Jessica Jensen, assistant professor of emergency management, facilitated a focus group for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Higher Education Program Sept. 11-12 at the Emergency Management Institute.

The purpose of the group was to help leaders in emergency management higher education explore characteristics of the emerging academic area. The two-day discussion and debate resulted in a group consensus as to emergency management’s disciplinary purview and disciplinary responsibilities related to education and research. They also discussed a set of basic research questions.

NDSU was the first institution to offer a doctoral degree in emergency management. “NDSU is known as one of the top two programs in the field,” Jensen said. “Our department is considered a leader in the effort to formalize an academic discipline of emergency management.”

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.