10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Snooki

Snooki.

Lots of big news this morning:
  • Speaking of Morgan, here's the story of how his deal with CNN came about. (Deadline Hollywood)
  • Politico has hired its first opinion writers: Michael Kinsley (who it poached from The Atlantic) and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, who will keep his job with the network. (Politico)
  • Conde Nast's editorial director praised Kim France, the founding editor of Lucky, who the company just let go. (NYT)
  • Snooki pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace and the judge called her a "Linday Lohan wannabe." (Mediaite)

TOP ONLINE MBA

Emergency Management Degrees: U.S. University Excellence Centers


Emergency Management Degrees: U.S. University Excellence Centers

Aug 21, 2010 Shelley Aylesworth-Spink

The Centers began with the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Combined, Centers are found across the country with each designed to increase American’s understanding of various aspects of dangerous threats, such as explosives and biological attacks.

Since creation, the work of the Centers has grown into a range of degree programs and research endeavors related to homeland security and emergency management.

Homeland Security University Degrees Aim to Reduce Threats

The Center for Maritime, Island and Port Security, led by the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, works to strengthen maritime awareness and safeguard populations and properties unique to U.S. islands, ports, and remote and extreme environments.

At the University of Southern California, the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events develops advanced tools to evaluate the risks, costs and consequences of terrorism.

The Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, at the Michigan State University and Drexel University and established jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, examine gaps in risk assessments for decontaminating microbiological threats, such as plague and anthrax.

The National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, led by Texas A&M University, protects against the introduction of foreign animal and zoonotic diseases, which are those diseases transmitted from animals to humans.

Emergency Management University Degrees at Centers Focus on Personal Safety

The National Center for Food Protection and Defense, at the University of Minnesota, defends the safety and security of the food system.

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, led by the University of Maryland, informs decisions on how to disrupt terrorists and terrorist groups.

The National Center for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response, at Johns Hopkins University, works to prepare the U.S. for natural or man-made disasters.

The Center of Excellence for Awareness & Location of Explosives-Related Threats, led by Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Rhode Island, develops new means and methods to protect the U.S. from explosives-related threats.

The National Center for Border Security and Immigration, led by the University of Arizona in Tucson and the University of Texas at El Paso, are developing technologies, tools and advanced methods to balance immigration and commerce with border security.

Emergency Management Education Related to Natural and Man-Made Disasters

The Center for Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure, and Emergency Management, led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, examines how to safeguard populations, properties, and economies as it relates to the consequences of catastrophic natural disasters.

The National Transportation Security Center of Excellence is found at seven universities with each specializing in areas intended to research, develop or provide professional security training, including the training of transportation employees and transportation professionals.

The Center of Excellence in Command, Control and Interoperability, at Purdue University and Rutgers University, creates the scientific basis and technologies needed to analyze massive amounts of information from multiple sources in order to more reliably detect threats.

The 12 Centers of Excellence in the United States related to homeland security and emergency management are now a strong force of providing university degrees and advanced research across the country.

Copyright Shelley Aylesworth-Spink. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.


What do you think about this article?

TOP ONLINE MBA

Business Education: Who Gets to be an Authority?

Business Education: Who Gets to be an Authority?

February 8, 2010

By: Online MBA

The grassroots leader of the people vs the elected official. Rush Limbaugh vs the prize-winning economist. The best-seller vs the critics’ pick.

Each of these is an example of two types of authority, coming from two different places, and often at odds with each other. On the one hand, the popular, and on the other, the expert with the right credentials.

The Source of Authority

While both possess an authority, the path to get there is often quite different. Something becomes popular when it hits a nerve with a broad audience, but a person gains a credential by earning the respect of an instution or an industry.

Seth Godin is a great example of a popular authority. His work is compelling, inspirational, and though-provoking. He writes for the popular audience, and his books are regulars on the best-seller list.

