The Institute for Biosecurity is proud to announce that our first group of students is graduating from the MS in Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness program. The first students will graduate in May, 2007 and many more are scheduled to graduate in August and December.

The program has undergone many changes during its first years of existence as we aim to standardize the curriculum, keep abreast of changes in the disaster planning field, maximize the technological support systems, and enhance students’ learning through innovative approaches to teaching. We have revised the curriculum slightly using a core competency-based approach. We have and continue to elicit student feedback on class content and program structure. Student feedback is used to continuously improve the program to maximize student learning. We appreciate the patience the early students exhibited while the program has undergone some “growing pains”.  

One faculty member found it both exciting and a little sad to see our first group of students graduate. "We have watched the students grow and develop into true disaster planners who display strong critical thinking skills and the knowledge necessary to make our world a safer place to live. We also hope that our graduating students will stay in contact with us and continue to enlighten us on changes in disaster planning as they enter the next phase of their careers."

Their input will help us continue to improve the MS and MPH programs for incoming students as well as provide mentors for our current students. The past few years have been an exciting time for all of us and we look forward to the future.