***Emergency Management Institute***

*"A 58-Year Legacy of Training and Education in Emergency Management"*

***History***

*In 1979, President Jimmy Carter formed the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) by consolidating several government organizations. That
same year Congress appropriated funds to transfer the Civil Defense
Staff College (CDSC) and United States Fire Administration (USFA) and
National Fire Academy (NFA) into FEMA.*

*The Civil Defense Program (CDP) had been established in 1947 under the
Department of Defense. Training was first offered under this authority
in the spring of 1951 at three federal facilities. In 1954, CDSC was
founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, as a national adult resident training
center under CDP to administer the civil defense training program. At
the time of transfer to FEMA, the CDSC was re-designated as the
Emergency Management Institute (EMI) to reflect its new and
significantly broader mission to train and educate the nation's
emergency management community.*

*In June of 1809, Elizabeth Bayley Seton (later canonized as the first
American Saint) had arrived in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and established the
first parochial school for girls in the United States. Over the years,
that school grew to include Saint Joseph College, a four-year liberal
arts college for women. In 1973, Saint Joseph College closed its doors
and merged its students and faculty with Mount Saint Mary's University,
formerly a liberal arts men's college located two miles south on highway
U.S. 15.*

*Saint Joseph College facilities were purchased by FEMA in 1979 with
funding from Congress for the specific purpose of housing EMI, USFA, and
NFA in suitable facilities. Since 1979, EMI continues to share the
107-acre campus with USFA and NFA. Collectively the campus is designated
the National Emergency Training Center (NETC). CDSC funded its move and
the major renovation needed to open required buildings for EMI on this
campus. During transition, EMI held classes in temporary facilities
until its renovations were completed and officially opened its doors on
the new campus in early 1981. Additionally, major upgrades to the NETC
campus occurred from 1991 through 1995 from Congressional
appropriations.*

*EMI and NFA are managed independently with unique student audiences and
curricula for the emergency management and national fire communities.
EMI and NFA have collaborated on curricula and programs since their
inception.*

***Present Day***

*Today EMI is accomplishing its mission of improving the competencies of
United States officials at all levels of government to prevent, prepare
for, respond to and recover from, and mitigate the potential effects of
disasters and emergencies. EMI promotes integrated emergency management
principles and practices through application of the National Response
Framework, National Incident Management System, and an all hazards
approach. EMI is the lead national emergency management training,
exercising, and education institution.*

*EMI offers a full spectrum emergency management curriculum with more
than 400 courses available to the integrated emergency management
community, which includes: FEMA staff and disaster employees; Federal
partners; State, Tribal, and local emergency managers; volunteer
organizations; and first responders from across the Nation. EMI supports
international emergency management with more than 50 countries
participating in EMI's training and educational activities through the
years, both in residence and through internationally deployed training
teams.*

*EMI also enjoys close relations with several nationally recognized
professional emergency management and related organizations and has
interfaced with them through training, conferences, and exercises. Some
of these significant organizations include the International Association
of Emergency Managers (IAEM), National Emergency Management Association
(NEMA), Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM), American
Public Works Association (APWA), American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE), and American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM). EMI is
fully accredited by the International Association for Continuing
Education and Training (IACET) and the American Council on Education
(ACE). In 1997, EMI was awarded the W. Edwards Deming Outstanding
Training Award by the United States Department of Agriculture Graduate
School at the Excellence in Government Conference. This annual award is
presented to an organization for an impressive workforce development and
training initiative that has measurably improved their organization's
performance.*

*In 2007, EMI delivered 514 resident courses at the NETC campus training
14,565 individual students. The EMI Independent Study (IS) Program, a
Web-based distance learning program open to the public, delivered
extensive online training from 62 courses and trained more than 2.8
million individuals. The EMI IS Web site receives 2.5 to 3 million
visitors a day. Nineteen new courses were added to the curriculum this
past year alone. EMI has provided technical support to dozens of other
Federal government agencies and State offices on advanced distributed
learning technology development and application. The IS program also
hosts training for related Federal agencies.*

*A vital asset to FEMA's disaster operations is the Disaster Field
Training Operation (DFTO), implemented by EMI. In 2007 alone, the DFTO
trained 24,950 disaster response employees and volunteers directly at
disaster sites throughout the United States.*

*EMI conducts three national level conferences. The Institute is the
host to the National Preparedness Annual Training and Exercise
Conference held in May and attended by Regional Training Managers, State
Training Officers and Exercise Training Officers, State Administrative
Authority Officials, and subject matter experts from a broad sector of
the preparedness community. The EMI Higher Education Conference is held
the first week in June for more than 300 college and university
officials with current or developing programs in emergency management
and hosts up to 70 separate discussion groups. The Dam Safety Conference
held in February is attended by dam safety officials, hydrologists,
engineers, and reclamation officials.*

*For further information on EMI programs and to access training,
exercise, and application information, visit
[[www.training.fema.gov]{.underline}](http://www.training.fema.gov/)*.