Emergency Management

The Department of Emergency Management at NDSU is selective in choosing graduate applicants for entry into the master’s and doctoral programs. Admission is competitive reflecting the department's commitment to small, high quality, student cohorts that match the mentoring capacity of the faculty.

Applicants will be evaluated in a two-stage process. In the first stage, the applicant’s Graduate School application, letters of reference, GRE scores (if applicable), and academic writing paper samples will be reviewed by the Department of Emergency Management faculty. Applicants demonstrating goodness-of-fit with the Department of Emergency Management’s mission and goals and an aptitude for graduate study will be invited to complete the second stage of the admissions process. 

Admissions Process

The two-stage admissions process for graduate studies in the Department of Emergency Management is as follows:

STAGE ONE

1. Applicants must first complete the Graduate School's online application form and submit the required materials. 
2. Applicants must submit transcripts from the higher education institutions they have attended to the Graduate School.
3. Applicants must submit three letters of reference through the Online Application tool. Academic references are preferred.
4. All applicants who have not completed a master's degree in the United States must submit GRE scores. If an applicant has completed a master's degree in the United States, then GRE scores are not required but still strongly recommended. It is helpful to have as much data as possible about applicants and their aptitude for graduate work in our program. In no case are specific GRE discipline tests required. At this time, however, no specific score totals are used as a cutoff. Applications are evaluated holistically using all indicators of student aptitude for successful completion of graduate study in this program. Applicants must submit GRE scores by requesting that  ETS-GRE send the NDSU Graduate School their score. 
5. Applicants must submit electronic copies of two writing samples through the Online Application tool. The samples may be a publication, material from prior course work, or specifically written for this application. The samples do not have to focus on emergency management or disasters. The samples must be written in English. Writing samples are used to gain information on the applicant's writing style and ability to write research-based papers. Samples submitted in support of an application would ideally be eight or more pages in length. In addition, to meet the objective of the admission criteria, the paper must employ formal citations. Writing samples will most typically be library-based research papers but papers based on original data gathering are also encouraged. The latter might be more likely to come from an applicant with a master's degree.

STAGE TWO

1. Applicants invited to participate in the second stage of the admissions process will take part in a conference call interview with two or more of the program faculty. Applicant interviews are designed to provide two-way communication between the faculty and prospective applicant. Faculty will ask questions but will also want the applicant to pose questions about the program and departmental educational objectives. The interview should assist the applicant and faculty to further assess the goodness-of-fit between the program and the applicant. 

Financial Assistance

Both teaching and research assistantships are available, contingent on departmental and faculty research funds. All students are automatically considered for graduate assistantships, unless they request otherwise, so no separate application process is required for such consideration. Awards are based on past academic and professional performance. The review process is highly competitive.

Doctorate in Emergency Management

¹

Students must have taken an undergraduate or graduate research methods course prior to enrolling in both Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.

²

Students must have taken a statistics course prior to enrolling in Quantitative Methods.

³

Courses in this section of electives are for transfer credits, prior thesis, comprehensive study, or technical papers completed as part of a master’s degree program or additional electives of the students choice such as didactic courses, seminars, independent study, and/or field research. Students may also take an additional 6 credits from Emergency Management Electives above

⁴

All doctoral students must take a minimum of 3 credits of research practicum. The research practicum can be fulfilled by participating in a member of the faculty’s research or by the student conducting his/her own research under the supervision of a faculty member. For every 3 credits of research practicum a student takes the student must submit a manuscript to a scholarly, peer-reviewed emergency management journal by the time they defend their dissertation. Students also must take 3-6 credits of an applied, field-based emergency management practicum; however, students with ample field experience in emergency management may complete additional research practicum credits to fulfill the 9 required practicum credits. The student and his/her advisor will determine how the credits will be fulfilled in this category.

Sarah Bundy, Ph.D. 
North Dakota State University, 2013
Research Interests: Comprehensive Emergency Management, Planning, and Development of Emergency Management as an Academic Discipline

Carol Cwiak, J.D., Ph.D.
Western State University, 1995
North Dakota State University, 2009
Research Interests: Preparedness and Mitigation, Business Continuity, Law and Emergency Management

Jessica Jensen, Ph.D.
North Dakota State University, 2010
Research Interests: Response, Recovery, and Preparedness, Voluntary Agencies in Disasters, Development of Emergency Management Academic Discipline

Daniel J. Klenow, Ph.D.
University of Notre Dame, 1977
Research Interests: Special Populations, International Disasters, Emergency Management Theory and Methodology