Alumni
Just about any occupation includes aspects of disaster science and management, and thus career opportunities are extremely diverse. It is important for each student to develop a good idea of which area(s) of disaster science and management upon which s/he would like to focus.
Some students who earn a B.A. in Liberal Arts with a concentration in DSM focus their careers on emergency management, while others focus on aspects of it as addressed in other fields of study. Some DSM concentration students earn a double-major in another field as well as in DSM, and some others opt for a minor in DSM. A DSM minor may not get you a job, but can get you promoted or entered into a job at a higher pay rate. Since disasters strike anywhere, all employers can benefit from having a DSM Program graduate at their workplace.
Careers in emergency management alone are diverse (such as work with the Red Cross, Department of Homeland Security at local, state, and federal levels, fire, medical, etc.), while disaster planning is required of any organization or business. Technological monitoring and computer applications are also important in many phases of emergency management. The DSM Program has prepared students for careers as doctors, (double-major with pre-med), public health officials, emergency management personnel, ecologists, psychologists, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, engineers and many more. Thus, the DSM Program is not only a program that has one type of career track, but also prepares students interested in pursuing different types of careers how to manage whatever types of disasters and crises s/he is likely to face.
Alumni of the DSM Program’s B.A. in Liberal Arts with a concentration in DSM have gone on to a wide variety of careers and graduate programs. Agencies and organizations at which DSM concentration graduates have worked include but are not limited to:
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
The American Red Cross
IBM
Louisiana Recovery Authority (Hazard Mitigation Grant Program)
New Orleans Emergency Operations Center
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP)
DSM concentration graduates have also continued their studies in graduate programs such as:
Public Health
Medical School
Master’s of Public Administration (MPA)
Ecology
Geography
Civil Engineering
Law School
If you are an alum of the DSM Program and have fallen out of touch, we want to hear from you! Please send an email to Alan Black at [email protected] with an update of where you are and what you are doing.