Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions

This program prepares you to support communities, enabling them to withstand crises, recover quickly and rebuild effectively. Courses will cover strategies to inspire change, drive impact and strengthen our urban systems. Additionally, you’ll learn to plan, manage and make quick decisions during emergencies —  key abilities for professionals in disaster resilience and response leadership positions.

Upon graduating, you’ll be prepared to:

• Anticipate and address risks, reduce vulnerabilities and improve recovery efforts.
• Lead these recovery efforts and disaster response.
• Support communities at every stage of natural and human-made emergencies, including infectious disease outbreaks and acts of terrorism.

This program emphasizes protecting people, animals and plants from natural and man-made biological hazards. By integrating public health, risk management and homeland security, you’ll become prepared to address critical challenges, such as pandemics, bioterrorism and other biosecurity risks.

Courses develop your expertise in evaluating safety programs, creating plans to mitigate biological threats, managing crises and minimizing societal harm. Additionally, you’ll build leadership skills essential for guiding response and recovery efforts, enabling you to navigate high-pressure situations confidently and effectively.

This program is a concentration of ASU’s online primary Master of Arts in emergency management and homeland security degree. You’ll take a number of the same courses as the general program, but with two courses focused on biosecurity and threat management.

How biodefense and biosecurity compare

Biodefense, a subset of biosecurity, focuses on protecting human health and the environment from biological agents used as weapons. It involves developing medical countermeasures, such as vaccines and treatments, and creating strategies for detecting and responding to biological threats.

Biosecurity, on the other hand, focuses on preventing the accidental or intentional release of harmful biological agents. This includes safeguarding dangerous materials from theft or loss and ensuring their safe handling and storage through strict policies and procedures.

With rising concerns about biological weapons and infectious disease outbreaks, biodefense is rapidly growing. Increased investments from governments, research institutions and private organizations have created a strong demand for professionals in this field.

This program equips you with the skills to strategically manage hazards and build community resilience in the face of disasters. You’ll develop the expertise to lead communities through complex challenges while promoting risk reduction and capacity building.

Upon graduation, you’ll be prepared for rewarding careers within the government, nonprofit and private sectors. Roles are available in diverse fields, including public health, sustainability and traditional emergency management paths. This program is also highly relevant to the private sector, where corporations increasingly rely on professionals to oversee security operations, ensure supply chain resilience and mitigate risks.

The skills you’ll develop in this program

This interdisciplinary master’s combines broad strategic insights with practical, applied knowledge, preparing you to address the complex challenges of the 21st century. You’ll develop key skills in GIS, quantitative and policy analysis, program evaluation, decision-support technologies and more. Coursework also emphasizes governance, inter-agency coordination and cross-sector collaboration, preparing you to navigate the complexities of managing emergencies across diverse organizations.

This program is a concentration of ASU’s online primary Master of Arts in emergency management and homeland security degree. You’ll take most of the same courses as the general program, but two will focus on emergency management.

This program emphasizes skills that prepare you to positively influence the mission of an organization and the community it supports. By earning a master’s in nonprofit leadership and management, you can pursue a variety of high-demand roles in leadership across the nonprofit sector. This MNLM also prepares you for government positions or roles within a commercial organization that works collaboratively with nonprofits. Careers in nonprofit management can span virtually all industries, including arts and culture, education, environment, animals, healthcare, human services, foreign affairs, research and religion.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment for social and community service managers is projected to grow 8% from 2023 to 2033, which is faster than average for all occupations. Another role this program prepares you for, public relations and fundraising managers, earned a median annual wage of $130,480 in May 2023, according to the BLS.

The nonprofit leadership and management skills you’ll gain

This master's degree allows you to build well-rounded knowledge and abilities in nonprofit management and leadership. In your coursework, you’ll develop skills in many areas that support the success of nonprofit groups, such as:

• Advocacy.
• Fiscal management.
• Fundraising.
• Governance in nonprofit organizations.
• Leadership skills.
• Management of human resources.
• Nonprofit organization management.
• Program development.
• Volunteer management.

Other skills that translate directly into career paths are financial management, executive management and board governance, and program management and evaluation. Nonprofits are constantly seeking trained and experienced people with these competencies.

Who’s a good candidate for this program?

This program builds on management fundamentals while incorporating an emphasis on nonprofit organizations to help you develop specialized leadership knowledge. The ideal candidate for this program could be working in the nonprofit sector looking to advance in their role, or someone looking to enhance their nonprofit work experience. In this program, you’ll sharpen your abilities, develop new competencies and network with colleagues working throughout the nonprofit sector.

Public safety administration involves managing public resources and people to anticipate and respond to events that threaten the health and welfare of the general public. In this program, you'll develop the strategic mindset and practical skills to guide public safety agencies through both daily operations and transformational change.

Courses emphasize the skills needed to manage and coordinate emergency response services. You’ll also become prepared to work behind the scenes to ensure fire, police and other crisis response teams have the resources and support to deliver lifesaving assistance to communities in need.

Tailor your studies to fit your career goals

This program offers flexibility, allowing you to explore the field broadly or specialize in your studies. If you're passionate about a specific area of public safety administration, you can customize your learning path by pursuing one of ASU’s online concentrations, such as:

• Emergency medical services – mobile integrated healthcare
  • Prepares professionals to lead emergency response teams, manage crisis situations and develop strategies for community resilience.
• Executive fire administration
  • Focuses on developing advanced leadership skills for experienced fire service professionals, including expanding management and decision-making abilities to enhance fire service operations and community safety.
• Executive police administration
  • Equips senior police officers for top leadership roles, emphasizing advanced strategies in police management and operational oversight.

In the first year of this program, you’ll build foundational knowledge in social work. Key study areas include behavioral and mental health, human behavior, cultural humility, research methods, social work ethics, assessment and applied practice with diverse populations across the life course.

In your second year, you’ll focus on advanced generalist coursework that integrates micro skills for direct practice with mezzo and macro skills in policy, administration and community organization.

This online MSW program prepares you to become a skilled practitioner who:

• Delivers culturally-adapted, knowledge-informed, ethical interventions to individuals, families and groups (micro).
• Affects social change through skills in organization, administration, policy development and community practice (macro).
• Unites communities and groups of stakeholders around shared values and causes (mezzo).

As a graduate, you’ll be ready for a wide range of roles in clinical social work, community organization, policy advocacy, program administration or other positions across the public and private sectors.

Who’s a good candidate for a master’s in social work?

Ideal candidates for this program are passionate about working with people and addressing complex social conditions impacting some of society’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities. The best candidates are individuals who care about others and want to make a positive change in those we serve. 

To graduate, you must complete 960 hours of practical experience in two separate, year-long internships. Your first two semesters will consist of a generalist internship that provides exposure to the field of social work, as well as reinforcing foundational assessment, intervention and practice skills. In your second internship, you’ll focus on advanced practice and apply concepts to populations and needs related to your interests and career goals.

Did you earn a BSW in the last six years and want to pursue an MSW? You may be eligible to apply for our online Master of Social Work – advanced standing – advanced generalist program, which can be completed in one year.

Earn your online MSW from a fully accredited school

The online master’s of social work is accredited by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE). As a graduate, you may be eligible for licensure through your state's licensing agency.

After graduating with an online MSW, you may seek graduate-level social work licensure. You may also pursue your clinical license, though this may require additional steps depending on the requirements of your state licensing agency, which varies by state.