Accelerated Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness/ Master of Public Administration

Virginia Commonwealth University

The accelerated B.A. and M.P.A. program allows qualified students to earn both the B.A. in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and Master of Public Administration in a minimum of five years by completing approved graduate courses during the senior year of their undergraduate program. Students in the program may count up to 12 hours of graduate courses toward both the B.A. and M.P.A. degrees. Thus, the two degrees may be earned with a minimum of 144 or 147 credits rather than the 156 or 159 credits necessary if the two degrees are pursued separately.Students holding these degrees will learn about the dual nature of homeland security and emergency preparedness as an adaptation of traditional policy responses to natural disasters to include those types of disasters caused by domestic or international terrorism. The program gives students both theoretical and practical knowledge in homeland security and emergency preparedness as well as the skills necessary to become professional public managers, public officials and citizens who are able to meet the challenges of public service in both government and nonprofit sectors and serve the profession and local, state, federal and international communities in this expanding field.

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs