Frequently Asked Questions

The Center of Excellence for Homeland Security-Emergency Management (CoE-HSEM) helps state community and technical colleges (CTC) prepare a skilled workforce to help maintain our national security, ensure an effective response to all-hazard events through education and training initiatives, and build disaster resilience in our communities.

Washington’s Centers of Excellence serve as statewide liaisons to business, industry, labor, and the education system, providing support for economic and workforce development. The Centers of Excellence grow and sustain Washington State’s economic advantage through statewide leadership. Each Center focuses on a targeted industry that drives the state’s economy and is built upon a reputation for fast, flexible, quality education and training programs. Centers are guided by industry representatives to lead collaborative and coordinated statewide education and training efforts to build a competitive workforce in a global economy.

No. The CoE-HSEM is a clearing house/resource center for business/industry sectors, education institutes and students. For example, the CoE-HSEM research, analyze and distribute to their partners the latest information specific to their driver industry (e.g. all-hazards emergency management). Sectors use that information to find ways to close skills gaps, expand training capacity, and incorporate best practices into education programs.

The Center serves as a liaison with business and industry to the CTC system faculty and administration. Public and private organizations and businesses receive technical assistance, expertise, information and research on current regional, state and national security and economic development initiatives and workforce trends.

The CoE-HSEM, along with the other ten Centers of Excellence, report to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. In 2009, Washington State became the first and only state in the nation to codify Centers of Excellence (COE) into state statute (HB 1323) under the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). The statute designated the Centers as statewide leaders in industry-specific community and technical college workforce education and training. The legislation states, “It is the role of Centers to employ strategies to create educational efficiencies; build a diverse, competitive workforce for strategic industries; maintain an institutional reputation for innovation and responsiveness; develop innovative curriculum and means of delivering education and training; act as a broker of information and resources related to community and technical college education and training for the targeted industry; and serve as partners with workforce development councils, associate development organizations, and other workforce and economic development organizations.”

Each Center receives $204,157 annually from the Washington State legislators, which gets distributed through the SBCTC.

Centers are hosted on campuses around the state. Hosting a Center of Excellence on a campus creates some unique challenges due to the industry’s focus of the Center’s work and the statewide leadership model. While Centers were initially designated as a result of the expertise and outstanding programs of an individual college, their roles have evolved to one representing the work of the entire community and technical college system as it pertains to a specific industry driving the state’s economy. As such, they are no longer “owned” by a particular campus, but rather, they are “owned” by the entire CTC system.

The Center promotes a large collection of pathway programs in the all-hazard emergency management field, such as degrees in:

• Criminal Justice
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Fire Services and Fire Command
• Cybersecurity
• Emergency Medical Services
• Homeland Security-Emergency Management

The CoE-HSEM continually looks for ways to improve what and how students learn. In addition to keeping curriculum current, the centers advocate for expanded apprenticeship opportunities, credit for prior learning, and industry-recognized credentials.

Host college means any community college in Washington state that is designated a Center of Excellence. This requires the host college to accommodate the Center’s needs such as fiducial overseeing, room and board, and other needs.