The Harvard Business Review is an example of the other type of authority. You could plug anyone into that publication and people would be willing to take that person’s thoughts seriously as a default because the institution itself carries weight.

The Limits of Both Popular and Credentialed Authority

Each type of authority has its strengths, and each also carries an inherent limitation.

In the case of popular work, by definition it has to have mass appeal. This means it must be a relatively simple subject to gain broad appeal. It has to be accessible in its scope in order to be applicable to a massive swath of people. Finally, it has to leave the reader feeling optimistic and improved because being deflated and lost after a read is not a recipe for a best-seller.

By contrast, material that floats on the credentials of the author more than it’s popularity is free of much of these limitations. When you are considered an expert by other experts, it can be a badge of pride to produce something dense, narrow, and obtusely difficult as long as it stands up to the scrutiny of peer review. But this approach is weak where the popular work shines–it can easily become introverted, abstract, and even lifeless. And depending on how far down that path it goes, it’s possible for these authors to lose perspective on what problems are most in need of solving and for whom.

A Need for Both

I’ve set this up as a more cut and dry contrast than is actually the case to illustrate the point that there is a difference in the origin and the approach of these different kinds of authorities on business ideas. In reality, it’s not so drastically divided.

Popular works often have substance and credentialed experts often try to frame things from as accessible a perspective as possible. And there are also authors that have the charisma and the depth to achieve the acclaim of peers and the public alike.

But on the consumer end, we tend to find a comfort-zone and stay there. I’ve seen first-hand people who limit themselves only to one or the other of these types of resources, either thinking themselves too smart to read what’s popular or, at the opposite end, only reading what’s easy to access.

A balance of both makes it easier to challenge yourself intellectually while staying connected with the pragmatic concerns of staying inspired, motivated, and grounded.

TOP ONLINE MBA

7 Sites That Will Help You Get Hired

In Pictures: 11 Helpful Sites for Job Seekers

In Pictures: 11 Helpful Sites for Job Seekers

When it comes to careers, who doesn't need a little help? It's not just the 14.6 million unemployed, but the millions of employed who are stuck in comatose companies or dead-end jobs. While there are plenty of websites that have useful information for job seekers today, many people still look to the web largely to find job openings. Here are seven sites that stand out for their intelligence, niche, data, or usefulness, rather than their job listings:

Fistful of Talent: Reading the posts on this blog is like listening to a lunchroom full of human resources professionals, hiring managers, and recruiters talk about their likes, dislikes, and strategies. You'll learn things like how recruiters find candidates online, the kinds of questions they like, or their worries about the recruiting process. Sample tip: "A while ago, [SimplyHired] instituted a LinkedIn button. It used to be hidden under their 'more' options, but now it has a prominent display at the top of your job search results. So if I run a search for a recruiting job and connect my LinkedIn network I can quickly see who I 'know' at all of the companies that return posting results. And guess what? Now there's a Facebook button."

[See In Pictures: 11 great sites for job seekers.]

Seeking Alpha: This website graciously transcribes public companies' earnings conference calls. That allows you to brush up on all the crucial, timely details about the company you really want to work for, giving you the kind of insight that can elevate a cover letter or interview. The more you know a company, the more hiring managers will feel your pursuit is a targeted one. And they like to be targeted. If you were, say, applying for a job at J.M. Smucker, you could listen to their most recent conference call and learn that sales of their new premium jam—made of "the best fruit" and 100 percent sugar—are exceeding expectations, and that marketing spending this next fiscal year will match last year's record marketing spending. Whether it seems relevant to the position or not, building a foundation of up-to-date knowledge is critical.

Careers at Alltop: This aggregator of topical RSS feeds puts an army of well-known career bloggers (including U.S. News Outside Voices contributors) right in front of you. Career expert Anita Bruzzese might give you a lesson in how to network without hating it. Career coach Marty Nemko will teach you how to cope with self-loathing. The folks at Careerbuilder's Work Buzz blog will keep you updated on companies that are hiring. While you're there, you might check out other Alltop pages relevant to your work.

