Bush School of Government & Public Service
Homeland Security and Homeland Defense
INTA 602 – Spring 2011
Course Description: The course examined the strategy for homeland defense and civil support, DOD policy and doctrine, along with numerous scholarly articles focusing on homeland security. The course explored the traditional and expanding role of DOD capabilities related to homeland defense and the potential for utilization in the US, Mexico, and Canada. Significant class time was focused on the Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support.
My Final Paper: Analysis of U.S. Policy and Strategy Concerning Homeland Security
Paper Summary: The final project explores how, in many ways, the policy and strategy of the United States prior to September 11, 2001, was disjointed. Systems and procedures were in place to prevent attacks, but little was written into our national policy or strategy to detect or prevent a catastrophic attack. Various parts of our national government were involved in tracking and attempting to eliminate threats posed by al Qaeda. However, the actions were not based on a national strategy, and only vague policies existed across different agencies. The paper examines how in the months and years after the 9/11 attacks, our nation re-aligned it’s national strategy and policy towards the goals of detecting, preventing, and reducing the impact of another catastrophic terrorist attack.
Emergency Management and Homeland Security
INTA 639 – Summer 2011
Course Description: The course examined the strategy for homeland defense and civil support, DOD policy and doctrine, along with numerous scholarly articles focusing on homeland security. The course explored the traditional and expanding role of DOD capabilities related to homeland defense and the potential for utilization in the US, Mexico, and Canada. Significant class time was focused on the Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support.
My Final Paper: Hurricane Alex and the Widespread Flooding of the Texas Rio Grande Valley
Paper Summary: Hurricane Alex caught many communities off guard because of their location inland from the coast and their lack of preparations as the hurricane approached. South Texas emergency managers and responders were able to implement valuable lessons learned in Southeast Texas, which is nearly 300 miles from Galveston County, where Ike made landfall. The paper provided an overview of the storm and examined pre-landfall preparedness efforts, response operations, recovery efforts and lessons learned from the overall response effort.
Weapons of Mass Destruction
INTA 619 – Fall 2011
Course Description: The course explored the threats that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) pose to the U.S. and its interests along with the strategies to meet those threats. The course examined current policy and strategy and analyze their effectiveness. We were able to draw conclusions about the threats, critique U.S. policy, and develop recommendations given political and societal realities. The course provided an initial examination of unique security challenges associated with weapons of mass destruction and a majority of the course lessons examined the specific characteristics of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, as well as the threat vectors (state and non-state) associated with these weapons.
My Final Paper: WMD Attacks in the Texas Brazos Valley
Paper Summary: The paper reviews the potential for a WMD attack in the Bryan and College Station area. The location of Texas A&M University, a Tier I research university in this area, provides terrorists with a number of nuclear and biological laboratories that could be attractive targets for an attack. The paper examines the vulnerabilities of those facilities and potential impact on the local civilian population.
Homeland Security Policies, Strategies, and Operations
PSAA 605 – Spring 2012
Course Description: The course provided an in-depth examination of selected national and international homeland security policies, strategies, and strategic operations. In addition to a national context, the course covered the international approaches and the environment in which the United States and other nations determine and execute their homeland security policies and actions.
My Final Paper: The QDRR in Perspective: Reviewing America’s National and Homeland Security Needs
Paper Summary: The paper reviews how the QDRR was originally conceived and how the process was supposed to be all-encompassing, with the initiative and analysis proceeding from within the DOD and flowing upwards. The point of the QDRR was to allow the Department of Defense to think outside the box--without the constraints of existing assumptions--and to refresh the intellectual approach to national security. In my paper, I examined the most current QDRR, with a focus on how it supported the Homeland Security mission and defense support of civil authorities (DSCA).
Fundamentals of Homeland Security
INTA 656 – Fall 2012
Course Description: This course examined the concepts, strategies, organizations, policies, processes, and challenges in homeland security in the United States. The course addressed the broad range of homeland security risks including terrorism, both foreign and domestic-based, as well as other intentional acts, accidents, and natural disasters. The course examined the continuum of activities in the homeland security spectrum of preventing, protecting against, preparing for, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from the full range of risks.
My Terrorist Scenario Paper: Simultaneous Explosive Attacks on Downtown Dallas
My Final Paper: City of Memphis and an 8.0 New Madrid Earthquake
Paper Summary: The terrorist scenario paper explored the effects and subsequent response operations to simultaneously detonated Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) in the downtown Dallas area. The final paper was an examination of the significant challenges faced by Urban Search and Rescue task forces responding to a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered near Memphis, TN.
Quantitative Methods in Public Management
BUSH 631 – Fall 2013
Course Description: The course introduced students to basic tools of quantitative analysis necessary to informed public management decision making. Gained experience with data collection, analysis, and interpretation through practical application to a variety of public service problems and challenges. The course required students to learn to use the STATA statistical software with practical exercises to gain practical knowledge and experience.
Grant and Contract Management
PSAA 636 – Spring 2014
Course Description: The course examined the use of grants to provide social services. Skills needed to write effective grant proposals were developed through an individual grant writing project. The project required research of the social issues, examination of budget requirements, and a proposal that included a performance assessment plan to evaluate how well the program met the grantors expectations.
