Staying Ahead of the Game

by Rachel Voorhees

Twenty years ago the term “business continuity” was unheard of, but today it’s the buzzword at companies across the world. With so many tragedies and natural disasters occurring in the last 15 years, it’s important for businesses to have plans to maintain operations during emergencies.

“After 9/11 a large portion of businesses didn’t know what to do in a disaster and they fell apart,” said Abraham Levinson, emergency services administration program coordinator. “Businesses need to come up with plans to continue in spite of issues.”

To teach working professionals how to create such plans and enhance their current knowledge, the Continuing Education and Professional Development program at Adelphi now offers a business continuity training program.

“We were offering the opportunity to graduate students and we felt there was a need to offer it as professional development,” Mr. Levinson said.

As the only Business Continuity Institute (BCI) partner in the Northeast, the course is open to students and alumni, as well as members of the community who work in, or are interested in working in, fields like emergency management. The business continuity program, which launched in October 2013 and will be held again in March 2014, uses the 2013 Good Practice Guidelines to teach the most current curriculum.

“The program is modeled after traditional college-level courses,” Mr. Levinson said. “And students are discussing real life experiences.”

During the four-day training, students participate in interactive lectures and six in-class modules, which cover topics such as policy and program management, risk analysis and implementation of continuity plans. The training culminates with the BCI certification exam and according to Mr. Levinson, business continuity certification is a sought after achievement valued by private sector businesses.

“[Having the certification] tells the employer that the prospective employee has done the work and demonstrated knowledge in the field,” Mr. Levinson said.

Moving forward, the continuing education program is looking to expand its relations with BCI and offer more of their courses to Adelphi students and the community.

“We’ve been working hard to add value to our program that gives [students] much more than [the information] they’re learning,” said Meghan McPherson, program manager for graduate programs in emergency management. “We saw an opportunity with BCI to do just that.”