[Bookmark the U.S. News Careers page for more top job advice.]

CareerDiva: Eve Tahmincioglu describes her site as "the thinking man or woman's career blog." But even if you're not much of thinker, her advice will make you smarter, in part because she has her nose in the news. If you're short on time, just click on the "Getting Hired" tag. You'll find hundreds of posts to help you along, or answer some of the trickier questions of job hunting. For example, if you're wondering how to dress for an interview, you might consider removing or turning around the enormous rock on your finger. You'll look more serious.

Facebook: OK, this is more of an app than a site. But this site allows you to mix work with pleasure and mimic more natural and traditional styles of networking. Presumably, you have hundreds of friends all over the country and most of them have listed their current and past employers in their profiles, or "Info" tabs. If you use an application like that offered by SimplyHired, you'll be able to search for jobs where your friends work and ping them for extra information on the company, or ask for the name of the person who's hiring so you can contact them directly.

TOP ONLINE MBA

Houston Charter Sends 100 Percent of Grads to Four-Year Colleges

When Hurricane Ike struck Houston in September 2008, it dropped another hurdle in Samantha Marquez's path to college. Her mother lost her job at a storm-shuttered business, forcing Marquez to get a part-time job at Chuck E. Cheese's to help the family's finances. "We had to use the money we had been saving for college for just starting over," she says.

BRANDON THIBODEAUX--MJR FOR USN&WR

Hard times didn't stop YES Prep grad Samantha Marquez.

The late hours at the pizza parlor ate away at her time to study for the three Advanced Placement courses she was taking at YES Prep, an innovative Houston free public charter school that requires students to attend longer school days (7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), take some Saturday classes, and do community service. Marquez could have gone to a less demanding school, but YES Prep's track record made it worth the sweat. In the past 10 years, 100 percent of its graduates have been accepted to four-year colleges. Marquez was not about to break that track record. "I'm going to college," says the freshman at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. "A lot of my other friends can't say that."

[Read about top high schools with vast minority populations.]

The success rate would be remarkable for any public high school, but the composition of YES's student body makes the achievement even more extraordinary. More than 80 percent of students at YES Prep schools are from economically disadvantaged households, 90 percent will be the first in their families to attend college, and 95 percent are Hispanic or African-American. By traditional expectations, these are the students least likely to succeed in the classroom, much less enroll in highly selective universities such as Stanford, Yale, and Wake Forest. But through a rigorous academic course load and a hands-on approach to the college admissions process, YES Prep—which operates eight campuses in the Houston area—has proved it possible for nontraditional students to march off to the nation's elite college campuses.

After spending six years teaching in a Houston middle school (two through the Teach for America service program), Chris Barbic, YES Prep's founder and CEO, realized that even the most dedicated teachers have a limited impact. Academic skills a child picks up one year can be lost the next school year if the next teacher is not just as dedicated. "Year after year, you're by yourself working very hard just to have a great year for that kid," Barbic says. "That just wasn't enough to move the needle or give the kids what they needed."

So Barbic decided to start a charter school with smaller classes that would permit teachers to build relationships with students. "It's very small, so everybody knows each other and the teachers were available all of the time," says graduate Sussy Aguirre, 18, a freshman at Rice University in Houston.

[Review our Best Colleges rankings.]

But perhaps the real revolution Barbic created was the promise his schools made to the state of Texas as a requirement of their operating agreement: Every student from YES Prep (for Youth Engaged in Service) will go to a four-year college. "That was the guarantee we needed to hold the kids and ourselves accountable," Barbic says. A college acceptance letter is, in fact, a condition of graduation at YES Prep.

The charter's first school, the Southeast campus—which Marquez attended—opened its doors in 1998. It graduated its first senior class in 2001 (and currently ranks No. 68 in U.S. News's Best High Schools rankings).

TOP ONLINE MBA