My Final Project: Small Community Search and Rescue Canine Handler Scholarship Program
Project Summary: The final project was a proposal providing justification for seeking grant funds to sponsor a scholarship assistance program designed to help rural jurisdictions across the country send canine handlers to Disaster City to receive life-saving training. The proposal called for developing a committee that would seek out grant funding from foundations that would support one canine handler for a week of training at Disaster City, to include tuition, travel, meals and lodging. The overall goal was to secure funding for ten canine handlers per year.
Public Policy Formation
PSAA 611 – Spring 2014
Course Description: Examined public policy formation processes in the United States, with an emphasis on national government. Used analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making to fulfill intensive reading and writing requirements. Synthesized readings about issues and theories to prepare policy briefs, reading reviews, issue papers and analysis papers.
The Group Paper: The Case for Legalization of Medical Marijuana in Texas
Paper Summary: The final project recommended that the Texas Legislature legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Research demonstrated that marijuana has medicinal value and can help in the treatment of a number of chronic conditions and terminal illnesses ranging from anxiety to anorexia. Moreover, legalizing marijuana for medical purposes can help reduce costs associated with the enforcement of marijuana prohibition, and create a regulated market, thereby resulting in the generation of new revenue streams and new jobs. Providing well-written regulations will mitigate the risks while bolstering the economy, stimulating job growth, and providing new avenues of treatment for individuals with a number of terminal illnesses and conditions.
Public Service Nonprofit Consulting Research Capstone
PSAA 675 – Fall 2014 and Spring 2015
Course Description: Courses provided a two-semester capstone experience for students as they operate in teams to address an important policy and administrative issue. Students drew on the coursework and experiences of their two year graduate school education to develop specific recommendations for design, implementation, and evaluation of this project task.
Our Research Project: Healthy Discussions - A Community Assessment and Healthcare Gap Analysis of Four Border Counties
To review the research project, click here.
Public Management
PSAA 634 – Spring 2015
Course Description: The course addressed the critical aspects of public management, the role of management in the public sector and the tools public managers need to be effective. The course examines the challenges faced by public managers from the managerial, political, legal, and market/entrepreneurial perspectives.
My Paper: Setting Realistic Measurement in Emergency Management
Paper Summary: The paper examined the challenge of setting realistic measurements and evaluation of performance of a profession whose primary responsibility is to manage disasters. The management of disasters is a vexing problem associated with high uncertainty as to system components and outcome. The paper included discussion of the quantitative vs. qualitative measurement of peer organizations and, thus, the need for peer evaluation set by a boundary organization.
Foundations of the Nonprofit Sector
PSAA 643 – Summer 2015
Course Description: The course provides overview of the origins, size, scope and composition of the nonprofit and voluntary sector in American society today. The course is an introduction to the historical, political and religious foundations of the nonprofit sector and it examines theoretical and conceptual frameworks of nonprofit organizations.
My Paper: Recommendations to Fund Housing with Grant Matching Funds
Paper Summary: The paper provided an analysis of the availability of low-income housing in two Texas cities, with recommendations for grant-match funding in order to increase access to low-income housing.
Program Evaluation
PSAA 630 – Summer 2014
Course Description: The course examined the theories, research, and practice from program evaluation to systems that support an organization's information needs. The course requires students to propose a theory about how some portion of a public or nonprofit organization's program performs and how the social world operates and then construct a research-based program evaluation proposal and statistical analysis and reasoning. Students utilize lessons learned from case studies, surveys, interviews, participant observations, case records, experimental and quasi-experimental design methods along with logic models to evaluate both public and nonprofit programs.
My Final Paper: A Program Evaluation of Habitat for Humanity of Bryan/College Station
Paper Summary: The paper identified a strategy to survey families in Bryan/College Station in four distinct focus groups. The family selection and review process was evaluated for effectiveness and a sampling plan was developed to determine if non-selected families were appropriately screened out. Intervention groups and control groups were identified and an experimental design model of a pre-test/post-test control group was utilized. Additionally, threats to internal and external validity were identified.
Management and Leadership in Nonprofit
PSAA 644 – Summer 2014
Course Description: The course examined the various topics of management and leadership that can be utilized in nonprofit organizations and understanding the environment they operate in. The course reviews the distinctiveness of nonprofits and the special skills required for effective management as well as the empirical and normative issues surrounding nonprofit management and leadership.
My Final Paper: A Management and Leadership Evaluation of the Appalachian Mountain Club
Paper Summary: The paper identified the need for evidence-based management analysis of nonprofits. The Appalachian Mountain Club was challenged by the resource market, resulting in recommended changes to the organization's strategic leadership.
Economic Analysis
PSAA 621 – Fall 2015
Course Description: The course provided an overview of micro-economic analysis of consumers, firms, and markets. The course examined how to use economic tools to evaluate economic welfare and public policy to include the tools for understanding consumer behavior, firm behavior and the government's role in the economy. Macroeconomic analysis of growth and stabilization policies were also discussed and practiced. Together the tools and methods created an understanding of the government's role in the economy.
Budgeting in Public Service
PSAA 623 – Fall 2015
Course Description: Course was designed to introduce students to selected topics in public administration and political science literature on the politics of public finance and budgeting. The course introduced the practice of budgeting by learning language and issues common to budgeting in government. Accounting principles and budgeting tools were discussed and practiced including gap analysis, trends, proportions, and budget forecasting. The course proved exercise and reading intensive and required information to be synthesized and applied into practical application.