Field of Study
Outcomes
  • Building Inspection
  • Business Continuity Specialist
  • Community Relief
  • Corporate Consulting
  • Disaster Fieldwork
  • Emergency Management Specialist
  • Hazard Assessment
  • Healthcare Administrator
  • Military
  • Policy Development

For individuals who

Are seeking an advanced degree. Want to serve people through problem solving, strategic and systems thinking, planning and facilitating groups and processes. 

Looking for

Active classrooms that challenge students to solve society’s most pressing problems by putting theory into practice.

To become

  • Chief Resilience Officer
  • Crisis Communication and Management
  • Disaster Relief Coordinator
  • Emergency Preparation
  • First Responder

Program Description

The master's program--comprehensive study option--can be taken remote "live" or in person, on campus. Remote "live" means that students have the option of completing all of their coursework at the same time and day as our on campus students via Zoom. The master's program--thesis option--and doctoral degree programs in emergency management at NDSU are only available on campus. Potential students are encouraged to visit the campus and meet faculty and current graduate students.

The mission of NDSU's Emergency Management Program is to create a cadre of graduates with extensive theoretical and applied knowledge in emergency management who can advance the field and discipline of emergency management. The program is built on a core of emergency management and methods/theory courses to help students approach the study of disasters and emergency management from the emergency management disciplinary perspective. Additionally, the program draws from other disciplines that enhance the development of processes and techniques to deal with emergencies and disasters.

Master of Science Degree

The comprehensive and challenging Master's degree program in Emergency Management is intended to explore the academic research literature related to emergency management as well as provide students with opportunities to apply their knowledge through research and/or practicum. The program is built on a core of emergency management courses to help students learn how human beings create, interact, and cope with hazards, vulnerability, and associated events. The program emphasizes the study of how human beings cope with hazard events through activities related to preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.

The Department of Emergency Management offers two tracks in its master's degree program. The first option - the thesis track - is a research-focused degree track that entails a combination of emergency management course work and research methods. This option is ideal for graduate students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in Emergency Management or a related discipline and for those students who want to complete a traditional master's degree. The second option - the comprehensive study option - is a more practice-based track with course work in emergency management and a significant practicum requirement. This second option may be completed on campus or at a distance. The distance format involves taking coursework at the same time and day as our on campus students but from wherever the student lives.

Doctoral Degree

North Dakota State University offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management designed to prepare graduates for careers teaching future generations of emergency management students in higher education programs, conducting research that describes and explains patterns, processes, change, and effectiveness/efficiency related to emergency management, and/or policy development and analysis related to emergency management.

The degree program is built on a core of emergency management courses to help students learn how human beings create, interact, and cope with hazards, vulnerability, and associated events. The program emphasizes the study of how human beings cope with hazard events through activities related to preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.

This comprehensive and challenging program is committed both to extensive research and its practical application in the areas of emergency management. Throughout their graduate career, students will have the opportunity to conduct research and work in the field.

The Ph.D. is awarded in recognition of significant depth of understanding and scholarly achievement in emergency management. The recipient must complete all of the required course work, pass two written comprehensive exams (i.e., one on emergency management theory and one on the two functional areas in which the student has specialized), complete a novel and significant research project for the dissertation; and successfully defend this research in an oral examination. The student's progress will be reviewed by a supervisory committee that is responsible for reviewing the student's plan of study, written comprehensive examinations, dissertation proposal, and dissertation defense.