MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Emergency and Disaster Management (EDM) Program invites Northwest students, employees and community members to participate in its free Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) training in April.

Training will be conducted in Room 1150 of the Garrett-Strong Science Building as well as other University facilities. 

Training dates are as follows:

Thursday, April 16, 6-10 p.m.

Friday, April 17, 6-10 p.m.

Saturday, April 18, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, April 19, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

The C-CERT program is a 24-hour Federal Emergency Management Agency course designed to educate citizens about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their communities. The program trains participants in basic disaster response skills, including fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.

Using training learned in the classroom and during exercises, C-CERT participants can assist others in their neighborhood, campus or workplace when professional responders are not immediately available to help.

C-CERT trainers include Dr. Mark Corson, professor of geography, and Matthew Johnson, instructor of history, at Northwest. In addition to teaching courses within the EDM program, Corson and Johnson are founding members of Northwest’s EDM program and have extensive experience in conducting disaster response training in locations including Florida and The Republic of Macedonia.

EDM students are encouraged to take C-CERT training to fulfill their requirement of 36-491 Field Experience and can register for academic credit by contacting Johnson. To register for Northwest’s spring 2015 CERT training click here.

The Emergency and Disaster Management major uses a multi-disciplinary approach to study crisis, drawing from courses and faculty in Geography, Psychology, Social Sciences and Communications. While half the class work involves a crisis management core, electives provide flexibility so that students can tailor the major to their individual and specific academic and professional needs.

For more information, contact Corson at mcorson@nwmissouri.edu or Johnson at mjohnso@nwmissouri.edu. For more information about C-CERT training, visit www.citizencorps.gov/cert.