OREM — The phrase "homeland security" may be common among government officials, but several educators want to hear it more on college campuses.

"We need to start studying some of these issues a little more," said Curtis Call, marketing director for the Institute of Emergency Services and Homeland Security at Utah Valley State College. "One place to do that is in the colleges and universities."

Educators and administrators presented course schedules and ideas from their respective schools during a two-day Homeland Security and Defense Education Western Conference at UVSC that ended Thursday.

Utah Valley State College is in its second year of offering an online bachelor's degree in public emergency services management.

After taking classes in leadership, public administration, disaster and emergency management, grant and proposal writing, and budgeting and finance, graduates are well prepared for new jobs or advancements in current jobs, Call said.

Most students are already working in homeland security, law enforcement, fire, police or medical and are coming back to school for more specialized education.

"The idea behind the degree is to expose you to what you're going to be exposed to when you get that job promotion," Call said.

The program is online, because it would be nearly impossible for a firefighter or police officer to take time out of his or her schedule to sit in a classroom.

Right now, there are 200 students registered for the degree, working through semester-based classes each crammed into 7 1/2 weeks, said Jeff Maxfield, department chairman of the Emergency Services Department.

Steve Recca, director of the Center for Homeland Security from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs campus, said the answer to keeping a community "as ready as possible to help themselves" is "tying education to community solutions," he said.

The better informed individuals are, the more they can offer their communities.

The Laramie County Community College in Wyoming also offers an associate of science degree and certificate program.

Core classes include introduction to homeland security, homeland security and school safety, and terrorism and counterterrorism.

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