Center’s Blog
Use this page to stay up-to-date on COVID-19, homeland security emergency management, campus safety, job resources, career pathways, upcoming webinars, scholarships, Washington State news and more.
Falling Backwards: How to Cope with Less Daylight
Falling Backwards: How to Cope with Less Daylight By Kellie Hale On the first Sunday of November, most Americans had their clocks turn back and gain an hour. Some people enjoy having an extra hour. However, I am not someone who does. I wouldn’t say I like losing that [...]
With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude: Thank You Veterans
With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude: Thank You Veterans Our Center would like to take a moment to thank and honor the men and women who serve and protect our country. This will be the first Veterans Day that we commemorate when our country is not in a war. It [...]
Interdependencies – November 2021
Interdependencies by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The 1950’s health crisis was a crippling and killer disease, polio, that parents feared every time their children complained of headaches, tiredness, stomach pain, etc. Once developed, polio vaccines were quickly embraced, administered in schools; that health crisis was abated. We [...]
Cybersecurity/Computer Apprenticeships
CYBERSECURITY/COMPUTER APPRENTICESHIPS Currently WA is showing 9953 cybersecurity job openings. Do you have an interest protecting digital privacy and infrastructure? Check out the following categories: Security Provision, Protect & Defend, Operate & Maintain, Oversee & Govern, Analyze, or Collect &. Each of these broad categories link to further job [...]
COVID-19 & Jobs: A Year Later
COVID-19 & Jobs: A Year Later For women, job burnout has become a reality. The rate of job burnout is rising much faster among women compared to men. It has been reported that 42% of women feel burnout, while men are reported at 35% of feeling burnout. This gap [...]
Cybersecurity Month: Be Cyber Smart
Cybersecurity Month: Be Cyber Smart “Our Nation is under a constant and ever-increasing threat from malicious cyber actors. Ransomware attacks have disrupted hospitals, schools, police departments, fuel pipelines, food suppliers, and small businesses — delaying essential services and putting the lives and livelihoods of Americans at risk. Any disruption, [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Dr. Amelia Phillips
Photo of Amelia Phillips Women in Leadership Profile: Dr. Amelia Phillips Many of us will say, “It isn’t rocket science!” to point out when a problem is laughingly easy compared to getting a rocket into space. But if you want to know more about what is rocket [...]
Time to Shake Up the Great American Shakeout? – October 2021
Time to Shake Up the Great American Shakeout? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Let there be no mistake: the Great American Shakeout is an excellent effort to raise awareness of the earthquake risk and the damage it could create. It is essential to raise awareness about the [...]
9/11/01-1/6/21 and Beyond – Is the Homeland Secure?
9/11/01-1/6/21 and Beyond - Is the Homeland Secure? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Unrelenting false claims of election fraud led to the attempt to violently overthrow the government of the United States on January 6, 2021. Sometimes it sucks to be prescient. In June 2020’s “Emergency Management [...]
9/11/01-1/6/21 and Beyond – Eroding Confidence in Government
9/11/01-1/6/21 and Beyond – Eroding Confidence in Government By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Although the 9/11 terrorists owed their success in some measure to poor coordination between federal government agencies, the feds “generously” sought to share responsibility for their lack of preparedness; protecting the “homeland” suddenly became [...]
9/11/01 -1/6/21 and Beyond
9/11/01 -1/6/21 and Beyond By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed On September 10, 2001, I naively thought I had enough problems on my plate. The new Bush Administration was attempting to redirect virtually every unallocated federally appropriated dollar to address “new” priorities (emergency managers may recall the assault [...]
Interview with Sarah Miller
Interview with Sarah Miller 1.) How does it feel to be the Interim Chair for the BAS HSEM Degree Program? Busy! Very, very busy! This was a very unexpected change that happened really close to the beginning of the term. Faculty had to be reassigned to new classes, [...]
Interview with YuVonne Bailey-Navarrette
Interview with YuVonne Bailey-Navarrette Where do you see the degree programs going in the next 3-5 years? We are currently launching an AAS-T that has been accepted by 3 BA programs, Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Fire Service Leadership and Management, and Paramedicine. By developing this AAS-T students [...]
Interview with Ron May
Interview with Ron May By Linda Crerar Back in June, I interviewed Ron May, Dean of Health and Technology at Pierce College. It was great talking with Ron about the EMS and Fire degree programs. He provided incredible insight and knowledge about the degree program’s plans and goals, [...]
9/11 Remembrance – Continuing to Honor Our First Responders
9/11 Remembrance – Continuing to Honor Our First Responders By Kellie Hale Where were you that September day? For me, I was getting ready for school. I was only in my second week of high school, so I was around 14 years old at the time. As I [...]
September: National Preparedness Month – Prepare to Protect
September: National Preparedness Month – Prepare to Protect “The theme of this year’s National Preparedness Month is “Prepare to Protect.” During the past year, natural disasters have sent our communities into turmoil, and we have seen the particularly devastating toll they take on disadvantaged, low-income communities and people [...]
Center of Excellence – HSEM : Subcommittee Highlights
Center of Excellence – HSEM : Subcommittee Highlights Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) An integral part of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion project for the Center of Excellence for Homeland Security & Emergency Management. The goal is to develop student experiential learning opportunities by developing a [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Tiffany Brown
Women in Leadership Profile: Tiffany Brown Women in Leadership Profile: Tiffany Brown What if you found the perfect role for yourself, working in a field you were passionate about, grateful to serve your community as a behind the scenes leader who many people might not even know about? [...]
Access and Functional Needs Statement
Access and Functional Needs Statement We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Tieka Adeogun
Women in Leadership Profile: Tieka Adeogun Tieka has an impressive stack of certificates from FEMA courses. She can tell you about Incident Command. She knows how to build and evaluate exercises. Her experience in the field, and the degrees she’s earned, mean she’s ready to respond to a [...]
2021-22 Work Plan Activities
2021-22 Work Plan Activities Activity #1: Provide Leadership and Guidance That Aligns w/SBCTC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Vision and Goals– Recovering and Eliminating Systemic Racism and Implicit Bias Center working with its Advisory Board has adopted program goals that will help the SBCTC system identify, integrate, apply, [...]
Highlights for 2020-2021
Highlights for 2020-2021 Expansion and Diversification of our Advisory Board Our Center’s primary goal for the 2020-2021 year was to create practical ways to enhance diversity and inclusion in our all-hazard career pathways. As a result, we expanded and diversified our Advisory Board to include members representing our [...]
What Now? – June 2021
What Now? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed We must have an unflinching but hopeful and constructive post – COVID assessment. Can one prepare a useful and truthful COVID -19 after-action report to spur national planning for the next pandemic in our volatile political climate? How to minimize [...]
A Commencement Address to Graduates in Emergency Management
A Commencement Address to Graduates in Emergency Management Congratulations! You have completed a step most of your future colleagues have never done - achieving formal academic training in your chosen profession before entering it. As a result, you know a fair amount about the issues and challenges many [...]
Juneteenth is Recognized as a Federal Holiday!
Juneteenth is Recognized as a Federal Holiday! *Taken from the Chancellor and Presidents of Pierce College This week, Congress passed a bill to make Juneteenth the nation's 12th federal holiday. Starting in 2022, Washington state will also recognize Juneteenth as an official state holiday and day off [...]