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Virginia takes lead in homeland security education and
jobs
Virginia Business
January 2005
By
design and geography, the Old Dominion is already a
major player in the homeland security arena, but that
profile got even higher in recent months with the development
of a new education program and plenty of new jobs.
Virginia
Commonwealth University (VCU) announced that it will
begin offering an undergraduate degree in homeland security
studies, one of the first such comprehensive educational
offerings in the country. Course work will cover such
subjects as political terrorism, emergency planning
and incident management, and risk and vulnerability
assessment. Classes are expected to begin next fall.
William Parrish, a former senior official with the Department
of Homeland Security, will head up the program. So far,
he says, “the response has been tremendous.”
Soon after VCU’s announcement, Gov. Mark R. Warner
announced that four Virginia companies — SAIC,
SRA International, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers and Booz
Allen Hamilton — plan to add a total of 11,115
homeland security-related jobs during the next five
years to help them complete newly won federal contracts.
The expansions, which will involve a capital investment
of $351 million, bring the number of homeland security
and defense sector jobs added in Virginia since the
2001 terrorist attacks to 35,000.
Taken together, the developments are an indication of
the prominent role that education and business will
play in winning the war on terror, Parrish says. He
expects the private sector to be a major recruiter of
graduates with homeland security degrees. He adds that
recruitment will not be confined to companies in the
market for lucrative government contracts. “Everyone
has to do their part,” he says. “And businesses
have a particularly important responsibility.”
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Business - January 2005 |
