SRU partners with PA Volunteers to offer students emergency response experience
Slippery Rock University’s Homeland and Corporate Security Studies Department is providing certifications and experiences related to emergency response to its students through a partnership with Pennsylvania Volunteers Inc.
Oct. 24, 2019
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock University students are getting first-hand experience from people who train first responders. SRU's Homeland and Corporate Security Studies Department has partnered with Pennsylvania Volunteers Inc. to provide SRU students with training, certification and experiences related to emergency response.
PA Volunteers is a charitable organization based in Butler that supports first responders and emergency personnel. Through the partnership, SRU students majoring in homeland security and corporate security will receive training in class and in the field provided by PA Volunteers during the first two years of the program. Subjects will include shelter management, community emergency response team certification, medical points of dispensing and other aspects of community preparedness. Students will culminate their training with active involvement as volunteers with PA Volunteers during the first semester of their junior year.
"The members of PA Volunteers are excited about this opportunity," said Rich Wilson, co-founder and vice president/volunteer coordinator of PA Volunteers. "We fully support SRU's efforts to develop security-related professionals who are committed to helping first responders and volunteering in their communities."
Following the training phase, students will be eligible to take part in interagency exercises, multijurisdictional training sessions and be given the opportunity to network with representatives from emergency management agencies at the state and federal levels.
Jordan Guido, SRU instructor of homeland and corporate security studies, is serving as the coordinator of the program. Guido, a 2012 SRU graduate with a degree in political science, previously worked as the emergency management coordinator for the city of Fort Myers, Florida. She also developed the emergency management program for the city of Port Orange, Florida, prior to joining SRU.
"As an SRU graduate, I am thrilled to be able to give students the opportunity to pair their degree with real-world field experience so that they will have a greater competitive advantage when they enter the professional career phase of their lives," Guido said.
For more information about the Homeland and Corporate Security Studies Department at SRU, click here. For more information about PA Volunteers, visit pavolunteers.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zackal | 724.738.4854 | justin.zackal@sru.edu