Volume II | 2024

Department News & Updates

Jax State Emergency Management Climbs the Ranks as One of the Nation’s Premier Programs

Jax State's Emergency Management program has gained significant national recognition this year. Forbes Advisor recently ranked Jax State seventh and tenth on its lists of the Best Online Emergency Management Degrees of 2024 and Best Online Master’s in Emergency Management Degree Options, respectively.

No FEE November!

Apply to Jax State Emergency Management and Public Administration programs with No Application FEE in November!

Please note the GRE requirement on the Graduate Catalog has been waived for the Doctoral Program in Emergency Management.

2024 IAEM Student Chapter of the Year Award

Jax State Student Chapter of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) has been awarded the prestigious "Student Chapter of the Year" Award in the 2024 IAEM Awards Competition. The award will be formally presented on November 20 at the President's Banquet and Awards Ceremony, part of the 72nd IAEM Annual Conference & EMEX in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

EM Annual Doctoral Integrative Seminar

Our 2024 EM Doctoral Integrative Seminar was held at the 11th floor of Houston Cole Library (HCL) from August 12- August 16. The CDP Superintendent, Mr. Tony Russell welcomed the seminar participants along with JSU administration. Later, Mr. Russell and Dr. Landahl participated in a panel discussion on the "Professionalization in Emergency Management".

This year, our Keynote speaker was Dr. Walt Peacock from Texas A&M University, a renowned Professor of Urban Planning in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and senior fellow of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center. Dr. Peacock gave his keynote on 'Social Vulnerability'.

Some of the pictures of the Doctoral Seminar are posted at the end of this newsletter.

Faculty Updates

New faculty on board!

Dr. Mark Landahl joins as an Associate Professor this fall in the Department of Emergency Management & Public Administration at Jax State. He has extensive experience in homeland security, incident response, identity management as well as teaching and learning in Emergency Management Education and Training. Dr. Landahl received his PhD in Fire and Emergency Management Administration from Oklahoma State University. Welcome, Dr. Landahl!

FEMA HiEd Grant Awarded

Dr. Mark Landahl received 2024 Federal Emergency Management Agency Higher Education Research Award funding for the project "Identity Management Technologies and Responder Use in Incident Response Operations." The research team includes a professor from the University of Akron and a practitioner with extensive experience on All-Hazard Incident Management Teams. The study will explore the understanding, acceptance, and potential adoption of identity management technologies in disaster response, building on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security initiative to develop these technologies for first responders.

Congratulations, Dr. Landahl!

PHEER Research Grant Awarded

Dr. Chan Wang has been awarded a research grant by the Public Health Extreme Events Research (PHEER) network (funded by NSF), to collaborate with The University of Mississippi on the project "Assessing Hurricane Relief Efforts in Houston Using Location-Based Social Media Data (beryl19)". This project will explore how the social media activities during and after Hurricane Beryl, which struck the Texas coast in July 2024, influence the distribution of relief centers and volunteer assistance.

Congratulations, Dr. Wang!

Cybersecurity Grant Renewed

Jax State Emergency Management in collaboration with The Center for Best Practices in Law Enforcement (CBPLE) has received another Cybersecurity grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/National Computer Forensics Institute. Several EM and Affiliate faculty are involved in this project including Brad McGriff, Dr. Tanveer Islam, Dr. David Thornton, and Dr. Eric Gamess. Congratulations!

The Department offers a Micro-credential in Cybersecurity!

MPA Faculty Position...We are hiring!

The Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration of the Jacksonville State University’s College of Social & Behavioral Sciences is seeking to hire a scholar for a tenure-track position for the MPA program at the rank of Assistant Professor. Review of applications will begin from January, 2025. This position has an anticipated start date of August 2025.

This position will be responsible for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses. The candidate will contribute to teaching the core curriculum of the MPA program. The candidate must be committed to teaching in different modalities especially in an online format. Applicants should complete the online application and submit required documents at the following link:

https://careers.jsu.edu/en-us/job/497226/assistant-professor-emergency-management-and-public-administration

Student Updates

Tamara Doss received IAEM Scholarship and published article on IAEM Bulletin!

EM Doctoral Student Tamara Croom Doss received the prestigious IAEM scholarship, which will be awarded at the IAEM conference in Colorado. She also published an article "The Important of Strategic Planning in Emergency Management" (pg. 22-23) in September 2024 issue of IAEM Bulletin!

Congratulations, Tamara!

Noah Maddox receiving an IAEM Award!

EM Doctoral Student and JSU-IAEM Chapter President, Noah Maddox will receive an IAEM award for recruiting the greatest number of new members for JSU-IAEM in 2024. Congratulations, Noah!

Military Tuition Discount

Spring 2024 President's List

Shout out to the EM undergraduate students who made to the President's List

Congratulations!

JSU First Responders Scholarship

JSU offers a 20% tuition scholarship for first responders employed full-time by a law enforcement agency, fire department or emergency service agency. The scholarship is applicable to our Bachelor of Science (BSEM) and Master of Science in Emergency Management (MSEM) programs. Please visit the link below and/or email enroll@jsu.edu for eligibility.

First Responders Scholarship