Tennessee's three emergency management degrees sit in three different faculties, and that
single fact matters more than the order they appear in below. One is taught in a school of
nursing, one in a college of professional studies and one in a school of social sciences.
Where a degree is housed determines what equipment it has, who teaches it and what it thinks
the job is, so the three here are only nominally the same subject.
Where each Tennessee emergency management degree is housed and what follows from it
School
Faculty it sits in
What that buys
Lee University
School of Nursing
Simulation labs, mass casualty exercises and a healthcare missions target
Bethel University
College of Professional Studies
A degree-completion route for people already working in the field
UT Southern
School of Social Sciences
Intelligence and federal law enforcement teaching, on campus
On pay, Tennessee sits below the national line: a median of $81,800 against
$93,330, 31th of 47, across 370 jobs that
make it the 11th largest market of the 46 BLS publishes. Tuition
runs from $9,640 to $23,040, and the cheapest option is the campus one.
All 3 Bachelor's In Emergency Management Programs In Tennessee, Ranked
Scored on graduation rate, cost, delivery, selectivity and how directly the degree targets
emergency management. Full weighting on the methodology page.
Emergency management programs in Tennessee ranked by score
#
School
City
In-state tuition
Graduation rate
Online
Score
1
Lee University
Cleveland
$23,040
63%
Yes
64.4
2
Bethel University
McKenzie
$17,376
35%
Yes
59.3
3
The University of Tennessee Southern
Pulaski
$9,640
37%
No
49.7
1
Bachelor's In Disaster and Healthcare Mission Management
Lee University
Cleveland, Tennessee
Online
Lee teaches this degree inside its School of Nursing, as an explicitly non-nursing major, and sends seniors to FEMA's Center for Domestic Preparedness.
Disaster and Healthcare Mission Management is the only degree on this site housed in a nursing school while not being a nursing degree, and Lee states that placement plainly rather than burying it. The program aims to produce leaders in disaster preparation and response and in healthcare missions, which is a narrower and more specific target than the all-hazards county emergency management most programs point at. If you want to run preparedness for a hospital system or work disaster medicine with a relief organization, that placement is the argument for this degree rather than an oddity to look past.
What the nursing school buys is equipment. Students work in simulation labs with high-fidelity equipment, active learning classrooms and computer labs, and the program runs a multi-disciplinary mass casualty simulation, which is the kind of exercise that needs manikins, a building and other disciplines in the room. Around it sit clinical partnerships with local organizations, hands-on skills competencies, extended field experiences and internships. In the senior year the program names training at FEMA's Center for Domestic Preparedness. Prayer rooms are among the facilities listed, which is consistent with the university but the program page states no religious curriculum requirement.
Non-nursing major taught in the School of Nursing
Multi-disciplinary mass casualty simulation
FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness training in the senior year
High-fidelity simulation labs and clinical partnerships
Bethel runs this as a degree-completion program, which means it is built for someone who already has college credit and a job in the field rather than for a school leaver.
The BS in Emergency Services Management sits in Bethel's College of Professional Studies and is fully online. The degree-completion framing is the thing to check first, because it determines whether you are the intended student: the program is aimed at current and aspiring professionals in emergency response, public safety and disaster management, and at people who want to continue serving while earning the degree. That is a different proposition from a four-year residential program, and it is the reason the delivery is what it is.
The published learning outcomes are broad and worth reading as a curriculum sketch, since the page names no individual courses. Students examine emergency management systems, manage terrorist incidents and weapons of mass destruction, apply risk analysis and cybersecurity principles, work through public policy and legal frameworks, study the science behind natural disasters, and develop human resource management and leadership skills. Cybersecurity and natural disaster science appearing in the same list is unusual: most programs commit to one end of that range. Bethel describes blending real-world case studies with practical training, and names local, state and federal agencies alongside private sector and nonprofit emergency management organizations as destinations.
Degree-completion program, fully online
Cybersecurity and natural disaster science both in the outcomes
UT Southern staffs the program with faculty who served at the CIA, FBI and Secret Service, and it is the only Tennessee option you attend in person.
The BS in Homeland Security runs through UT Southern's School of Social Sciences under program coordinator Richard Schoeberl. The university names faculty who have served in agencies including the CIA, FBI and Secret Service, which for an undergraduate program is a substantive difference rather than a brochure line: the intelligence and federal law enforcement side of this field is taught very differently by people who have worked in it. Specialized electives cover cybersecurity, emergency management and counterterrorism, so the emergency management content is present as a strand rather than as the spine.
