Electives for Disaster Science & Management students

Classes relevant to the interests of Disaster Science & Management M.S. and Ph.D. students can be found in many departments throughout the university, since the program is inherently interdisciplinary. The lists of electives below are to illustrate the range of options, but are by no means comprehensive. Not all classes are offered every year, and other classes may also serve as suitable electives.

For the Ph.D. program, elective courses are organized by thematic areas to provide a focus. The areas are defined as:

• Organizations, management and leadership focus on management and leadership in all phases of a disaster. Includes knowledge of institutional structures and tools to support decision making.
• Built and natural environment, and society focus on the interfaces between the three different infrastructures built, natural and social with an emphasis on the opportunities to control, influence, accommodate and understand changes and needs during and after catastrophic events.
• Vulnerability and resilience focus on how systems are impacted by and respond to catastrophic events. Includes how systems can be modified or adapted to reduce vulnerability and improve resilience.
• Continuity of operations (policy and planning) focus on response to disasters including policy and planning.
• Simulation and modeling focus on decision support tools and the modeling of impacts to support disaster planning, mitigation, response and recovery.
• Health systems leadership: public health disaster planning and response focus on the role of health professionals and systems in planning for and responding to disasters.

These lists also serve as potential electives for MS students. Students select electives are in consultation with their advisor. All classes are 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

Organizations, management, and leadership specialization

ACCT800 Financial Reporting and Analysis
BUAD800 Strategic Thinking for the Executive Leader
BUAD870 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
BUAD880 Marketing Management
COMM610 Organizational Communication Theory
COMM630 - Interpersonal Communication Theory
COMM670 - Mass Communication Theory
ECON503 Economic Analysis for Business Policy
ECON832 Public Finance
FINC850 Financial Management
SOCI837 Criminology and Systems of Justice
UAPP616 Volunteer Management (1 credit)
UAPP658 Contemporary Issues in Public Administration (1 credit)
UAPP619 Contemporary Issues in Urban Affairs and Planning (1 credit)
UAPP686 State and Local Government: Concepts and Issues
UAPP687 State Government Management and Policy

Built and natural environment, and society specialization

BREG628 Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems
CEIG633 Hazardous Waste Management
CIEG637 Water and Wastewater Quality
CIEG650 Urban Transportation Systems
CIEG654 Urban Transportation Planning
CIEG655 Civil Infrastructure Systems
CIEG667 Resilience Engineering
ENWC610 Medical, Veterinary, and Forensic Entomology
ENWC611 Insect Pest Management
ENWC814 Advanced Ecology
GEOG617 Seminar in Climate Change
GEOG622 Resources, Development and the Environment
GEOG628 Issues in Land Use and Environmental Planning
GEOG649 Environment and Society
GEOL621 Environmental and Applied Geology
MAST601 Introduction to Oceanography
MAST671 Coastal Processes and Management
PLSC603 Soil Physics
PLSC608 Environmental Soil Chemistry
PLSC619 Soil Microbiology
SOCI671 Disasters, Vulnerability & Development
UAPP675 Land Use and Transportation Linkages (1 credit)

Vulnerability and resilience specialization

CIEG667 Resilience Engineering
CHEG622 Chemicals, Risk and the Environment
FREC826 Issues in Domestic and Foreign Rural Development
GEOG617 Seminar in Climate Change
GEOG622 Resources, Development and the Environment
HLPR809 Health Behavior
HLPR823 Human Response to Stress
HLPR610 Health and the Media
MAST692 Environmental Values, Movements and Policy
NURS613 Death Education
POSC838 International Security
SOCI622 Collective Behavior
SOCI661 Racial Stratification
SOCI671 Disasters, Vulnerability & Development
UAPP637 Organizing for Social Justice (1 credit)
UAPP651 Managing Risk and Society

Policy and planning specialization

CIEG654 Urban Transportation Planning
GEOG622 Resources, Development and the Environment
ECON832 Public Finance
HLPR610 Health and the Media
MAST670 United States Ocean and Coastal Policy
MAST672 Applied Policy Analysis (to coastal and ocean issues)
MAST692 Environmental Values, Movements and Policy
POSC624 Energy Policy and Administration
POSC838 Public Policy Analysis
POSC818 Environmental Policy and Administration
SOCI622 Collective Behavior
UAPP602 Introduction to Comprehensive Planning (1 credit)
UAPP603 Introduction to Zoning and Land Use Controls (1 credit)
UAPP617 Contemporary Issues in Environment and Energy Policy (1 credit)
UAPP657 Health Policy

Simulation and modeling specialization

BUAD837 Decision Support and Expert Systems for Business
CISC659 Topics in Communication, Distributed Computing and Networks
FREC/STAT608 Statistical Research Methods
FREC682 Spatial Analysis of Natural Resources
GEOG667 GIS
GEOG671 Advanced GIS
HLPR803 Advanced Health Promotion Programming and Evaluation
SOCI611 Techniques of Demographic Analysis
APEC603 Simulation Modeling and Analysis

Health systems leadership specialization

HSAD637 Health Planning Strategies
HSAD638 Health Services Evaluation
NURS6xx Health Systems Disaster Leadership (proposed new course)
NURSxxx Biological, Chemical, Radiological and Other Source Emergencies: Planning Response and Public Policy Measures (proposed new course)