Graduate Certificate Program

Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management and Sustainability

The Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management and Sustainability is a 12-hour fully online which provides new professional development to current working professionals in public safety, private security, law enforcement, and other professions which are related to disaster and emergency management. The certificate provides opportunities for students and professionals to acquire new professional knowledge and develop essential skills to fulfill their professional responsibilities. Students can complete the program in one academic calendar year by successfully completing two courses per semester. Students who have completed this certificate program can apply to continue their study in MA in Disaster Studies program and the 12 credits could be used toward the master degree.

Admission Requirements

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To be admitted to the program, prospective candidates must first meet all requirements for graduate admission to UT Rio Grande Valley, as well as the other requirements listed below:

Undergraduate degree from any major
Undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 60 semester credit hours. If applicant does not meet minimum undergraduate GPA criterion, the GRE general test score is required for conditional admission. GRE test scores are valid for 5 years.

Application for admission must be submitted prior to the published deadline. The application is available at utrgv.edu/gradapply.

For more information on the degree plan see the embedded iframe or view the smart catalog on this link: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - Disaster Studies (MA) (smartcatalogiq.com)

Courses

Core Courses (6 credits)

SOCI 6333: Principles of Emergency Management
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency and Sustainability

Elective Courses (6 credits)

SOCI 6331: Disasters and Society
SOCI 6334: Disaster Vulnerability
SOCI 6335: Environmental Sociology
SOCI 6336: Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness

Course Descriptions

Core Courses (6 credits)

SOCI 6333 Principles of Emergency Management

The course provides an overview of key emergency management activities, organizations, and institutions with a focus on emergency response, planning, mitigation, and recovery.

SOCI 6377 Disaster Resiliency and Sustainability

This course introduces theories of disaster resilience which provide principle knowledge of building resilience; transformation of the theories into best practices in four phases of disaster management process, namely mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery; interrelation of disaster resilience and the sustainable development goals (SDGs); and emerging issues in adopting best practices for building disaster resilience and sustainability.

Elective Courses (6 credits)

SOCI 6331 Disaster and Society

The course examines the relationship between disasters and society from a sociological perspective. Key themes involve preparedness, warning response, mitigation, social vulnerability, long and short term recovery, and international hazard management.

SOCI 6334 Disaster Vulnerability

The course covers major demographic theories of individual and community vulnerability to disaster. It is intended to provide students with a general understanding of patterns of resilience and vulnerability among and between different social groups.

SOCI 6335 Environmental Sociology

Throughout the course students will be challenged to think about how the structural and cultural elements of society shape environmental change. The overall goal of the course is to foster an understanding and appreciation of the influence of our collective lives on the natural world.

SOCI 6336 Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness

The course provides a summary of techniques and strategies used by emergency organizations used to mitigate and prepare for natural and technological hazards. A focus is maintained on how emergency managers communicate, acquire resources and funds, and manage staff in organizational environments.

Course Schedule

Year 1: Fall (Semester 1)

SOCI 6377 Disaster Resiliency and Sustainability
Elective course

Year 1: Spring (Semester 2)

SOCI 6333 Principles of Emergency Management
Elective course

Course Schedule Plan As of April 2022

(Courses are subject to change)

Fall 2022

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Donner)
SOCI 6301: Social Theory (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6310: Social Change (Ryabov)
SOCI 6331: Disasters & Society (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6331: Disasters & Society (Kyne)
SOCI 6335: Environmental Sociology (Wladyka)
SOCI 6361: Race & Ethnic Relations (Restifo)
SOCI 6364: Gender (Bostic)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency & Sustainability (Espinoza)

Spring 2023

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6304: Research Capstone (Espinoza)
SOCI 6306: Multi Regression Analysis (Restifo)
SOCI 6312: Teaching Sociology (Lomeli)
SOCI 6326: Health Research and Policy (Ryabov)
SOCI 6332: GIS - Disaster Management (Kyne)
SOCI 6333: Principle Emergency Management (Espinoza)
SOCI 6334: Disaster Vulnerability (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6350: Sociology of Education (Bostic)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency/Sustainability (Kyne)

Summer 2023

SOCI 6301: Social Theory (I or II)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (I or II)
SOCI 6333: Principle Emergency Management (I or II)
SOCI 6334: Disaster Vulnerability (I or II)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency & Sustainability (I & II)

Fall 2023

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Donner)
SOCI 6301: Social Theory (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6331: Disasters & Society (Kyne)
SOCI 6335: Environmental Sociology (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6336: Disaster Mitigation & Preparedness. (Wladyka)
SOCI 6344: Social Demography (Ryabov)
SOCI 6350: Sociology of Education (Bostic)
SOCI 6361: Race & Ethnic Relations (Restifo)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency & Sustainability (Espinoza)

Spring 2024

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6304: Research Capstone (Espinoza)
SOCI 6306: Multi Regression Analysis (Restifo)
SOCI 6312: Teaching Sociology (Lomeli)
SOCI 6326: Health Research and Policy (Ryabov)
SOCI 6332: GIS - Disaster Management (Kyne)
SOCI 6333: Principle Emergency Management (Espinoza)
SOCI 6334: Disaster Vulnerability (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6364: Gender (Bostic)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency/Sustainability (Kyne)

Summer 2024

Fall 2024

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Donner)
SOCI 6301: Social Theory (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6310: Social Change (Ryabov)
SOCI 6331: Disasters & Society (Kyne)
SOCI 6335: Environmental Sociology (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6336: Disaster Mitigation & Preparedness. (Wladyka)
SOCI 6350: Sociology of Education (Bostic)
SOCI 6361: Race & Ethnic Relations (Restifo)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency & Sustainability (Perez-Lugo)

Spring 2025

SOCI 6300: Statistics (Ruiz)
SOCI 6302: Research Methods (Wladyka)
SOCI 6304: Research Capstone (Espinoza)
SOCI 6306: Multi Regression Analysis (Restifo)
SOCI 6312: Teaching Sociology (Lomeli)
SOCI 6326: Health Research and Policy (Ryabov)
SOCI 6332: GIS - Disaster Management (Kyne)
SOCI 6333: Principle Emergency Management (Espinoza)
SOCI 6334: Disaster Vulnerability (Perez-Lugo)
SOCI 6364: Gender (Bostic)
SOCI 6377: Disaster Resiliency/Sustainability (Kyne)

Summer 2025

Coming soon.

Disaster Studies Program Department of Sociology