The Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) equips students to lead effectively in a wide range of nonprofit fields and respond compassionately to crises, disasters, and the challenges of poverty, both in the U.S. and globally. Rooted in faith formation, evidence-based practices, and experiential learning, HDI's courses offer a multidisciplinary approach to caring for and empowering people impacted by crises, disasters, and systemic injustices, both in the U.S. and globally. Students gain both sectoral knowledge and a deeper commitment to loving God and loving neighbors.
Humanitarian Action Certificate (HACT)
Through this certificate, undergraduate students discern and prepare for a vocational calling that can lead in many meaningful ways, including careers in relief and development work, ministries, missions, or as a complement to almost any other career path that will involve serving people who are vulnerable or suffering. Students learn how a diverse range of majors and professional paths can apply to pressing issues like poverty alleviation, refugee support, anti-trafficking efforts, disaster response, and more.
Accelerated M.A. options are also available for the M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership and the M.A. in Nonprofit Leadership. After completing 60 credits, students can begin taking graduate-level courses that may count toward both their undergraduate degree (with approval).
Founder and Executive Director, Humanitarian Disaster Institute;
Blanchard Chair and Professor of Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership, Jamie Aten
Director, Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership, Kent Annan
Assistant Professor of Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership, Jamie Goodwin
Humanitarian Disaster Institute Courses
HDI 401. Principles and Practices of Humanitarian Response. (0 Credits)
This course offers an overview of the Sphere Standards for humanitarian action, emphasizing globally recognized principles and minimum standards to ensure accountability and quality in response efforts while integrating faith-based reflection. It takes approximately 8 - 10 hours to complete, can be done flexibly on-demand, and is graded pass/fail. Cross-listed with HDI 501.
HDI 404. Foundations of Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership. (4 Credits)
An introduction to evidence-based and informed psychosocial care skills, programs, and interventions in context to disasters, crisis, and other trauma-inducing events. Cross-listed with HDI 504. Prerequisite: Humanitarian Action Certificate students only.
HDI 414. Transformational Development. (4 Credits)
The purpose of this course is to explore theology, theory and practice in the field of development. This survey course provides an overview of the landscape of development and its approaches to leadership. Through this lens, students will explore symptoms and solutions of poverty, international aid systems, advocacy, and roles of churches in developing communities that flourish. Cross-listed with HDI 614.
Tags: GP
HDI 424. Refugee and Forced Migration Issues. (2 Credits)
An introduction to various historical and contemporary cases of forced displacement, integrating diverse disciplinary approaches, including legal, political and moral analysis. Cross-listed with HDI 624.
HDI 443. Organizing Emergency Humanitarian Assistance. (2 Credits)
Leadership principles for effective emergency management and humanitarian response will be taught for responding to a wide range of potential humanitarian crises, with an emphasis on evidence-based practices. Cross-listed with HDI 544.
HDI 454. Disaster, Crisis, and Trauma Intervention. (4 Credits)
An introduction to evidence-based and informed psychosocial care skills, programs, and interventions in context to disasters, crisis, and other trauma-inducing events (4 credits). Cross-listed with HDI 654.
HDI 464. Disaster Management. (2 Credits)
This course focuses on the role leadership plays in guiding disaster operations and policy across all phases of the disaster life cycle (preparedness, response, recovery, and risk reduction). Capabilities and challenges to effective response for a broad range of governmental and non-governmental organizations will be discussed. Each organization active in crisis and disaster has a different role to play in preparedness and response, and students will use their study of different organizations to gain a better understanding of humanitarian and emergency response field. Students will examine operational frameworks commonly in used by national and international emergency response organizations. Cross-listed with HDI 564.
HDI 474. NGO Leadership. (4 Credits)
This course seeks to develop effective humanitarian and disaster non-profit leaders. This course will review the history, theoretical underpinnings, and practice of social entrepreneurship and program and project planning in non-profit and official development organizations. It also covers the corresponding grant-writing, fundraising, business planning and marketing methods, and tools, strategies and techniques used in these activities. Heavy emphasis is placed on a hands-on learning approach, while stressing the importance of understanding and critiquing the conceptual frameworks on which these practices rely from a Biblical perspective. Cross-listed with HDI 574.
Tags: SI
HDI 484. Anti-Human Trafficking and Gender-Based Violence. (2 Credits)
This course focuses on understanding issues in human trafficking and gender-based violence and best-practice interventions for prevention, awareness, and care for victims. Cross-listed with HDI 584.
HDI 497. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Program Design. (4 Credits)
This course will introduce students to each of the components within a program design, monitoring, evaluation and learning system, the Christian foundations of MEL, how frameworks are integrated into evaluation, ethics, design, stakeholder analysis, and the implementation of MEL. HDI 594.