the program. Furthermore, we will follow the people enrolled in the concentration and seek feedback, particularly if they secure position in the area of emergency and environmental management.