Curriculum

In addition to other requirements, 18 credit hours from the core courses listed below are required for an MS in SSEM degree with a concentration in Occupational Safety.

Core Courses Required for All SSEM MS Students with a Concentration in Occupational Safety.

Course Title (number)	Semester Hours	Course Description
Safety, Security, and Emergency Management Administration (SSE 815) – EKU designated	3	Examination of administrative concepts and principles regarding organizing and managing the functional areas of fire, safety, and security. Development of organizational and administrative structure to include policy formulation, goals and objectives, managerial tasks, and impact evaluations within an encompassing safety, security, and emergency framework.
Issues in Security Management (SSE 827) – EKU designated	3	Survey of salient issues and concerns confronting security managers. Examines the application and contribution of various management concepts and philosophies to assets protection issues such as information security, personnel protection, threat analysis, technological adaptation, and resource allocation.
Emergency Preparedness and Response (SSE 826) – EKU designated	3	In-depth study of the planning process, program development, training methods, etc., for response to man-made and natural emergencies/disasters for both private and public entities.
Legislation and Regulatory Compliance (SSE 833) – EKU designated	3	Comprehensive study and analysis of federal/state regulations and legislation such as OSHA, EPA, etc., which mandate compliance with certain safety, health, and environmental conditions and practices relating to work performed in occupational, industrial, and comparable settings.
Auditing for Safety, Security, and Emergency Management (SSE 865) – EKU designated	3	Theory and application of auditing in safety, fire, and security. Comprehensive study of risk/threat exposure and assessment.
Safety, Security, and Emergency Management Research/Planning (SSE 880) – EKU designated	3	Models and applications of research design and planning in safety, security, emergency services and assets protection. Identification and evaluation of problems, information and data interpretation, and research/planning methodologies for contemporary approaches to proactive safety, security, and emergency services.
The required courses listed above account for 25 credit hours: 18 core course hours for the MS in SSEM; 7 core interdisciplinary course hours required by the CARERC. The occupational safety training program also requires the completion of a capstone (3 hours credit, given as SSE 898). The remaining 8 hours required for the MS in SSEM degree are completed by taking three elective courses from the list below. Seven of these approved courses are provided by the UK College of Public Health. Students may take other electives provided at EKU and UK with the review and approval of Dr. Dunlap.

The overall curriculum for CARERC requires that all graduate students who receive tuition support and/or stipends must register for the three core courses focused broadly on occupational health and safety issues. These core courses provide the background that is common across the programs for those in the mining, occupational epidemiology, occupational nursing, occupational safety, and the occupational medicine residency tracks. Brief descriptions for these courses are provided below:

Course Title (number)	Semester Hours	Course Description
Occupational Health and Safety (CPH 620)	3	This course covers theory and practice of assessing, controlling, and preventing environmental and occupational hazards that may adversely affect the health of present and future generations.
ProSeminar Occupational Health and Safety (CPH 699)	0-1	This course provides students, in a weekly seminar format, presentations from occupational health and safety professionals from a variety of disciplines and experiences. Knowledge regarding workplace exposures and related health outcomes is presented. Students should acquire basic understanding of current topics in the fields of occupational medicine, nursing, safety, industrial hygiene, epidemiology, biostatistics, mining, and agriculture.
Occupational Health Field Surveys (CPH 698)	3	The course covers a wide cross-section of occupational health and safety exposures, hazards, and control measures. Students engage in on-site activities recognizing and evaluating hazards and developing control measures to reduce occupational health and safety risks. Students will visit approximately 8 different worksites in the Central Appalachian Region.
The required courses listed above account for 25 credit hours: 18 core course hours for the MS in SSEM; 7 core interdisciplinary course hours required by the CARERC. The occupational safety training program also requires the completion of a capstone (3 hours credit, given as SSE 898). The remaining 8 hours required for the MS in SSEM degree are completed by taking three elective courses from the list below. Seven of these approved courses are provided by the UK College of Public Health. Students may take other electives provided at EKU and UK with the review and approval of Dr. Dunlap.

