New Degree Will Focus On Homeland Security

Aug. 1, 2005
Long Island University to teach nation's second graduate program in homeland security management

Long Island University will begin the second of the nation's graduate programs in homeland security management this fall when it offers a 15-credit curriculum leading to a certificate.

University officials said they were also designing a broader program that would eventually lead to a master's degree.

The University of Connecticut began the nation's first program this spring, offering a full master's program only to United States citizens. Both programs are expected to rely heavily on antiterrorism training developed for the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Although the L.I.U. program will be offered entirely online, it is administered through the university's Southampton College campus, which shut down all of its undergraduate programs last spring in the wake of persistent deficits.

Tuition for the Homeland Security program will be $747 a credit, but public employees like police officers will receive a one-third discount.

Enrollment at L.I.U. is not limited to United States citizens, said Vincent Henry, a retired New York Police Department sergeant and former Fulbright scholar who is the director of the university's Homeland Security Management Institute.

Instructors include three former New York City police officials: Dan Mullin, a former deputy chief and now Major League Baseball's security director; Daniel Oates, a retired chief of the intelligence bureau and now the police chief in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Frank Straub, a former assistant commissioner for counterterrorism.

Mr. Henry said the program would use a case-study teaching method that integrates theory and practice in realistic situations. Among the courses offered will be Homeland Security and the Private Sector, Domestic and International Terrorism, and Constitutional Issues in Homeland Security Management.