The structure rewards a student who wants contact rather than convenience. Hands-on experience comes through internships, research projects and the specialized electives, and every student completes a senior capstone that integrates the learning into practical scenarios. A homeland security minor of typically eighteen credit hours is available alongside complementary minors from related programs, which suits pairing this with criminal justice or a language. Being the one campus-based option in the state, it is also the only Tennessee program that offers the ordinary undergraduate experience rather than a route designed around an existing job.
Faculty from the CIA, FBI and Secret Service
Senior capstone built on practical scenarios
Electives in cybersecurity, emergency management and counterterrorism
Picking A Tennessee Emergency Management Program By Faculty, Not By Rank
On most state pages the scores are a reasonable shortlist, because the programs are trying to
do the same thing at different prices. Here they are not, and a student who follows the
ranking without reading the profiles could easily end up in the wrong degree.
If you want hospital or health system preparedness, or disaster work with a relief
organization, Lee's placement inside a nursing school is the whole argument: the simulation
equipment, the multi-disciplinary mass casualty exercise and the clinical partnerships exist
because the school around it is a clinical one, and no amount of curriculum design elsewhere
substitutes for that. If you are already working in fire, EMS or a county office and hold
college credit, Bethel's degree-completion structure is designed for your situation and the
others are not. If you are eighteen, want the campus experience and are drawn to the
intelligence and federal side, UT Southern is the only one that offers any of those three.
What An Emergency Management Director Earns In Tennessee
Emergency management is the field and the degree, not a job title. The occupation the federal
government tracks against it is
emergency management director,
SOC 11-9161, and that is the code behind every wage figure in this section.
The median is $81,800. The bottom 10% earn $55,780 and the top 10% reach
$139,420, with the middle half between $63,930 and $103,390.
Against the national $54,210 and $166,430, Tennessee holds up at the
bottom of the range and falls away at the top, so the state is kinder to a first job than to a
twenty-year career.
Compare every state.
Accreditation For Emergency Management Degrees In Tennessee
CAEMHSE accredits degrees in this field, but it is thinly held and not CHEA-recognized, so it will not narrow this list. This is worth stating carefully here, because Lee's degree is taught inside a school of nursing and nursing does have a programmatic accreditor. It does not reach a non-nursing major. What applies instead.
Common Questions About Emergency Management Programs In Tennessee
How many emergency management programs are there in Tennessee?
Three ranked bachelor's programs at 3 institutions: Lee University in Cleveland, Bethel University in McKenzie and the University of Tennessee Southern in Pulaski. Two are online and UT Southern is taught on campus.
What is the cheapest emergency management degree in Tennessee?
University of Tennessee Southern at $9,640 a year against $23,040 at Lee University, which across four years is $38,560 versus $92,160. The cheapest is also the only campus-based option here, which inverts the usual arrangement.
Which Tennessee program is best for hospital emergency preparedness?
Lee University, and it is not close. Its Disaster and Healthcare Mission Management degree is taught inside the School of Nursing as a non-nursing major, aimed at leadership in disaster preparation and response and in healthcare missions. Students use high-fidelity simulation labs, run a multi-disciplinary mass casualty simulation and hold clinical partnerships with local organizations.
Do emergency management directors earn well in Tennessee?
Below the national figure. The Tennessee median is $81,800 against $93,330 nationally, $11,530 below, placing the state 31th of the 47 BLS publishes. The bottom 10% earn $55,780, which is above the national bottom decile, and the top 10% reach $139,420, well under the national top decile.
Are there emergency management jobs in Tennessee?
A reasonable number. BLS counts 370 emergency management directors in the state, 2.7% of the national total, making it the 11th largest state market of the 46 with a published count.
Can you study emergency management on campus in Tennessee?
At UT Southern. Its BS in Homeland Security runs through the School of Social Sciences with a senior capstone, internships and specialized electives in cybersecurity, emergency management and counterterrorism, and the university names faculty who served at the CIA, FBI and Secret Service. The other two Tennessee degrees are online.
Emergency Management Programs In Other States
62 of the 91 programs we hold are online, so for most of this
list the state you study in and the state you work in need not match. These are the other
states we rank, with what each one holds.
