Emergency Management - Career and Research Options

Have you ever wondered about what happens after a catastrophic event, such as a(n):

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• earthquake
• flood
• tornado
• fire
• terrorist attack

Disasters like these can cause large numbers of fatalities, as well as large-scale destruction of property. So how does the government, as well as hospitals, non-profit organizations, and private companies, prepare for and deal with the aftermath of events like these? If you have wondered these things, you may be interested in studying Emergency Management, and it just so happens that ACC has recently added an Associate’s Degree in Emergency Management.

"USACE Los Angeles District Emergency Management response team" by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Emergency management directors and specialists can work in federal, state, or local government. There are emergency managers working for private companies as well. In both cases, they help prepare their organization for dealing with these kinds of catastrophes. They develop the procedures for how their organization will respond during a crisis, and help lead the response while it is going on. And they continue to help with the cleanup and results after the event has concluded.

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Another career for which an A.S. in Emergency Management can be useful is as a police, fire, and ambulance dispatcher. These are the individuals who handle reports via the telephone, computer, or radio, about crimes and medical and police emergencies. They give instructions to the reporter, and are the ones to send the information to the appropriate emergency organization.

If you are interested in this field, or already taking classes on your way toward your degree, the library has prepared a LibGuide to help you with your research in the area. This includes suggestions for terms to search in the catalog, useful books and databases for research in this area, info on free resources, official agencies and associations that you might be interested in, and career information.

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The Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Reference Center is a new resource to the ACC library. This database offers full-text articles about topics such as risk evaluation, emergency preparedness and crisis communications.

You can check out the award path for the Associate of Applied Science Degree in Emergency Management here.