page_title: Emergency Management Institute
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Emergency Management Institute / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Jimmy Carter's presidential photograph
context_page_description: The Emergency Management Institute of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency serves as the national focal point for the development and delivery of emergency management training to enhance the capabilities of state, territorial, local, and tribal government officials; volunteer organizations; FEMA's disaster workforce; other Federal agencies; and the public and private sectors to minimize the impact of disasters and emergencies on the American public. EMI curricula are structured to meet the needs of this diverse audience with an emphasis on separate organizations working together in all-hazards emergencies to save lives and protect property. Particular emphasis is placed on governing doctrine such as the National Response Framework, National Incident Management System, and the National Preparedness Guidelines. EMI is fully accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training and the American Council on Education. The instruction is based upon the principles of Emergency Management and instructional systems design, which create a framework within whole communities to reduce vulnerability to hazards and to cope with disasters.
context_section_description: EMI first started as the Civil Defense Staff College (CDSC) in Olney, Maryland, on April 1, 1951, and taught civil defense courses in program administration and finance, radiation monitoring and control, and heavy rescue. Due to concerns during the Cold War the CDSC's parent organization, the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), under Administrator Val Peterson, saw the Presidential Order to move the FCDA and the CDSC to Battle Creek, Michigan, to remove them from the increasing Cold War threat of Washington, DC, being attacked.
  The CDSC continued teaching courses in program administration and finance, civil defense operations, and radiological monitoring among others, to State and local personnel, but by 1979, some new courses had been created on natural disaster operations. By this point in time, the FCDA came under the Department of Defense and was re-titled the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (DCPA).
  In 1979, then President Jimmy Carter brought together a number of Federal agencies that had involvement in disasters, including DCPA, and created a new, amalgamated organization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also in 1979, President Carter dedicated the former St. Joseph's College, which closed with its merger of participants and faculty with Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as the FEMA National Emergency Training Center (NETC). NETC then became the home for the National Fire Academy (NFA) and the renamed Staff College which become the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), to reflect its now broader training role. The move from Battle Creek, Michigan, to Emmitsburg was done in the Fall of 1980 and the first EMI class was conducted in January 1981.
  EMI and NFA are managed independently with unique participant audiences and curricula for the emergency management and national fire communities. EMI and NFA have collaborated on curricula and programs since their inception, and share in the cost of operation of NETC. In 2011, EMI celebrated its 60th Anniversary and Legacy of Emergency Management Training and Education for the United States.
caption: President Jimmy Carter
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