FEMA Establishes National Disaster & Emergency Management University, New Education for Emergency Managers

WASHINGTON -- Today, FEMA announced the agency is establishing a new university called National Disaster & Emergency Management University (NDEMU) to help train emergency managers to keep pace with the rapidly changing threat environment. 

Emergency management, as a practice, is constantly shifting to address the nation’s most pressing threats, risks and hazards from climate change to cyber to pandemic preparedness. To better address these needs, FEMA is announcing that its Emergency Management Institute (EMI), located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, is expanding into this new university and providing an expanded curriculum to help emergency managers continue to build capacity today to meet the hazards of tomorrow. EMI was originally founded in 1951 as the Civil Defense Staff College.

“Emergency managers are our nation’s chief problem solvers,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. “The National Disaster & Emergency Management University provides an opportunity for emergency managers to further their professional development and prepare to solve an expanding set of challenges in an ever-changing threat landscape. This is a groundbreaking moment that will be transformational for the field of emergency management.”

By growing into a university model, NDEMU will offer comprehensive education and training programs spanning various disciplines within disaster and emergency management across the entirety of an emergency manager’s career, closing an identified gap in mid- and advanced career professional development that exists between EMI’s traditional technical training and the theoretical-based education programs. The NDEMU will partner more with other higher education institutions and the disaster research community to ensure emergency managers receive the most relevant and updated knowledge in the face of the ever-changing risk landscape.   

Every day, FEMA programs increase disaster resilience for all by deepening the nation’s understanding of risk, investing in resilience through risk reduction, recovery projects and transferring risk through insurance. Developing NDEMU as an institution now, during the Year of Resilience, allows FEMA to elevate the profession of emergency management by training, educating and resourcing a skilled emergency management workforce able to address future risks and meet the goals needed to achieve a resilient Nation.

The new NDEMU will include three schools: 

• The EMI will continue as a branded school within NDEMU to provide foundational training and development for early career emergency managers.
• The School of Disaster Leadership will focus programs for mid- and advanced career emergency managers seeking professional development and continuing education. It will emphasize leadership development, practical learning, research and idea generation. It will include programs like the Vanguard Executive Crisis Leaders Fellowship and targeted certificate programs.
• The School of National Resilience will serve as a bridge between the emergency management profession and whole community partners within the field of emergency management. It will combine training on emergency management with additional focus on risk reduction for a broad sector of hazards from public health, climate and national security risks.

FEMA continues to provide excellent training daily through our partners such as the Center for Domestic Preparedness, National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security and others. Visit FEMA National Disaster & Emergency Management University (NDEMU) to learn more about NDEMU.