The Occupational Safety training program also requires the completion of a capstone (credit given as SSE 880) for 3 hours credit. The remaining 8 hours required for the MS in SSEM degree are completed by taking three elective courses from the course list below. Seven of these approved courses are provided by the UK College of Public Health. Students may take other electives provided at EKU and UK with the review and approval of Dr. Dunlap.

Additional Courses for the Occupational Safety Concentration.

Course Title (number)	Semester Hours	Instructor	Course Description
Industrial Safety Management (SSE 828) – EKU	3	Schneid	Investigation and analysis of hazard control principles relating to the management of personnel, facilities, and equipment, including control procedures, work-task analysis, risk identification and countermeasures, safety training, and pertinent safety management techniques.
Construction Safety (SSE 832) – EKU	3	Schumann	Introduction/analysis of general construction safety utilizing the key components of 29 CFR196. Included in this study will be general safety & health provisions of OSH Act and a review of the various subparts of 29 CFR1926.
Corporate Compliance (SSE 834) – EKU	3	Schneid	The assessment, analysis and development of safety, emergency management, security and environmental compliance programs. This course will address the regulatory requirements and best business practices for each of the compliance areas.
Personal and Environmental Hazards (SSE 845) – EKU	3	Spurlock	Analysis and investigation of hazard and threat control principles relating to personal and environmental risks within the workplace. Investigation techniques, inspection methodologies, management techniques, and prevention programs essential to the manager within the safety, fire, and security functions are emphasized.
Ergonomics and Human Factors (SSE 850)	3	Schneid	The assessment and analysis of ergonomic risk factors, identification of known musculoskeletal disorders, and development of effective ergonomic management techniques and compliance
Environmental Toxicology (EHS 865)	3	Pressley	Toxicology, the principles, concepts and thinking that are its foundation. The mechanisms by which the substances enter the cells of the body, the physiological processes, the target organs, classes of toxic substances, and potential exposures.
Industrial Hygiene Principles	3	Brown	A study of the impact of the work place on worker’s health and the control of causative factors of disease.
Essentials of Industrial Hygiene (EHS 841)	3	Brown	Identify primary sources of potential chemical, physical and biological agents, identify techniques for assessing the risk of worker exposures and understand health impacts of occupational exposures to workers.
Environmental Health (CPH 601) – CARERC	3	Mannino	Theory and practice of assessing, controlling, and preventing environmental hazards that may adversely affect health.
Injury Epidemiology (CPH 610) – CARERC	3	Bunn	The epidemiologic basis for understanding the distribution and determinants of injuries and poisonings.
Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology (CPH 617) – CARERC	3	Hopenhayn Sanderson	Basic course on occupational and environmental epidemiology methodology, including study design and interpretation of data.
Toxic Agent Implications in Public Health (CPH 622) – CARERC	3	Bunn	An overview of chemical agents within the environment, their interaction with the human organism, and resultant public health implications.
Agricultural Health and Safety (CPH 728) – CARERC	3	Casey Purschwitz	Analysis and discussion of selected topics in agricultural health and safety.
Scientific Report Writing (CPH 718) – CARERC	3	Donovan	Introduction to the essential elements of grant writing, journal publication, and scholarly reporting.

In addition to the required coursework, SSEM masters students in the occupational safety track complete a capstone with a required oral defense focused on a topic in occupational safety.

This curriculum provides EKU students within the SSEM program the opportunity to take the majority of their courses at EKU. Occupational Health (CPH 620) is taught on the UK campus, however the seminar course (CPH 698) rotates between UK and EKU and the field studies course is largely taught in the field. Another great benefit to both the EKU and UK students is the opportunity to take OSHA Training Institute Education Center (OTIEC) short courses at a reduced rate. These courses do not count for academic credit towards their degrees, but do make them more attractive candidates to prospective employers.

Internships, Service Learning, and Theses.

Faculty members of the Department of SSEM believe that internships are a significant learning experience for graduate students. SSEM has a strong history of placing students in a broad spectrum of work environments to meet their career goals. Since the development of the CARERC, we have created new occupational safety internships through the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET) that is housed within the College of Business and Technology on the EKU campus. In particular, the following organizations are providing internships for our students in Central Appalachia: Marathon Oil, Ashland Oil, Georgia-Pacific, Amazon.com, Owens Corning, and Aera Energy.