About the Fire Service Management Program

History

ASU Fire Service Programs was established in 1998. The first degree that was approved was the Bachelor of Applied Science in Fire Service Management. The program began with six students and was quickly followed by a cohort of about 16 students at the Tucson Public Safety Training Academy in Tucson, AZ. While the BAS degree began to grow a Master of Science Degree in Fire Administration was approved in 2000. The graduate program got under way in 2001 and soon grew to a dozen students.

As the programs grew students requested that courses be made available in locations other than Tucson. Classrooms were found in Flagstaff, Peoria, downtown Phoenix, to compliment courses offered at the ASU Polytechnic (formerly ASU East) campus and in Tucson. Class semesters where reduced to 12 weeks from 16 weeks to better accommodate a firefighters schedule in 2001. By 2002 we were offering hybrid courses so students would not have to travel as often to attend the face-to-face meetings. Fire hybrid courses met every other week and the internet supported the weeks that students did not attend class.

By 2005 we had to hire another full-time faculty member to handle the increasing number of students. Eventually fully online courses were offered to Arizona students that were still not able to travel to one of the five physical locations. This also made ASU accessible to out-of-state students. Today a student can complete all of the programs completely online and as a result we have grown considerable and enjoy students from a variety of locations throughout the world. Our first international student from Taiwan student graduated with an MST in Fire Service Administration. We have had students from Kuwait, Antarctica, North Carolina, California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Ohio, just to name a few. Our programs continue to grow and we plan to hire another professor soon.

 

Vision

The vision of ASU's Polytechnic campus Fire Service Programs is to be a "world-class" leader and provider of fire service education, learning technology, and research.

 

Mission

The mission of the Fire Service Programs is to deliver a comprehensive set of learning experiences and research opportunities. This mission is accomplished in several important ways:

  • The faculty and staff are a combination of full and part time scholars, researchers, practitioners, and subject matter experts that provide students with cutting-edge programs and learning experiences of the highest quality possible.
  • ASU Fire Service Programs actively seeks opportunities to provide outreach programs, loaned executives, and other types of educational support for the citizens, the business community, and special interest groups.
  • Creative delivery systems include fully online delivery for all degree programs and the certificate plus hybrid offerings for the bachelor and master degrees.
  • A Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Fire Service Management prepares students to assume managerial responsibilities in fire departments and other fire service organizations.
  • A Master of Science in Technology Degree in Fire Service Administration builds on the BAS degree and is designed to prepare students to be effective fire executives and professionals.
  • A Fire Service Management Online Certificate includes six of the core courses in the Fire Service Management program that can be applied to the BAS FSM Degree.
  • Research opportunities are aggressively pursued through grants and collaboration with other organizations to advance ASU's Polytechnic campus's commitment to research.
  • Sponsorship, co-sponsorship, and participation in conferences, seminars, and workshops are planned.

 

Philosophy

The philosophy of Fire Service Programs is to deliver the highest quality customer service possible to its students through innovative learning experiences. The following premises are the foundation for this philosophy:

  • Personal and professional success relies on a commitment to lifelong learning.
  • Organizational success and survival are dependent upon an organization's ability to learn and then translate its learning into meaningful services and programs.
  • Educational institutions have a unique role in society to build knowledge through scholarly research and then transfer that knowledge to its students, the community, and to other scholars.
  • Students, employers, the community, and the university are all considered customers in their own right.