Security Studies & International Affairs | Embry - Riddle Aeronautical University

The Department of Security Studies and International Affairs offers:

The department offers a broad, applied social science approach to security, intelligence and global conflict studies, providing hands-on processes starting early in a student's career. That approach continues through projects such as the senior capstone in Global Conflict Studies or Homeland Security and Intelligence, where students go out of the classroom, consult with industry members and work with real clients to solve real problems.

Along with technological aspects of global conflict studies and homeland security and intelligence, students learn about critical thinking, risk management, threat mitigation, conflict management and solution planning. They also learn how to evaluate the "gray areas" in analysis as neutral fact-finders assisting in the development of policy. With regular discussions of current events, students learn how such events as the Arab Spring or the Boston Marathon bombings might affect their security, lives and jobs.

The field of security studies and international affairs includes a wide variety of careers in government or industry, so any student with a passion for positive social change and a desire to protect liberty and the free flow of people and commerce will feel at home in this department. The demand for trained professionals ensures that the department’s degrees and minor programs will launch the graduate onto an exciting career trajectory.

Learn More About our Department Degrees

Academic Teams

Students from many degree programs participate in motivating clubs and organizations that offer learning opportunities and enhance their academic credentials. The most prominent clubs and organizations affiliated with the department include:

National Security Student Association (NSSA)

Mission Statement

We, the National Security Student Association, are a student-led organization focused on learning and experiencing the constantly growing and ever-changing fields of Homeland Security, International Affairs, Cybersecurity, Emergency Management, Intelligence and many other subjects related to the security and defense of the United States.

We are a Homeland Security/Global Conflict Studies-related ERAU organization comprised of a member base of active/friendly students.

We are dedicated to providing our members with fun, intriguing and educational activities to engage their personal and professional interests.

Order of the Sword and Shield (OSS)

Mission Statement

The Order of the Sword and Shield is the first academic and professional honor society dedicated exclusively to homeland security, intelligence, emergency management and all protective security disciplines. The mission of O.S.S. shall be to promote critical thinking, high scholarship and professional development; to further enhance the ethical standards of the protective security professions; and to cultivate a high order of personal living.

The Core Values of the Society are excellence, knowledge, ethics and peace.

Our motto is ex scientia pax, which means "out of knowledge comes peace." As an association which represents homeland security, intelligence and protective security academic disciplines, this has special meaning. With an ultimate goal of peace and safety for all, the protective security profession must utilize knowledge as a primary tool for the accomplishment of this objective. The Society recognizes this commitment and the dedication of those individuals achieving academic and professional excellence.