Newswise — The Center for Adult and Continuing Education at Misericordia University is introducing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, Law and National Security (GLNS) during the fall semester for adult learners with an associates degree to prepare them to enter the expanding national and homeland security workforce within the government and private sector.
The recent institutionalization of security services due to international and domestic events has created a need for academic training that is more managerial and government-oriented than traditional criminal justice programs. The program broadly trains students in law and government with an emphasis on analytical managerial skills. It provides students with a strong foundation in the field of National Security Studies so graduates of the program can succeed in a wide range of challenging careers spanning the federal, state, local and private-sector national security system.
“Over the past decade, there has been an increased interest in National Security Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,’’ said Brian Carso, J.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and program director at Misericordia University. “The program is designed to appeal to students from a variety of academic backgrounds and to provide them with a specialization that is at once directed and focused, and yet broad enough to give them flexibility in this growing and emerging career field.’’
The 66-credit GLNS program is offered in a hybrid format through Expressway and offers both online and traditional classroom instruction at the Lackawanna College, Hazleton Center on Broad Street. An information session for the new program will be held at the Hazleton site on Thursday, June 17 from 4-6 p.m.
Public safety and national security have been pushed to the forefront of the public’s consciousness in recent years due to terrorist attacks, natural disasters and various criminal activities. In response, public safety has been categorized under umbrella terms like emergency management, homeland security and national security. These new organizational structures have been charged with detecting, deterring and mitigating threats, both domestic and foreign.
These events have significantly changed the security needs of office buildings, shopping malls, secondary schools and universities, airports, public transportation and much more. The national security rubric also includes managing and responding to natural disasters in urban centers; the need to plan for and mitigate pandemic disease and the possibilities of debilitating infrastructure interruption, including cybercrime.
The program equips graduates with a solid academic foundation for entry level career employment and mid-level career mobility opportunities in broad areas of criminal justice, public safety, security services, government, court administration and legal services. The curriculum is designed for professional first responders, including municipal police officers, public safety agencies, EMTs, firefighters, emergency management personnel, state and federal law enforcement, homeland security organizations, and local, state and federal government and court administration.
In addition, GLNS also prepares students for graduate study in law, government administration, business and national security studies. “The employment opportunities related to the Government, Law and National Security program require individuals who can see the many facets of an issue and work to achieve an end result that is suitable to many constituencies,’’ Dr. Carso said. “We have designed curriculum that assures each student considers the ethical issues involved in a situation and allows them to make reasoned judgments about them.
“The program’s graduates will also think independently and analyze information critically with a view toward problem solving that takes into account respective cultural differences and global perspectives,’’ Dr. Carso added.
Students also delve into the root causes of war and peace in a three-course sequence that specifically addresses national security issues. It is designed to give students a comprehensive overview of natural and man-made threats to national security, along with a set of analytic tools for managing them. The courses combine a case study approach of post-World War II national security events, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 9/11 terrorist attack with conceptual perspectives on security strategy and theoretical explanations for the causes of war and peace.
Through these courses, students assess deterrence strategy, including its use in the nuclear age, and its relevance in the post-Cold War age. They investigate the security challenges posed by rogue regimes and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and assess strategies for peacemaking and peacekeeping.
The program is being offered to adult students with an associates degree in the area of criminal justice, business and human services, and is being delivered in several formats to account for their busy schedule. It is available in Expressway, on-line and blended configurations which are typically held during evening and weekend hours to accommodate the scheduling requirements of adult learners. The program can be completed in about 2½ years. For more information about the Government, Law and National Security program at Misericordia University, please call the Center for Adult and Continuing Education at (570) 674-6791 or e-mail Maki McCann, assistant director of off-campus programs and special initiatives, at [email protected].
Founded and Sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County’s first four-year college and offers 32 bachelor, master’s and doctoral academic programs in three colleges in full and part-time formats.
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