TSA Selects MCCC to Teach Homeland Security Concentration

Chosen by the Transportation Security Administration because of its reputation and curriculum, Montgomery County Community College will offer a homeland security concentration both at the Blue Bell site and at the TSA regional headquarters at Philadelphia International Airport.

“MCCC was selected by TSA on the strength of our existing programs in criminal justice studies and Emergency Management and Planning, and on the basis of our general reputation,” said Benn Prybutok, MCCC director of criminal justice studies, Fire Science, and Emergency Management and Planning, in an e-mail interview.

The college is one of 32 institutions to offer the curriculum nationwide.

TSA required that the academic for-credit courses—Introduction to Homeland Security, Intelligence Analysis and Security Management, and Transportation and Border Security—lead to recognized degree programs and be transferrable to other colleges and universities. 

Upon completion of all three courses, TSA employees will earn TSA’s own internal “Certificate of Achievement,” Prybutok said.

In addition to offering the courses to TSA employees at the airport, MCCC is also offering a 12-credit certificate of completion for taking the three TSA courses, plus the  long-running MCCC Terrorism and Counterterrorism course.

Prybutok said a proposal is before the Board of Trustees’ Curriculum Committee to enable criminal justice majors and Emergency Management and Planning majors to declare and complete a formal concentration in Homeland Security within their AAS programs.

Criminal justice majors may also be required to take a fifth course, Organized Crime, to complete the concentration.

About 15 MCCC students, mostly criminal justice and Emergency Management majors, are enrolled in the Introduction to Homeland Security course, offered for the first time this semester at Blue Bell, Prybutok said.

The Terrorism and Counterterrorism course has 30 students enrolled. These two courses will be offered again in the fall, and the Intelligence Analysis course will be introduced in Blue Bell at that time, he said.  

About 80 TSA students, mostly transportation safety officers, are enrolled in the program at PHL.

“The faculty who teach these courses have specialized backgrounds and experience,” Prybutok said. “They include retired senior FBI and customs agents, homeland security experts and individuals with extensive investigative research and intelligence backgrounds.”

Students who complete the concentration may transfer to a baccalaureate degree in Homeland Security Studies or look for employment in emergency management, transportation and border security, immigration and customs enforcement, criminal and homeland security intelligence collection, and analysis and homeland security investigation, according to an MCCC press release.

Prybutok said that interested students are most likely already law enforcement, homeland security or emergency management professionals, or individuals pursuing a career in those fields. 

While the certificate of completion and formal concentrations in Homeland Security are new at MCCC, the college has a long-standing reputation for excellence in criminal justice studies, Emergency Management and Planning, and Fire Science, Prybutok said. The college was designated a “Center of Excellence” in 2008 by the National Partnership for Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security.

 “Our terrorism and counterterrorism course and our organized crime course have been running regularly for more than nine years,” he said.

For many years, the college has operated a state-certified Act 120 Municipal Police Training Academy and helps to administer the county’s Fire Academy, both in Conshohocken.   

For more information about the Homeland Security Concentration, the Certificate of Completion in Homeland Security, or the criminal justice studies or Emergency Management and Planning degree programs, visit www.mc3.edu, or contact the director of the programs at 215-641-6428 or at bprybuto@mc3.edu.