Year Two Curriculum
Year One Curriculum
Year Two Curriculum
- 720.701 Special Issues in Intelligence Analysis
- 720.607 Leadership Through the Classics
- 720.710 Analysis, Data Mining and Discovery Informatics
- 720.750 Case Studies in Intelligence Analysis
- 720.702 Art and Science of Decision Making
- 720.637 Ethics and Society
- 720.820 Current Issues: Capstone
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720.701 Special Issues in Intelligence Analysis
New information affecting the intelligence community emerges everyday. Subject matter on threat, response, groups, factions, and resources is voluminous. Specific areas warrant special attention. This course provides an added dimension to the degree program. Colloquia consist of half-day and full-day programs on important topics. They include guest lectures, panel discussions, and open debate. Colloquia supplement information provided in other courses and present new subject matter. Content is designed to engage students in addressing urgent, unexpected, and timely issues that arise. In the colloquia, students have the opportunity to raise issues and apply their analytical skills to an array of topics. This course includes a field experience.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)
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720.607 Leadership Through the Classics
Every employee assumes the role of leader, formally or informally. For some, regardless of rank or position, this is a daily role. Throughout history, the “informal leader” has been a formidable presence who has wielded as much or more influence than the “hierarchical leader.” Students seek answers to timeless questions. Are leaders made or born? Are the characteristics of effective leaders timeless? Are there lessons to be found in history to guide today’s leaders and decision-makers? Will the past repeat itself? Through classical readings from literature, review of films, discussions, and debate, students discover the themes, strengths, and weaknesses of past leaders and relate these discoveries to the issues, challenges, demands, and decisions they face in today’s increasingly complex work environment.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)
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720.710 Analysis, Data Mining and Discovery Informatics
Access to information is greater and easier than any time in history. Knowing and thinking creatively about sources of data are essential if analysts are to find a diamond amid a vast desert of potentially valuable and extraneous information. Vast amounts of data are at the fingertips of anyone willing to spend time learning to develop the right questions and creatively searching (mining) readily available data-rich sources and environments. Students focus on the full spectrum and capability of computing and analytical sciences and technologies to analyze large volumes of data. Students consider strategies, models, and methods such as the knowledge and discovery process, identifying structural patterns in data, decision trees, clustering, classification and rule of association, and other methods of acquiring knowledge from a mass of data. Students learn to convert data to useful information and apply it to the needs of the client. This course is conducted in a computer lab.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)
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720.750 Case Studies in Intelligence Analysis
Learning through the experience of others is one of the best tools for building and enhancing skills and thought processes. Case studies from the public and private sector provide an opportunity for students to examine how leaders apply intelligence information to functions such as planning, policy-making, resource allocation, and field operations. Through the application of principles learned in previous classes and new ones offered in this course, students critique and debate approaches to a series of cases involving intelligence analysis. Through reading and analyzing case studies and interacting with guest lecturers, students identify strategies for resolving actual situations. Students present their own experiences and examples to enhance discussion of the cases. Students gain and demonstrate critical thinking skills as they apply their experience to solving the cases presented in class.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)
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720.702 Art and Science of Decision Making
Some of the latest research into decision making indicates that fully one half of all decision fail when one considers the criteria of whether the decision made was implemented and remained implemented for a period of at least two years. Further, and more disturbingly, the research indicates that two thirds of all decisions are made using bad or failure-prone practices, contributing to the high rate of failure. Failed decisions at both the personal and organizational level carry incalculably high costs in real dollars and in terms of lost credibility and missed opportunities. In some cases, bad decisions become fiascos and debacles. Interestingly, there are three common blunders and seven traps that account for most of the poor choices we make. This course will move beyond the research to explore the practical applications of how people actually go about the process of making smart decisions. Students will work with both case examples and with their own work-related and personal decisions as part of the work. (3 credits)
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720.637 Ethics and Society
The survival of a society depends on the ethical behavior of its people. Students examine historical and contemporary events that influence society’s standards – morals, laws, religion, codes of conduct, and dissent. Through readings, case studies, and discussion, students compare theories and philosophies on how to form and sustain a just society. Students apply their exploration of ethics to daily decision making. They gain an understanding of the “domino effect” of moral decision making and how their decisions influence and shape people, opinions, strategies, and operations. They relate personal decision making to core concepts such as client service, teamwork, sustaining excellence, intellectual honesty, and building trust.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)
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720.820 Current Issues: Capstone
As a culminating course, students discuss the major issues that recurred throughout the program and the creative solutions they developed to deal with these issues. This course draws upon the knowledge students gained in previous courses and applies it to improving the quality of their work and services provided to customers. Students develop an array of new tools, such as effective questioning, and apply them to improving the products delivered to the people they serve. Through readings, lectures, dialogue, and debate, students apply the principles of enlightened leadership to challenges they face everyday. Students develop a course of action to affect positive change in their current assignment and assess their experience in the degree program.
Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

