Community colleges offer Homeland security education

Feb 9, 2004 12:00 PM

Community colleges, trying to cement their position as the country's leader in Homeland security education, will gather in Washington, D.C., this weekend to develop a long-term strategy and national standards.
"Five years ago if you wanted to take a course on terrorism you basically had to go to the military," Dan Snyder, president of Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, 60 miles north of Philadelphia tells The Associated Press. "Today I think you're seeing a lot more training, and the facilities that are necessary to provide that high-level training."
New degree programs and the building of Homeland security training centers has begun at community colleges around the country.
Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., for example, has recently opened the Homeland Security Management Institute, run by a retired Army colonel who was a commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Outside experts see community colleges playing an increasing role in national security. Ellen Gordon, Iowa's Homeland Security Adviser and a member of the Senior Advisory Council for the Department of Homeland Security, said Iowa has embraced the security education offered by community colleges.
"I see within the next 20 to 25 years that the community colleges are going to be the base for training and education for all the different areas within our Homeland security," she said.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue