Commentary by Edward Segal, a crisis management expert and author of Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's new National Disaster & Emergency Management University, which is open to the business community, will "help train emergency managers to keep pace with the rapidly changing threat environment," according to its press release.

"Emergency managers are our nation's chief problem solvers," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, said in a statement. The new university "provides an opportunity for emergency managers to further their professional development and prepare to solve an expanding set of challenges in an ever-changing threat landscape. This is a groundbreaking moment that will be transformational for the field of emergency management."

Courses Are Available To The Private Sector

The announcement is good news for business leaders and their staffs who need all the help they can get to prepare for disasters and emergencies—and keep pace with constantly evolving risks and threats including climate change and cyberattacks.

The online and in-person courses "are available to the whole community, including the private sector and non-governmental organizations. Independent study courses are available at no cost …There are additional instructor-led resident courses available to private sector and non-governmental organizations as well," a FEMA spokesperson noted in a statement.

According to the university's website, "Classroom courses and curriculum programs are open for application only by specific professional audience, Certificate programs may be open to broader audiences. Independent Study courses are offered free of charge to everyone."

Emergency Management Institute

For early career professionals, this school focuses on foundational training and development, connecting new emergency managers to the broader profession, according to the univiersity's website.

School of Disaster Leadership

For mid- to late-career professionals, this school offers continuing education and professional development.

Emphasis is placed on leadership development, peer learning, research, and idea generation. Key programs include the Vanguard Executive Crisis Leaders Fellowship and targeted certificate programs.This school offers continuing education and professional development.

School of National Resilience

Emphasis is placed on leadership development, peer learning, research, and idea generation.

This school serves the broader emergency management community, including civil society actors, public health officials, and planners. It provides targeted training on emergency management fundamentals and deep dives into disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, bridging the profession with the wider community.

Filling A Critical Void

The training will help fill a void in how staffs are trained to deal with disasters and emergencies.

"What has been missing is training and development for mid and advance career emergency managers. These are your decision-makers who, during a disaster or crisis need to make life and death decisions often in short amounts of time and with limited information of uncertain accuracy," Clifford Oliver, a former FEMA assistant administrator, observed in an email message. He has been in the emergency management field for 40 years and a public safety programs college professor for more than a decade.

FEMA's new university is comprised of three components that are designed to address a gap in how emergency managers are trained.

"The new School of Disaster Leadership will hopefully fill this critical gap in the continuing education needs of career emergency managers. The new School of National Resilience has a very different focus on mitigating the long-term effects of disasters by fortifying the nation's resilience. This is a long-term investment in future sustainability of our nation," Oliver pointed out.

FEMA also said that it will expand its Emergency Management Institute into the new university, and grow its curriculum to help emergency managers. EMI was founded in 1951 as the Civil Defense Staff College.

FEMA's New Focus On Education

"The new use of the term 'University' considering that to date, FEMA has focused on career training and not education, is not without some controversy within the emergency management and academic communities," according to Oliver.

Although academic credit is not available for the courses, that might change in the future.

"Though this initiative creates a new 'University," it is unclear whether FEMA intends to eventually move to seek academic accreditation and confer degrees or continue the current model of collaborating with emergency management and allied areas of study degree conferring institutes of higher education. If FEMA sought accreditation, universities that already offer such degrees would be expected to raise objections," Oliver predicted.

Concerns About FEMA's Staffing Needs

As the agency seeks to train more emergency managers, there are concerns in some quarters that it needs to "better plan for its staffing needs following longstanding concerns the disaster response component lacks the requisite capacity for modern demands," according to Government Executive.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress to address those concerns.

'The FEMA Workforce Planning Act (S. 4181) would give the agency one year to develop a specific blueprint for its human capital requirements, which it would then have to update every three years. The plan would include performance measures for meeting workforce goals, an explanation of barriers to reaching its staffing needs and the types of employees and hiring authorities it will use to boost its rolls. It would also detail projected attrition and skill gaps, with specific numbers attached, and details of how to address those shortfalls," Government Executive explained.

The bill has support from both sides of the aisle, which could help ensure its passage.

FEMA "must ensure it has the workforce in place to meet the needs of any disaster," said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and introduced the bill with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. "My bipartisan bill will ensure FEMA is properly staffed to provide reliable assistance to survivors of natural disasters," Homeland Security reported.

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