The Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management & Public Safety (MACEM&PS) works to be as adaptable and multifaceted as the world of public safety itself. Originally established in the early 2000s to facilitate a course review partnership between Frederick Community College (FCC) and FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI), it’s grown from a single office and shoestring staff to become a fully-fledged teaching and practicing academic public safety department at FCC.
After a 2019 expansion, the MACEM&PS now works and educates in fields spanning the spectrum of preparedness and response – emergency management, fire, police, criminal justice, GIS, and more. As an academic department, we strive to offer our students a nationally-recognized (and nationally-accessible) education that’ll set them up for success in their future studies and their careers alike. In the meantime, we also serve as a preparedness education contractor – partnering with local organizations, state-level agencies, businesses, and federal departments alike to research, develop, design, publish, enhance, and otherwise enable everyone to improve the quality of their readiness however they may need it most. You can read more about our full history here!
Our instructional team – adjuncts, full professors, and trainers – hails from the best of the U.S. educational world, from Duquesne to Oklahoma State to George Washington to West Point. And they bring our students not just their academic expertise, but also their practical experience as emergency managers and business continuity specialists, first responders and fire chiefs, lawyers and judges, government officials and veterans, and more besides. We supplement them with experienced support staff, instructional designers, and an in-house quality assurance and design team, and together we get an awful lot of stuff done.
Some Folks We’ve Worked With
Our Accreditation
As a department at Frederick Community College, our academic programs are regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) (1007 North Orange Street – 4th Floor, MB #166, Wilmington, DE 19801). Every 8 years, we (and the whole College) undergo a thorough review by MSCHE to renew this accreditation.
MACEM&PS also maintains industry accreditation of its Emergency Management and National Security & Intelligence programs through the Council for the Accreditation of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Education (CAEMHSE). This accreditation is re-reviewed for renewal every 5 years.
Accreditation involves collecting our history, statistics, student stories, educational content, faculty roster, course objectives, and more, and sharing them with experts in higher education quality (in the case of MSCHE) and public safety industry education and practice (CAEMHSE). These independent experts assess our situation to ensure educational quality and rigor, and help us set goals for continuous improvement.
To our students – what does this mean for you??
Recognition from a regional accreditor, such as MSCHE, is the gold standard for quality assurance in U.S. higher education. It ensures the school you’re exploring is up to the latest standards, operates transparently, and will provide you with an education (and a degree) that will be respected as legitimate throughout the country.
Recognition from an industry accreditor, like CAEMHSE, ensures our academic content and opportunities are aligned with the latest knowledge and standards in the relevant industry (for us, that’s public safety fields). It helps make sure that the education you receive here really will prepare you for what schools and careers in public safety are going to expect, so you’re ready on Day 1.
Contact Us
If you’d like to join in on the fun, feel free to drop us a line!
If you’ve got questions about academic programs, use: emergmgt@frederick.edu
If you’ve got questions about our professional or contracting/consulting services, use: macem@frederick.edu
You can also reach us by phone at 301-624-2854
No matter the method, we’d love to hear from you!